Bellu - on the success Romania had at the Worlds

yes, it was a successful one. The first gold at the Worlds since 2001.

This is the translation of an interview from ProSport.

Do the results from the Rotterdam sketch a possible team for London?

I prefer to be reserved in assessments, as before, actually I was not very optimistic before (the Worlds) either. We had these results, it is better to consider them as a hope for the future.

What's next?

It all depends on how we will manage the success that we have achieved in a situation where these girls recovered very slowly after the injuries that kept them away from the training hall for months. We will have to see how much the gymnasts want to work, to get involved, so that we won't wait for another ten years to get a gold medal.

How do you see Ana now?

This medal is very important for her. She did a very good impression at the Worlds, she was considered the most elegant gymnast, but she also realized that in the all around, without a vault, an uneven bars and a floor routine of great difficulty, it's hard to get a medal. It's very difficult to wait for medal on beam, because you never know what can happen (during EF).

Are there any chances for Romania to be on the podium at London 2012?

Do not think about such a long period, we will see what will happen in the near future, because there are some issues to be addressed. The first step to get to London will be the World Championships in Tokyo, next year.

Wasn't it difficult to watch the competition from the stands?

I did not necessarily remain in the stands because after the introductions, the girls were returning to the training hall. Someone had to be there with them and send them in the competition hall when it was time, so I did walk a lot between the training hall and the stands.

R U S S I A!!!!!!!!!!! What a night!

Yep, they did it! The drama was there, there was some great gymnastics, there were some nasty falls, there was some over scoring but not so much underscoring... Great competition! Congratulations to the winners!

Romania did not have a perfect contest either but I think it was the only team without a fall. In the end they delivered exactly what their fans wanted: no falls, happy gymnasts, some great skills although we all know there is plenty of room of improvement, oh and did I mention that Diana almost stuck all her landings on floor?

I will come back with a more detailed analysis.

Sandra pleased with qualifications

"It was a beautiful contest, with a warm audience. I was not expecting to be so many Romanians to be there. That helped me a lot and we did pretty well in qualifying. I have so much experience that can compete after five years as well, it did not matter that I missed for this long. I felt very good and I'm glad I managed to come back again in the elite. There is room for improvement, but I did well and I had the evolution that I wanted " www.romgym.ro

Good job guys!

Worlds 2010 - favourite moments of a Romanian fan in day one of qualifications

(picture from GSP)

Today I was in the Ahoy arena with the Romanian fans. I am proud to say that Romania was the only team to have proper fan support in the first day of qualis. That does not mean that we did not cheer for other teams as well, like Russia or China or Japan or even GB.

This is why I will have to make two list of my favourite moments- one for our team Romania and one for the others... so bare with me :)

I will politely start with "the others" :P

#6 China on bars - well is not a moment but it surely feels like one

# 5 Lauren Mitchell on floor- this music and choreo really suit her

#4 Deng Linlin on beam - absolute control

#3 Beth Tweddle on bars- everybody in the arena stopped breathing

#2 Mustafina on vault- wow 6.1 and 6.5 D scores. And what execution!

# 1 The Russian Drama on floor. I actually started praying for them after Semenova fell twice, (once almost landed on her head); they sure seemed to be losing it. But this only made the evening better

Now, Romania

#6 Nadia at the official table hears our shouts "Haide Cera! Haide Gabi! Tareee"... she looks to see where the Romanian cheers are coming from. My friend Luiza and I sense the momentum and start waiving at Nadia. And Nadia waves back!!! Nadia is cool!

#5 Diana Chelaru on uneven bars: 8.6 execution. better than Ana Porgras LOL

#4 all three Romanian DTY receive over 8.8 E score!

#3 Ana Porgras' beam: 15.266 and the best beam score of day 1!

#2 Raluca Haidu's floor. She did not put a foot wrong. 14.2

# 1 for Romania in the first days of qualifications: I would have to give this to the best Romanian gymnast of the day, and not only in terms of scores but in outdoing herself. Sandra Izbasa brought "gargantuan" scores for the team - 14.8 on Vault, 14.766 on floor and 14.333 on beam. Thank you Sandra for keeping it together, you are a great champion!

