Romanian Gymnastics Gala, aka The 2012 Blogger's Awards - part 3

Other Categories:

Best TV Commentary: Christine Still & Mitch Fenner (London Olympics)

also nominated: Alina Alexoi & Ramona Micu (Euros WAG),  Shannon Miller (London Olympics), Alina Alexoi & Marian Dragulescu (Euros MAG)

Best Live Coverage: Blythe (the Gymnastics Examiner) & Bea (The Cough Gymnast) - Euros

I voted Blythe Lawrence for Euros and Olympics, her live blogging is out of this world.

Best Gymnastics TV Production in Romania: The Medal Factory

Article of the year: Interview with Cristian Moldovan (The Couch Gymnast)

also nominated: Review for the 2013-2016 Code of Points (Fangymnastics), With Love about Amelia Racea (Fangymnastics), The Calm Before the Storm ( The Couch Gymnast)

this was what went through my head when i read this: this is the third nomination and 2nd Bloggers Award for Bea. She has also been nominated in 2011 for .... (If only I hadn't been one of the judges LOL)

I think that the Review of the 2013-2016 Code of Points was the top article - the thing is Oana and Mihai co-wrote it so they couldn't vote themselves on first place, could they?
As per why all the articles nominated were written by the members of the jury... No comment :)

Let's go on:

Best Event of 2012 (in Romania): July 2012 Friendly Meet (ROU - GER - FRA - ITA) 

Best Aerobic Gymnast: Valentin Mavrodineanu

Best Rhythmic Gymnast: Alexandra Piscupescu

Most Emotional Moment of the Year: Sandra Izbasa's joy when discovering she has won the Olympic Gold  tied with the 4 Nathional Anthems we had to listen to during 2012 Euros

Emotional moment of the year

also nominated: Catalina Ponor on the FX podium at the Olympics and Viktoria Komova's FX routine and the wait for the All Around final results in London 2012

Biggest Surprise at the Olymics: Gold on Vault for Sandra Izbasa

also nominated: Sandra's 5th place finish in the AA competition, Jordyn Wieber not qualifying for the All Around final, Aliya Mustafina's Bronze in the All Around

Most Desired Accomplishment (prior to the Olympics) come true:  Romania medaling in the WAG Team Finals

London 2012 - bronze medal

also nominated: Beth's Olympic Medal, Gold on UB for Aliya Mustafina, Kohei Uchimura winning the MAG All Around

Gymnastics No Ceiling Award: goes to Bellu and Bitang for not giving up and always wanting "the best" for Romanian Gymnastics

Mariana Bitang and Octavian Bellu

2012 was a pretty good year!

read part 1 HERE and part 2 HERE

Romanian Gymnastics Gala, aka The 2012 Blogger's Awards - part 1

The "specialist" bloggers and honorary guardians of Romanian Gymnastics have again joined powers to find the best of Romanian gymnastics - gymnasts, coaches and moments. Because 2012 was the year of the Olympics, you will notice special categories that were introduced for the event of the year.

So, I give you the members of the jury:

Mihai from Fangymnastics - mastermind, logistics manager and nominee

Alina from Tare and gimnastica.net - activist, journalist and benefactor

Carmen from Romanian Gymnastics Fans - full time supporter and fan-movement organiser

Oana from Puzzle - pretty much the most knowledgeable person in Romanian WAG

and myself (the oracle of The Couch Gymnast as Brigid candidly named me)

As you will notice, one of the most positive things was that while the WAG team had a very strong core, in 2012 more young gymnasts were noticed and rose at the top in some of the categories.

On the not so bright side, the Romanian gymnastics is made of a handful of people. Especially in MAG the unanimity we reached, in the Olympic year nonetheless, is not a good sign.

And can I say YAY for Lacramioara Moldovan winning "WAG coach of the year"? What a lovely lady!

Each blogger gets to award a special "prize" to someone that he/she found worth mentioning outside the categories already presented. If I had to give a special thanks to someone this year, those would be Bellu and Bitang, for refusing to lose hope and continuing to fight for the reconstruction of Romanian gymnastics.

