Sad news from Izvorani

Tamarjan and Patrascu have retired! 


In an interview for Prosport, Mariana Bitang said it was Cerasela's decision to retire, she simply didn't want to continue; while in Anamaria's case it was a decision influenced by her parents and the coaches because she has some back problems.

Asked whether there are any health problems among the gymnasts in the national team, Bitang said that the only injury is Diana Bulimar's but she underwent a knee arthroscopy and she is recovering well. Bitang also said that 6 juniors have started to train with the big girls (probably Bulimar, Madalina Neagu, Larisa Iordache, Diana Rusu, Beatrice Margarit and Maria Balea), some of them will become seniors next year, some in 2012.

About Sandra Izbasa's desire to continue: "She is a boost for the other girls. Sandra is also motivated by the progress she sees in others, and she is constantly improving her routines; she has reached a maturity that allows to realise that she can be rewarded for all the hard work she has done for years".

Six months have passed since Bellu and Bitang have returned to the national team, the period of adjustment is over "Now we know each other and we finally speak the same language.".

Read the entire interview in Prosport.

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

Why was TopGym a success for the Romanians

At last week's meeting, Romania was represented by Adela Florea (borne in 2000) and Madalina Blendea (1999). They finished the all around competition 14th and 24th respectively (having very low uneven bars D scores: under 3.0) but they impressed me and many others.

The reasons: great beam skills, nice height on floor and vault, espacially Madalina Blendea is pretty artistic for such a young gymnast.

But I liked the most is what they did on their weak event: the uneven bars. Of course they don't shine - they have form breaks and all- but the good news is that there are Romanian gymnasts that are learning release moves from 10! Both Madalina and Adela presented a Gienger release and none of them missed it. 

Madalina:

Adela:

 

the eleven year old Madalina Blendea

via GymExaminer


She is so polished and elegant (and born in 1999). I love her!

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

Worlds 2010 gymnastics montages

one from 21najafast

or watch here 

and the other from pikedjaeger

or watch here

Both of them are really nice. Everybody has a thing for Rebecca Bross' beam fall; it's one of those images that stay with you for a long time.

Best Romanians on Uneven Bars (based on the number of Olympic and World medals)

They say that Romanians are weak on Uneven Bars but since Nadia's Olympic gold in 1976, there have been some quite ok if  not great bars workers  representing this country. I have put together a table of  the most decorated. Unfortunately, it is quite obvious from this table that they become rarer and rarer, if we look at the frequency of world medals in the past 20 years  (one medal every 7-9 years)

  1. Daniela Silivas 3 gold (1987, 1988, 1989) 

or watch here

  2. Emilia Eberle 2 bronze one silver (1978, 1979, 1980) 

or watch it here

  3. Nadia Comaneci one gold (1976) 

or here

  3. Lavinia Milosovici one gold (1992)

or here

  4. TeodoraUngureanu one silver (1976)

or here

  4. Ecaterina Szabo one silver (1983) 

or here

  4. Lavinia Agache one silver (1983 - tie with Szabo) 

or here

  4. Oana Petrovschi one silver (2002) 

or here

  5. Melita Ruhn one bronze (1980)

or here

  5. Mirela Pasca one bronze (1992)

or watch here

  5. Andreea Cacovean one bronze (1993) 

or here

  5. Ana Porgras one bronze (2009)

or watch here 

  

  My top three would have to be -on 1st Comaneci and Silivas  and on 3rd Teodora Ungureanu or Oana Petrovschi. What are your favorite Romanians on uneven bars?

10 years after Sydney... Andreea Raducan's book

I do think she has something to say... I will definitely buy it.

From Prosport

It was requested by the people that love gymnastics, by the ones that in 2000 gathered in the streets to support me. It's a sign of appreciation and a way of thanking them. It's a nice story about life, about gymnastics, that mostly happened because of what happened in Sydney because otherwise I would have been just a gymnast with a nice career.

(I wrote this  book) because I do have a bit of experience in the media, I have a master's degree in journalism but also because this year marked the 10th aniversary of Sydney Olympics. I remember that immediately after many journalists were asking where do I see myself in 10 years. Some of the things I said then happened, others are about to happen so this is kind of an answer to that question as well.

