[Nov 30] Gymnastics fans comments over (stupid) Belgian/SID article
I think it's too early to jump to conclusions. Isn't it interesting, if the quotation is true, that Belu and Bitang would jump to such as "One day we'll hear our girls had group sex". Where does that come from!? With so much drama surrounding Romanian gymnastics one would expect a little bit more patience. (...)
rolliefrog

Ponor has never said that she was planning to pose nude. What is the matter with everyone? Khorkina has posed nude and the Germans didn't write an article about how sad that was. And they are ones to talk about programs falling apart. (...) And frankly, the tone of the article didn't sound all that sympathetic to me, more like "ha ha, you should have left the dictators in place" instead of "isn't it sad that this storied program with this long history of success is having so much trouble right now."
kinggirl

...and in any event the Romanians are pretty good at getting their gymnasts into and through college. Amanar, Gogean, Milo, Olaru all went to college and all have worked actively within the sport since their retirement as coaches, judges etc. None of the gymnasts referred to in the article have made a career out of nude modeling - any of those who have posed for nude shots seem to have done it only once and for the money before moving on with the rest of their lives.
doubledouble

                              THE COMMENT OF THE WEEK

The Romanian for the last 2 quads have done poorly individually for the last to worlds and overall are very practical!!! The majority of the team does the minimum to get by with decent score, which is why they lost in Atlanta, which they performed the same as they always did, just the US and Russia had a better day of hitting all the big skills.
Everyone believes Belu was the best, I think he was another Archiave (spelling) of Russia, who (if you have IG mag) would see how he killed off other coaches so he could have all the glory, common Archeiave, you can't be that good of a coach, besides none of your personal gymasts were the back bone a the team.

So with Belu gone, I think Romanian will produce more artistic gymnasts. Remember Alexandra Marinescu? She had big skills, but since she was from the Bucharest Team, Belu took her out of the AA a few times and put her on the back burner, I am sure there are other gymnast out there who come from Alexandra gym, but have been ignored because of Belu.

Romania's priority is winning gold a big competitions, that's why they skipped the 2002 Euro team comp. They have done this before. Imagine if they try real hard, you think in 2008 everyone will be like "Romania is good, after all they are the 2005 team champs" ...NO. No one cares who won worlds the year after the Olympics, It's mainly scavengers, which is how khorkina picked up to AA titles (except 2003, the best).
I am not degrading Khorkina or the Romanians, I am just explaining their tactics. So, everyone get off your high pony, Romanian cannot be judged by this one competition.
JUDGING 101

[Nov 30] RGF President Nicolae Vieru dosen't believe in "China offer"
RealitateaTv, the Romanian all news channel, aired a statement of RGF President Nicolae Vieru, made at the team arival from Worlds.
Photo left: RGF President Vieru, Marian Dragulescu (middle) and ANS President
Rompres photo

Vieru, about B&B and their China offer:"I don't believe in such a thing; I have asked the Chinese delegation and they told me that B&B may go there for lecturing only";
if B&B can return at team: "If they want to work with us, we can work with them, the door is open". Somebody close that door, pronto!
Catalina Ponor said she don't believe they (WAG) could have better results at Worlds with B&B at team. Marian Dragulescu said he does expected better results, but the MAG contest level was very high.

[Nov 30] Quote of the week
"Nothing beats the feeling you get when you see our flag being raised to the tune of the national anthem.You always get what you pray for. And this we can achieve through pure merit and hard work. We don’t need a million votes, only medals."
(Former Philippine President Corazon Aquino at the Rizal Memorial Coliseum yesterday to watch the gymnastics event in which the daughter of her former spokesman was competing.see story "Politics takes a backseat at SEAG" )

December 1st- Romanian National Day
Corina Ungureanu, to appear in the "Star's Revenge" show at Antena1
Former Romanian gymnastics champion and...Playmate Corina Ungureanu is among the top stars to have an appearance in the Antena1 special Romanian National Day (Dec 1st) show "Star's Revenge"(aired from 17,00). Another sport star, boxing World Champion Leonard Doroftei will take part in the show. Also on the Mihaela Radulescu show from same Antena1, some gymnastics reportages will be aired. Most TV channels will have stories about Romanian gymnastics, due to the large popularity of this sport in Romania.