So here are the categories and their winners:

in Women's Artistic Gymnastics:

Best All Around Gymnast: Larisa Iordache

also nominated: Sandra Izbasa, Andreea Iridon, Andreea Munteanu

Larisa Iordache, Sandra Izbasa, Andreea Iridon, Andreea Munteanu

Best gymnast on Vault: Sandra Izbasa

also nominated: Larisa Iordache, Stefania Stanila, Catalina Ponor

Best Gymnast on Uneven Bars: Andreea Iridon, mostly because she can do things like this:

also nominated: Larisa Iordache, Diana Bulimar, Sandra Izbasa  

Best Gymnast on Beam: Catalina Ponor

also nominated: Larisa Iordache, Diana Bulimar, Andreea Munteanu

Best Gymnast on Floor: Larisa Iordache

also nominated: Catalina Ponor, Sandra Izbasa, Diana Bulimar

Most Consistent Gymnast: Diana Bulimar

also nominated: Catalina Ponor, Sandra Izbasa

Breakthrough Star of 2012: Andreea Iridon

also nominated: Andreea Munteanu, Asiana Peng

Routine of the Year: Catalina Ponor on Floor in the Olympic Event Final
Catalina Ponor, medalie de argint la sol!
   
 Vezi  mai multe  video    din   sport
  

also nominated: Sandra Izbasa VT EF London 2012, Catalina Ponor BB TF London 2012, Sandra Izbasa FX Bucharest friendly meet July 2012

Coach of the Year: Lacramioara Moldovan

Lacramioara Moldovan (right)

also nominated: Mariana Bitang, Octavian Bellu, Adela Popa

Best Junior in the National Team: Andreea Munteanu

also nominated: Stefania Stanila, Anda Butuc, Silvia Zarzu

Best Young Hope: Andreea Iridon

also nominated: Asiana Peng

Best WAG Club: CSS Deva

gymnasts from Deva at 2012 Romanian Nationals

also nominated: Farul Constanta, CSS2 Bucuresti

Fair-play Gymnast of the Year: Diana Bulimar

Larisa Iordache, Octavian Bellu and Diana Bulimar 

also nominated: Aliya Mustafina, Sandra Izbasa

Best International Gymnast of the Year: Aliya Mustafina

Aliya Mustafina

also nominated: Viktoria Komova, Gabrielle Douglas

Read HERE part 2 and HERE part 3.

Missing Sandra Izbasa

because she is not boring without ever being over the top:
 "I want to thank the people that are following us in competitions. Gymnastics is a sport for intelligent people. You have to understand how the code of points works and why the judges give 14's, 15s or 13s. Because when they don't get it, people don't watch". She is glad when she sees fans shaking banners . She salutes them in the gym because she doesn't have a Facebook account or a personal site. (full article HERE)

I cannot stop wondering where the team would have been in Tokyo with a healthy Sandra Izbasa throwing vaults like these:

Romania in the News: November 21st to 27th

The Couch Gymnast: Italian Juniors dominated the meet against Romania, Germany and Finland held  in the weekend 19th-20th of November (HERE)

Prosport: Nadia and Bart visited Disneyland for Thanksgiving (HERE)

Adevarul: Catalina Ponor opens up about  2011Worlds and being a gymnast in Romania (HERE) ! Bonus: A very good translation by Fangymnastics (HERE)

Gazeta Sporturilor: Bela Karoly's reaction to an article published in the Romanian press saying that it was in fact another coach, Marcel Duncan, that discovered Nadia (HERE)

Fangymnastics: Paula Tudorache and Stefania Stanila place 14th and 18th respectively at Top Gym (HERE)

Jurnalul National: Complete list of sportsmen and women that medaled at Olympics, Worlds and Euros and benefit of the financial reward that was re-re-debated two weeks ago- includes the monthly pay in Romanian Lei (HERE)

Fangymnastics: A translation of an older interview with Catalina Ponor (HERE)

Evenimentul zilei: The gymnasts want to be the "golden girls" again - article featuring Catalina Ponor and Sandra Izbasa (HERE)

Izbasa, Chelaru, Iordache to miss Nationals

According to TVR, Iordache is out due to a muscle lesion, Izbasa felt pain in her tendon (but not the one that was injured in 2009) and now has a special training regimen, while Chelaru is still recovering her routines after an older injury kept her off the apparatus for a while. 

Prosport goes further and reveals that Diana underwent surgery on her abdominal muscles in order to remove a hematoma that appeared after a fall off beam at 2009 Euros.

I am sad. This should have been the third Romanian Nationals of Larisa Iordache. Izbasa's vaults and floor routines would have been among the top gymnastics moments of the weekend. Diana Chelaru could have consolidated her position as an all arounder.

So yes, I am saddened by the news but I am not worried. Romanian Nationals are not a high stake competition.

If anything, it is good that the gymnasts are not rushed back.