What was your favourite moment from the qualifications?

Worlds Qualifications - Day 1 starting list

Romania will start on uneven bars:

HAIDU Raluca Oana

DRAGOI Gabriela

RACEA Elena Amelia

PORGRAS Ana

CHELARU Diana Maria

IZBASA Sandra Raluca

so Cerasela is the reserve, according to this list. Very sad. I love this gymnast.

China will start on UB as well:

YANG Yilin

JIANG Yuyan

HUANG Qiushuang

HE Kexin

SUI Lu

DENG Linlin

Wu Luifang is the reserve

HUANG Qiushuang will attempt to qualify to the vault finals

Russia will start on vault:

SEMENOVA Ksenia

AFANASYEVA Ksenia

KURBATOVA Ekaterina

MUSTAFINA Aliya

NABIEVA Tatiana

DEMENTYEVA Anna

So Myzdrikova is the reserve after all...

- Kurbatova, Mustafina, Nabieva will have two different vaults, trying to qualify for the vault finals

This is the complete list.

Romania - Podium Training

These are all updates offered by TessaW, who posted an extended coverage on Online Sports Forum. Thank you Tessa!

-Sandra Izbasa has a triple twist as a dismount from BB, has upgraded the last pass of her floor routine and is able to stuck a double twisting Yurchenko

- Diana Chelaru has put back in her floor routine the double layout

-Amelia Racea and Raluca Haidu both do double twisting Yurchenkos

The training seems to have been full of wobbles and mistakes but, in the end, it's only a training session isn't it?

Predictions....

(image from ProSport)

Yesterday was the day we found out how the “nominative list” looks like. In other words since yesterday we have started to make predictions, calculations and to develop strategies for the team finals. What can be more “fascinating” i dare say... you have a team of 7, cut it to 6 (well it’s already cut in the nominative list but they can modify that whenever they want) and then “all” there’s left is to calculate which three gymnasts can obtain the highest marks for each apparatus. This sophisticated process involves making assessments on the gymnasts' chances to make faultless routines at a given moment (three-four weeks from now) and your personal taste in general.

I always make an excel table and I write on each column the apparatuses then I add three names under each, then I add the marks, the total per apparatus and then the total for the entire team and I get a fabulous result, something that my team has never seen under this code of points. And I’m satisfied. After a few minutes I realize that I wasn’t thinking clearly: how can I put Cerasela Patrascu as a certainty for the beam? She fell during the EF at the Nationals and at the last meet she wasn’t even among the top three Romanians. I say to myself: this team is not good. I have to calculate again! I do it, make many changes in the team, add the marks, the total and SURPRISE!! I GET THE SAME RESULT.

I will probably do this once in a couple of days until the worlds and I will never finalize my predictions. It must be really hard to be the head coach of a team. Well, at least they have the advantage to see the gymnasts every day while we will only see them at the podium training or even worse, during the qualifications.

All I can say is that I hope Bellu doesn’t do it like I do (AS IF I could compare myself to Bellu HAHAHA)!

I have the ticket for the 2010 worlds team final :D

Helooo, I am back after the long period of silence and more enthusiastic about gymnastics blogging than ever!

I have to clarify something, for the people that missed my posts: this absence, was not necessarily laziness, the most important argument in my defense is the fact that I had to complete the final project for my masters degree in mid July and the second most relevant is that I am relocating to Rotterdam next moth.

Anyway, with my urban development Masters degree in my pocket, I can focus on gymnastics from now on :P.

Today was a good day for me: I remembered that I was not moving just anywhere on this planet; it's Rotterdam the city of the most important gymnastics competition of 2010. I have to attend, even for one evening, right? Probably I will also go to the qualifications, being on a weekend and all, but for now I just purchased a ticket for the women's team finals, which happens to be my favorite part of any Worlds and the only final that was not sold out (as Rick had already announced a while back).

I am back and happy!