The secret behind Catalina's bad mood at Worlds: her medical problems
A Romanian sport tabloid (Prosport original here) has revealed the main cause of Catalina's bad mood at Worlds: she was in her "bad days" and first time when she has to compete despite that.
I have to remind you that due to the hard training, any girl doing gymnastics didn't have her period come until...18 years or so. Apart from facing a high pressure from the Romanian public and the whole World, Catalina was facing her own young female body confronting her. In the end, we can only appreciate her for the effort, since she was the only Olympic champion to compete at Worlds.
This is why I say the Romanian gymnastics has produced real "Stars" (who glows up even after Olympics), rather than Karoly-US gymnastics, which rather produce..."comets": their girls shine (mostly) once, at Olympics, after that they disappear from the Sky of gymnastics.
Of course, both types are nice to see and enrich the Sky...

Belu's (stupid) remark on girls, hard criticized by gym fans
On the (otherwise stupid) Belgian article on Romanian gymnastics, at least one of the quotes was true, based on March statement of Belu: "One day we'll hear our girls had group sex". Gym fans have some comments for him:
"That's pretty icky coming from a coach. Imagine if an American coach made such a remark. I don't know that he would still be coaching-in the U.S. anyway" (Shap's 1ArmPlan)
I'm pretty sure he would not be coaching in the U.S. anymore after saying something like that. Most parents of young girls don't want to entrust their kids to guys who talk about their daughters possible participation in group sex. Not that he should be coaching young girls in any country....(Smarty Jones)

[Nov 29] SID: The Romanian gymnasts are not competitive anymore
The German newswire Society for Information Display (SID) commented on the weak performances of the Romanian gymnasts at the Melbourne World's, saying the new standing is due to the fact Mariana Bitang and Octavian Belu are not in charge of the Olympic Team anymore.
"Having a sophisticated cell phone and a short top with a low cut, Catalina Ponor drew attention at the opening festivity in Melbourne.

left-the Belgian journalist preparing for the article

But the performances of the former Athens triple Olympic champion were less attractive," said Grenz Echo.

[Looks like Belgium still have those manual-action phone from the last century; or maybe the low-paid (doesn't surprise me, looking at his crap articles) *journalist* never saw a quality mobile phone. Catalina is a top gymnast, Olympic champion-good to her she is up to date with her phone, it's her work.]

[Nov 29] Star Wars, Worlds episode: Clone's revenge over the Stars
We can say that the amazing (predictable) results of the US gymnasts in Melbourne are a nice victory of Karoly's. Years after they had "cloned"the Romanian gymnastics system into the US, they can get a(nother) victory over the former Stars. A temporary one, I might say, because the Romanian gymnastics have a long history of reborn from her own ashes.
"Not since the Soviet Union boycotted the 1984 Olympics has the American women's gymnastics team done so well in a major international competition. That year, the Americans won eight of 18 medals with a major competitor absent. But with four golds, four silvers and a bronze last week, the new generation of American gymnasts showed they were top of the world Down Under. Nastia Liukin, Chellsie Memmel and Alicia Sacramone produced the American women's best performance in a world championships, winning nine of the 15 individual medals.

[Nov 29] Good Bye, Perfect Ten!
Worlds was the last international gymnastics competition to use the 10-point scoring system, etched into history by Nadia Comaneci's unparalleled performance at the 1976 Olympics.
Officials from the International Gymnastics Federation, or FIG, officially approved a new code of points this week. Effective Jan. 1, gymnasts will receive a combination of two scores – a 10-point mark for execution and an open-ended mark for difficulty.
Bruno Grandi, the federation's president, said the new system would allow judges to "differentiate between the gymnasts" and open the door for athletes to hold records for high scores.