Romania in the news - week 15 - 21 August

Deva are aiming at winning the Senior National title in Onesti, where Romanian Nationals are starting on Friday. The team will be composed of: Raluca Haidu, Diana Trenca, Amelia Racea, Beatrice Margarit and Maria Balea ( source: Mesagerul Hunedorean, article HERE)

Catalina Ponor's birthday was last week, on the 20th. She told Libertatea she will not have much time for partying and that a 24 year old gymnast sees things differently. (Source The Couch Gymnast - from Libertatea; articles: HERE and HERE).

Ana Porgras interview (by Curaj Romania) - HERE

Last interview of the Curaj series - Sandra Izbasa HERE

A few articles on Romanian Gymnastics Federation website about the Summer Universiade where the Romanian MAG team have won five medals. This year's big goal is qualifying a full team for London Olympics. (www.romgym.ro; articles here and here)

Fangymnastics have started a series called Beatrice's Journal - written by a former Romanian gymnast who retired from gymnastics at a young age (from what I understand). (source: fangymnastics.com; article HERE )

And Catalina Ponor posted what seems it will be her floor music on her facebook page. It needs a bit of editing because the original piece is over five minutes long, but it suits her well:

Memorable Quotes from TMF (The Medal Factory)

Episode 1

Catalina Ponor: I was retired for three years and a half, in which I never thought I would ever return. But I was encouraged when I watched the (2010) Worlds, when I saw the skills and in the next moment after the Worlds finished I called and I told I was coming. It was not something planned, it was a decision I took on the spot.

Sandra Izbasa: (about 2011 Worlds) I want what I didn’t achieve so far: to take a gold medal at the World Championships. The event is not important, it can be either on Vault or on Floor.

Ana Porgras: (regarding 2011 Worlds) It's tough to invent a new element... I will have to rely on execution but i will also increase the difficulty a little bit (...) I hope I will get to compete all around and that I will have the strength to be on the podium.

Amelia Racea: (in order to become a champion, an athlete) must be a bit talented, to work hard in the gym and a little bit lucky.

Caralina Ponor: The competition is very different now compared to older generations. In 2004 at the Olympics we were figthing for every tenth, we were fighting not to move, not even a hair.

 Catalina Ponor: (practising gymnastics) takes tenacity, ambition, perseverance. Even if it’s just training you have to think as you do at competitions. Each training must be a competition, not only with yourself, but also with your team mates.

Larisa Iordache: I do think about the Olympics but by then I must come to the gym… it’s not a must… I want to do it, no one makes me to. By this, I want to improve, to get to the level of those that were champions before. This is what I want to achieve too, to be up there on the podium.

Diana Chelaru: (about gymnastics in general) Yes, it's not easy, there is a lot of work behind but I can honestly say that it was worth it, because there are some satisfactions that you could not achieve otherwise: to be on the podium and hear the anthem is very beautiful... this is a very weak description... it's extraordinary.

Octavian Bellu: At the Worlds in October, I hope that I will get the chance to clarify for myself extremely well what is the potential of each gymnast. Of course, the calculations now will be for a team without Larisa Iorgache whilst in 2012 we will have to consider her as well.

Mariana Bitang: This is a tough period, of accumultation (…) some girls are on schedule in terms of progress, for some it’s more difficult but the important is that all of them are working and are healthy. We hope to add on difficulty for the worlds, to get there in a beter shape and the team that will compete there to be the core of the team for the Olympics.

Octavian Bellu: It’s a heterogeneous team but we hope to consitute an unitary team until the Olympics, a team that will be able to challenge the other teams for the medals in the team competition and all around and event finals.

The Medal Factory is a show by Digi Sport, episode 1 aired on Saturday, May 14th at 2:30 PM EET on DigiSport Plus. 

You can watch the first episode HERE (part one and part two), uploaded by Mickeyy from Fangymnastics.

Day two, in which Koczi wins

And the story continues... 

The next day I wanted revenge. Because by that time I had found out the whole MAG AA story. I was furious! Koczi has been, for the last 5 years maybe, the best Romanian gymnast that could do six events. He  always had the goods yet he was never quite there. And now, that he managed to keep it together he did not win just because the competition was held in Germany!! Furious.

I arrived at Max-Schmeling pretty early. So I had some time to notice that Steliana Nistor was there (she looks very good), and at one point was chatting with Vanessa Ferrari.

When the MAG floor final begun and I saw the huge marks the first competitors were getting I thought Flavius Koczi will not get his compensation in that final. 15.3... 15.2.... 15.4 And then Koczi wowed the audience! 15.5 - first place. He was overwhelmed by emotions when the final was over. I almost shed a tear as well.