There are also many funny moments, for instance the one after the team finals in Ghent, when we thought that we should celebrate winning the world title and ordered Room Service after the lights had to go off. Imagine some kids, in the middle of the night begging the waiter to take their money so that the order doesn't show on the check for the coaches to see. Then how we tried to take the tray trolley out of the room and what happened when Mrs. Bitang found out.

The book will hopefully be published next month.These days, we will solve the problem with the publishing house, then with all the photos that will be published because the most important moments in each chapter will  be illustrated.

Andreea wrote this book thinking of her father who passed away a few years ago. "we promissed each other many thing but unfortunately we didn't manage to do everything."

Cati Szabo's years of suffering

About a month ago, while we were too concentrated on the 2010 Worlds, GSP has published a "super reportage" about Ecaterina Szabo, the 1984 Olympics gold medallist.

A short interview:

Cati, what was the thing that most marked you as a gymnast?

The hunger! I can say that I truly learnt what suffering from hunger means. If I had to name the most difficult to bare thing from the period when I was an elite athlete, that would be the diet. You must be tough in order to overcome this.

But you were still managing to run away to find sweets...

It was very difficult because we were permanently watched but I remember a cute episode that happened in Moscow, i was with Daniela Silivas. After the contest we went to the tribune and started to beg for money: "Please, one rubla". Anything was good, not just money.

I imagine that you were as well among the ones that were severely punished by Bela Karoly...

I am the type that does not like to live through the memories of 30 years ago. I turned the page and moved on. But I do not regret anything that happened! Emilia Eberle called me last year to ask me if I will tell what I endured from Karoly. She spoke, that is her business! I think it does not make sense to put myself against Bela! I now live another part of my life's story and it did not make sense to go back in time.

But didn't you remain with certain frustrations from the bad treatments?

You know what? We were just kids. Drones! We didn't really care about what was around us. We only knew this: contests, trainings, rest and diet.

What victories do you consider the best?

The ones from the Olympics but also the ones from the '83 Worlds. It was the only competition abroad when a part of my family was with me: my mother, brother and grandmother. I am still surprised that they let them come in Hungary.

Cati's present suffering

She suffers from a rare form of hernia and she had a spine surgery which kept her in bed for 4 months. Cati, now 42, lives in France, in Chamalieres with her husband and two sons: 7 years old Zeno and 14 years old Lorenzo. Now, she can do regular household activities only after her daily dose of morphine.

Szabo, who has spinal disc herniation on four vertebrae, underwent a first surgery on March 30, 2010 but the problems have not ceased to exist. "The first sign was on May 16, 2008. Zeno and I had come back from shopping and I wanted to pick up some bags and water bottles. I made two steps and I got stuck. I don't know how I got house. Then, when the crises began, it was very painful. I could no longer breathe, my right leg has almost paralysed, i could not feel my toes. For three or four months I stayed in bed, I had infiltrations.

Consequences of the effort done as an athlete? "I don't think so. Maybe it just made the disease worse, in time. The doctors told me that they have seen people who have never done sports and have the same problems. Just that mine is a more atypical hernia. The truth is, however, that, when I was an athlete, I had never an X-ray done to know that there might be such a problem. "

After the surgery, she has gone through dramatic moments: "I was like a baby. My husband, Cris, and the boys helped me go to the toilet! They fed me, dressed me, brushed my hair,  washed me. Now I am more active, but nobody told me if I would ever recover completely. For the moment, without a daily dose of morphine, I can't get started! I have fierce leg pains because the nerve from my back that has branches to the legs is strangled and this causes many problems. It is very difficult!"

Interesting facts:


Born in Zagon, Covasna, Szabo did not know a word in Romanian when she was sent to Onesti in the first grade: "I found myself among strangers and did not understand anything. I only knew to raise the hand in the classroom when I needed to go to the toilet. Luckily, my sister, ten years older, was also there and helped me to fit in "

The former gymnast's true name is Katalin Szabo, but the communists wanted to change her identity to hide the Hungarian origin.I woke up one day with the name changed in my password: Ecaterina Szabo. I do not know now who has made this change. But I heard more people inside the federation: "Look this "bozgoroaica" is coming with us again".
You can read the entire article here.

some nice pictures

Source: OK! Magazine


There is also a small article, you can find everything here.