[Nov 28] Cash prizes for Romanian gymnasts, Worlds medalists
The National Sport Agency has announced cash rewards for the Worlds medalists: Catalina Ponor, Marian Dragulescu, Ioan Suciu and Alin Jivan will share a total of 41 000 RON (like $14 000).

Nadia Comaneci and Andreea Raducan, among Romania's "Top 10"
Nadia Comaneci and Andreea Raducan are among the Romania's most beloved (popular) athletes. RealitateaTv (the all news Romanian national channel) made a research, using polls institutes, to get the results for most popular Romanians in various fields-politics, sports, journalists and so on. Sunday evening, Andreea Raducan was the special guest at the launch of this program, called "10 for Romania". The finals results will be concluded next weeks.

[Nov 28] Belu & Bitang says they will not return
Resting in Milano (where B&B are taking their long wait honeymoon* holiday) , Bitang said for RealitateaTV station that "she will never return at the Olympic team." Shall we consider this as a promise? Amen!
* I would recommend Belu to consider Venice, it's been known as the most romantic place in Italy.
Bitang also said (during the phone interview for RealitateaTV) that she doesn't know how did Gazeta (today article) jumped to the conclusion that B&B want to return at team. We may think about their past "will not come back" , or the January "final" resign. Belu said for "Gardianul" (Nov 26) "We don't have a final decision yet, soforth we are willing to negotiate with anybody. Anything is possible, even to return in Romanian gymnastics, if they want us." Case closed: they do hope for a return. They always do..

[Nov 28] Marian Dragulescu feeling "fantastic"
Romania's Marian Dragulescu vaulted his way to a gold medal with an average score of 9.750 out of 10, after giving a disappointing show in Saturday's floor exercise final, in which he came seventh. His first vault - a high-flying handspring double front somersault with a half turn -- scored 9.750 out of 10. His second fault scored 9.637 out of 10. "I feel fantastic," he said. "I don't know what happened yesterday, it wasn't my day, I was just going to make sure it didn't happen again."

[Nov 27] Surprises (good & bad) for Romanian gymnastics at Worlds
As much as Floarea Leonida has surprised everybody by finishing on 6th in AA contest, Catalina Ponor surprised the Romanian gymnastics fans by loosing the Gold medal at "her"apparatus-balance beam. Nastia had a good evolution, but I can't say she won, but rather Catalina lost...

[Nov 26] Worlds Champ/ Ioan Suciu- Silver at pommel horse (9.700)

 Artistic World Championships Melbourne 2005 - Results

[Nov 26] Belu & Bitang dosen't have a job offer in China
According to an article on sina.com, Gao Jian, head of the Chinese gym federation, has denied making an offer to Belu and Bitang. Apparently, B & B have been invited to Beijing for a series of lectures in early 2006, but nothing beyond that. Gao Jian doesn't know how the international media got the idea that the Chinese Federation planned to hire B & B as coaches or technical advisors.
Romanian gymnastics fans opinions about B&B *offer* in China...

   Artistic World Championships Melbourne 2005 - Results

Romanian born introduce a new exercise discipline
[Lucknow, India]: Move over Pilates, here come Gyrotonics(jy-ro-TON-ics). The exercise discipline, introduced by Romanian-born Juliu Horvath, uses key principles of gymnastics, swimming, kundalini yoga and ballet. It basically combines the flexibility of yoga, the strength of weight training and has the stretching benefits of Pilates. Gyrotonics works major muscle groups without the usual bouncing or jumping. It requires users to sit in a wooden device that has hand and foot operated wheelbases and pulley suspensions that allow close to 130 variations on 50 pre-set exercises. Twists, turns, bends and stretches with the help of the pulleys ensure a fitter, more flexible body. Check at your neighbourhood gym.