Next up, the WAG vault final. This final had its bright moments (Izbasa, Chusho, Kaeslin's first vault) and the not so happy: Giulia Steingruber's missed vault first comes to mind. I think she may have been overwhelmed by the fact that she was one of the favorites. Then Amelia Racea who focused too much on controlling the flight phase and gave away the landing on her DTY. Oh she is capable of such a good DTY, too bad we did not see it live! Kaeslin was very disappointed after her second vault, she obviously felt that she could have done much better than that. When they were waiting for Ariella's score, I think I read on Sandra's lips "I couldn't have done more than that".

Sandra had indeed two impressive vaults. The judges were much more severe than at Worlds and she still got a 9+ E score for the second vault.

On the uneven bars almost everything went as expected. I mean the people that fought for the medals were Bui, Nabieva, Seitz, Tweddle. Seitz had a few hesitations and a low landing and lost. I loved Bui's routine. I thought she should have been above Navieva (but what do I know about uneven bars code?) so it was a bit of a relief when Tweddle finished first.

I ran again out of  the Max Schmeling, to meet friends. This time we had sushi and a Berliner beer at a place near the venue. It was very good and cheap (7 euros the sushi plate and 1.2 for the beer, not bad huh)?

Then we headed for Potsdamer Platz in time for the medal ceremonies. But not quick enough for good spots to take nice pictures.

Sony Center's Ceiling

There, I saw Flavius Koczi (very happy and very teary again) being smooched by a few girls and older ladies.

Floor Men

I clapped and I cheered as loudly as I could when Ama and Demy were introduced... There was no need to do the same for Seitz.

AA WAG podium

Sandra was happy but not overly excited (there's still a lot of work until London)

VT WAG podium

Then she told Alina Alexoi that she expected to do well on vault because she worked very hard and it would have been a disappointment not to win a medal after all the work.

Sandra Izbasa interviewed by TVR 

Then, we headed for Brandemburg gate where we took silly pictures of ourselves jumping around. The night ended in a place on Friedrichstrasse where I had a dessert that looked like a Kaiserschmarren and which I wished it had more pancake and less fruit :)

Romanians at French International

Diana Chelaru - first vault - in which she has a huge leg separation but no other major deductions:

Diana Chelaru second vault - where she barely makes it with her hands on the table

Ana Porgras - uneven bars - you know what I was thinking about when I saw this? I was thinking that she looks like a year ago at Euros in that team final when she had to compete on bars after getting injured on beam. She looks in pain. Of course it's not the same kind of pain... It may be the kind of pain you feel when you grow, when you evolve.

Sandra Izbasa - floor - I must say that even if I had my doubts when I heard she was doing the tango thing too... now I know that it was a good decision. This is a routine that suits her very well and a routine that the all the audiences will love.

Diana Chelaru - Floor - A very well executed routine. But she must change that music once and for all... It's almost as old as Lauren Mitchel's :)

Later edit. You can also watch Ana Porgras' beam set HERE.
Ana looks as lovely as she always has. She had two major breaks in the routine, on elements that she usually masters and she missed a couple of connections. Nevertheless she scored 14.733! That means a potential of 15.533 (given that doesn't wobble the switch ring leap - 0.3 and the layout on two feet -0.3  plus a couple of connections bonuses +2). 

New vault for Sandra Izbasa and upgrades on UB for Ana Porgras

Via International Gymnast Forum (Romania: News, Pictures in 2011 - part 1)



Or watch it on eamyy's channel 

Favorite moments of 2010 - The surprising VAULTS

It was fun watching vault this year despite the controversies. We must admit  that there were some pretty vaults too, here and there. But what I liked the most were the spectacular improvements: take for instance Mustafina- she didn't even attempt two vaults at Euros and five months later she throws two of  6+.

Other surprise evolutions: Raluca Haidu (from FTY at Euros to DTY at Worlds), Sandra Izbasa (from 1.5 Yurchenko at Nationals to DTY - 3 weeks later),  and, of course, Vanessa Zamarripa's Cheng - stuck in the first day of US Nationals. 

When I say great vaults I am also thinking about Larisa Iordache. In 2009 she had a FTY and  a round-off half on tuck (4.6) while in 2010 she presented a FTY and a 1.5 Yurchenko.  She had successfully competed  the  1.5 Yurchenko since the beginning of the year but during the fall she managed to stuck it on numerous occasions. I consider her vaults extraordinary, given the general level of the Romanian juniors.