Worlds at TVR1
Sunday, Nov 27/ 05,00 - LIVE from Melbourne; 9,55- 10,55 (recorded)

Worlds apparatus finals on Sunday- Catalina Ponor, going for Gold
"I want the gold at balance beam, of course.I won't ever go to a major competition unless I think I'll get gold, and that's how I'm going to Melbourne." - Catalina Ponor

Best Worlds prediction- the US gymnastics system won
“We’ve shown that this generation right behind the Olympic team is at the same level. I think the US can win every single event. We are the only system in the world staying on top in all of the meets. I believe our system will win this time.”-US coach coach Mihai Brestyan (story here)
To all those naives (mostly k-i-@ *journalists*) who still cry after B&B left the team: maybe it's time for Romanian gymnastics to make some changes and look in the future, not in the (dark) past. And NO, the US gymnastics system is not the "B&B's system " copy, as Belu has suggested every time. US gymnastics have the national camp, but not for the full year, they have (our 80's practice) a real competing system of choosing the best team members for each event (rather than our old system of club's influence, B&B's likes and dislikes or..."we don't have anybody else to send" situations). The US gymnasts were not told to lie their own parents about their medical situation or abuses; club coaches are working tighter with the national coaches (instead of being treated like shit or ignored by B&B's).

The hidden cost of China's hunger for Olympic gold
"I've been thinking about it a lot. I was wondering whether it's a kind of Western approach, compared to an Eastern approach. [But] at the end of the day, I definitely think those kids were being abused." - Mathew Pinsent
CHINA'S determination to breed a generation of gold medal winners for the 2008 Beijing Olympics was last night under intense scrutiny after a leading British Olympic medallist professed that he was shocked and disturbed by the training methods he witnessed there. Sir Matthew Pinsent, the four-time rowing gold medallist, claimed that gymnasts as young as five were routinely beaten as part of their training regime.

Urzica to bid farewell in gymnastics World Championships
MELBOURNE -- Legendary Marius Urzica of Romania will bid his passionate farewell to the gymnastics arena during the 38th world championships. The 30-year-old has confirmed after his podium training that he would retire after the Melbourne world championships. "I think this will be my last competition," said Urzica, asked on his future in gymnastics and whether that includes an appearance at the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games.

Worlds - echoes after AA contest
"No British gymnast, male or female, has attained her level in the all-round competition. To finish fourth was absolutely sensational" (story)

Quote of the week
"That's what high school sports should be about, learning and have fun,'' she said.It's not about pressure and worrying about who will be the best.''
Hartland High School coach Alicia Herpick (story here)

[Nov 25] Floarea Leonida, looking for Beijing Olympics
After making the "Surprise of the Year"(the good one, bad ones we have had enough) by placing the 6th on AA contest, Floarea Leonida said for TVR1: " I knew I'm going to be on first places, I was thinking even about 3rd-4th place. I am very glad I didn't fall and I don't think about retire at all; I want to go for 2008 Olympics!."

[Nov 25] Nastia Liukin about Catalina Ponor on TVR1
Romanian State TVR1 aired tonight a shocking (in good sense) short interview with Nastia Liukin. Asked about Catalina Ponor, Nastia said that she admire her, she is a very good gymnast on beam and Fx (maybe this interview was taken before Fx qualif.), an Olympic champion which has all her consideration...
related stories: Memmel Edges Liukin to Take World Gymnastics Title


[Nov 25] Floarea Leonida - the 2006 team leader?
Floarea Leonida come to Worlds as an outsider and return home on 6th place at AA competition. If she will have a nice evolution during finals, we may see her as the 2006 Olympic team leader.
Worlds Championships results-Womens AA competition

[Nov25] Tomita restores Japanese supremacy
Hiroyuki Tomita, 25-year-old student in the Juntendo University, restored the pride to Japan, by convincingly winning men's all-around title in the 38th world championships in Melbourne on Thursday. After the first two apparatus it became clear that the fight would be for the bronze medal and this position changed continuously between Russian Sergei Khorokhordin, Dimitri Savitski of Belarus, Romanian Dorin Razvan Selariu and Rafael Martinez of Spain.

[Nov24] Liukin leads American charge into final
MELBOURNE: United States pair Nastia Liukin and Chellsie Memmel posted the top two scores in qualification for the womens' all round final at the World Gymnastics Championships yesterday. Liukin, widely considered to be the person to beat for the all around title, posted 37.424 over the four rotations to just pip her compatriot, who scored 37.412.
Olympic champion Catalina Ponor failed to qualify directly for the final of the floor competition after finishing 12th with 9.200. The Romanian could still sneak into the final at the weekend should any of the others pull out with injury or decide to concentrate on other events.Ponor, who won the gold medal on the beam at Athens, produced a double back somersault to end her routine on the apparatus and led qualification with a score of 9.562.

[Nov. 24] B&B lies about China offer, exposed on national television
Romanian national TV Antena1 station aired a story based on our previous Report Romanian Belu's coaching in China uncertain. To cut a long story short, B&B are invited in January in China "to lecture" [only!] to local coaches. Their (one year long) dreams about red-carpet arrival in China and working there are simply...dreams. It's not the first time B&B are inventing abroad offers (to make the State pay them more, each time), but this time it's a good opportunity to make them land on Earth and remind to them they are not Gods, as they thought (and act alike). Of course, they can ruin the beauty of Chinese gymnastics or Alaskan one, if they want, a lot of people keep their finger crossed for their success by going...anywhere they want. As far (from the new Romanian gymnastics Olympic team), as good.

[Nov 24] Ponor enraged at missing final
HER farewell championship marred by a judging dispute, triple Olympic gold medallist Catalina Ponor walked off Rod Laver Arena seething yesterday after failing to advance to the final of the floor exercise. Ponor, who won gold at the Athens Olympics on balance beam and floor, queried her start value of 9.9 for both apparatus after scoring 9.462 and 9.2, respectively. "I do well on all the elements, why didn't he give me 10?" she asked.
"Her exercise (at FX) wasn't bad, it's just that Catalina didn't have the necessary resistance to finish it the best possible way in order to obtain a higher score," Adrian Stoica, general secretary of the Romanian Gymnastics Federation (FRG) said.

[Nov 23] FIG making money on their own mistakes
Catalina Ponor was underscored both at FX at BB during qualifications. For the beam the RGF has made an official complain, paid the requested $300 *stupidity tax* imposed by FIG, the experts have seen the video tape and Catalina had her score increased from 9.462 to 9.562 after the starting value was made higher. Catalina Ponor have told to TVR1 that she felt bad about being underscored both at FX and beam.
Just wonder what kind of tax/ fines should be imposed to the referees who made mistakes. Bruno's (acrobatic mostly ) gymnastics is going down deeper until something will be done about those "mistakes" of referees.

[Nov 23] Catalina Ponor rule on Beam; Floarea Leonida-a nice surprise
Catalina Ponor got the highest mark on balance beam, 9,562 -proving once again that she Rule on beam...until the end of her career. Bravo Catalina!
Catalina on floor is a different story, only two months of serious training (after the B&B's lack of interest in the team training, past 12 months) was not enough to re-build something. Still, nice that she has tried and she got only 9,200, so no finals for her on FX.Nothing can stop her to get the Gold medal on beam, so..."Tare, Catalina!" She deserve it and we keep our fingers crossed!
Floarea Leonida, a regular "tourist competitor" at abroad competition, made a nice surprise (good evolution...comparing to her track record) and ranked 14 at AA qualif (35.249): vault-8,975, UB-9,287, BB-8,137 and FX-8,850.
AA qualifications: 1) Anastasia Liukin -37.424; 2) Chelsie Memmel -37.412;
3) Monette Russo 37.262.


[Nov23] Romanian Belu's coaching in China uncertain
MELBOURNE, Australia, Nov. 23 (Xinhuanet) -- The reported Romanian coach Octavian Belu's possible move to China is not guaranteed, a Chinese gymnastics official said here on Wednesday. Chinese team leader Zhang Peiwen told Xinhua during the ongonig world championships that the Chinese Gymnastics Association did have contacts with the legendary coach, who led Romanian women's team to gold at last year's Athens Olympics but resigned in August. Zhang, however, stressed the contact was only through a third party and the two sides had no direct dialogue yet. "Beru is going to visit China and lecture our coaches. The situation is like that and no further plan has been decided up to now," he said.