Any other vaults that surprised you? Here are some of my favorites:

Larisa Iordaches' vaults at Romanian Nationals

or watch here.

Mustafina's Amanar from Waalvijk

or watch here

Sandra Izbasa's DTY from Worlds

or watch here

Vanessa Zamarippa's Cheng vault:

or watch here

or watch here

Sandra - news presenter for a day

here are the images from GSPtv

Top Gymnasts in 2010 according to FRG and my (not so thorough) attempt at undestanding the rankings

"At the end of a competitive year marked by many successes, both in artistic gymnastics, and aerobics, major international competitions - the World and European Championships, Youth Olympic Games, World Cup, the Romanian International Championships, National Championships and other top contests - a year of important changes regarding the organization and the preparation of the teams, a year that brought dissatisfaction as well, the Romanian Gymnastics Federation drew the line, denoting, according to tradition, the year's top 10 gymnasts 2010 in artistic gymnastics(women and men) and aerobics in the top rankings ranged Ana Porgras, Flavius Koczi and Mircea Zamfir whose performances this year are quite well known."

Rankings and some facts:

1) Ana Porgras

Most notable results: BB World Champion, 1st on BB in Ghent World Cup, 3rd with the team at Euros, 1st in the AA, 1st on Beam, 3rd on Floor at Romanian Nationals etc.

or watch here

2) Diana Chelaru

Most important results: silver on floor at 2010 Worlds, bronze on floor at Euros, 2nd on Floor at the nationals etc.

or watch here

3) Amelia Racea

Most important results: gold on BB at Euros, 3rd with the team at Euros 2010

or watch here

4) Sandra Izbasa

Most notable results of the year: 1st on Floor at Ghent World Cup, 1st on Vault and Floor at Romanian Nationals, 2nd on BB at Nationals, 2nd at the Arthur Gander Memorial

or watch here

5) Raluca Haidu

Most notable results: 3rd on beam and 3rd with the team at Europeans, 1st AA at Romanian International, 9th all around at the Worlds

or watch here

6) Gabriela Dragoi

3rd on BB at Romanian Nationals, 4th with the Team at Worlds

or watch here

7) Diana Bulimar

Notable results: 2nd on FX at Youth Olympic Games, 3rd on UB and 2nd with the team at Jr Euros

or watch here

8) Larisa Iordache

Notable Results: gold on FX, bronze AA and silver with the team at Jr. Euros, 1st AA and in all EF's at Jr. Nationals

or watch here

9) Cerasela Patrascu

4th with the team at Worlds, 3rd on Vault, 2nd on UB at Romanian Nationals

or watch here

10) Dana Andrei

Most notable results: 3rd on UB at Romanian Nationals

or watch here

So, according to FRG, 1st place in the World Cup beats Jr. European Gold AND Youth Olympic silver... wich is surprising for me. I would have had Ana, Diana and Amelia on first 3 spots as well... on 4th maybe Diana Bulimar (for her YOG silver), 5th Larisa Iordache (because of her Gold at Euros), 6th Raluca Haidu, 7th Sandra Izbasa, 8th Gabriela Dragoi, 9th Cerasela Patrascu and 10th Dana Andrei.

Sandra Izbasa Interview

I spoke to Sandra in Ghent, a couple of months ago, she had just returned to competition and looked like something ... different. I don't have an awful lot of experience in interviewing gymnasts, but she was a surprise to me; I hadn't imagined she was so cool: a professional athlete as she described herself but also warm, open and extremely polite at the same time.

Read the interview here and if you missed it, my Ghent report from the 7th issue of TCG magazine.

Bonus: some not very fortunate pictures from Ghent- I somehow managed to find them on my computer

Sandra, Ana and Lucian Sandu

Jessica Gil Ortiz - happy and frightened at the same time after Beam Qualif

Amelia Racea - preparing for Uneven Bars

Sandra Izbasa speaks about 2010 Worlds and her future

I would be unfair if I said that (2010 Worlds were disappointing). After the injury I had, I can state that this was a successful return. God basically gave me a second chance to do gymnastics and I took advantage of it. Three months before the Worlds I didn't even think I will be in the team.

Asked if she was upset she didn't win a medal on floor she answered that her sadness comes from the fact that that medal she could have won went to another country and not to Romania.

I'm twenty years old and I think it's an age at which gymnasts should not consider retirement. We have just finished our warm-up for performance. At this age our mentality changes, we are not just children that act like little robots. The relationship between coaches and athletes is of collaboration. They understand us and completely support us and we must act like professional athletes.

the interview was published in Libertatea