[Nov23] Japan lead way in all-around
Japan and South Korea took three of the top four spots in the qualifying round of the men's all-around competition at the world gymnastics championships yesterday. The two biggest upsets of the individual event qualifiers were the elimination of the top-ranked gymnast on pommel horse, Marius Urzica of Romania, and Olympic champion Igor Cassina of Italy on the high bar. Athens silver medalist, Romanian Marian Dragulescu, took the top spot on the floor exercise Tuesday, scoring 9.637 out of a possible 10. South Korean Yang Tae-young, who narrowly missed winning the all-around competition in Athens after a scoring error gave the gold to American Paul Hamm, placed sixth in his only event at this championship - the parallel bars. He scored 9.662 out of a possible 10.

[Nov22]Urzica missed the finals
Marius Urzica failed to qualify in the Melbourne finals at his signature event, the pommel horse, scoring just 9.025. Top-ranked gymnast Marius Urzica missed the qualifications for the pommel horse finals and parallels in the Melbourne World Championships yesterday. Urizca finished the pommel horse event in 23rd place after faulting near the end of his routine and scoring just 9.025 on his signature event. On the parallels Urizca was graded 8.700. The gymnast had declared this would be his last international competition and he was visibly upset as he left the podium...

Romanian gymnastics fans opinions-Letter of the Week
Hello!
I'm a big fan of gymnastics and sports in general.
It's sad to hear all this stories of disappointed and injured gymnasts due to "bad" coaches in Romania and of course in other countries too!
I believe that you can achieve good results with hard work and good coaching, for example Carly Pattersson, Domenique Dawes are two good examples of that! Hopefully things will be better now when B and B leave the country.
I have followed Romanian gymnasts since the days of Nadia and I know a lot of girls who didn't reach their goals because of bad coaches....
We have got information about Melita Ruhn and Rodica Dunca, how awful it was for them when Bela wanted to take the title in Worlds 79. He didn't even allowed them to drink water!! Is this the reason why Bela went to US? Obviously he trained a lot of girls too hard!
Yours sincerely,
Stellan Bjorck / Sweden

romanian-gymnastics.com: Bela Karoly has faced same "silent"opposition from late 70's Romanian coaches, as Belu faced past years...

Romania coaches Belu and Bitang looking overseas
BUCHAREST, Nov 21 (Reuters) - Coaches Octavian Belu and Mariana Bitang, who led Romania's women's Olympic team to gold at the 2004 Athens Games, plan to work for another country after resigning in August. "Our aim, mine and Belu's, has always been to win so we'll go soon to a country which offers us the best conditions to work," Bitang told Reuters on Monday. "All our contacts are confidential for the moment, at the request of those who made the offers." Sources in the Romanian gymnastics federation said the two could choose China. "Belu and Bitang have to choose between proposals from China, for the Olympic team, and from private clubs from the United States," one federation source told Reuters...

Marius Urzica to bid farewell in gymnastics world championships
MELBOURNE, Nov. 20 (Xinhuanet) -- Legendary Marius Urzica of Romania will bid his passionate farewell to the gymnastics arena during the 38th world championships to kick off here on Tuesday. The 30-year-old has confirmed after his podium training that he would retire after the Melbourne world championships. "I think this will be my last competition," said Urzica, asked on his future in gymnastics and whether that includes an appearance at the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games. He is among the most successful pommel horse gymnasts in world championships with three gold medals, equal to the performance of DPRK's Pae Gil-Su, Hungarian Zoltan Magyar and Miroslav Cerar from former Yugoslavia. The Romanian veteran did not give his plan after retirement buthe had said his ambition was to become a great coach.

[Nov 20] Sandra Izbasa on modern (acrobatic) vs. old (beautiful) gymnastic
Romanian ProTv aired a short (older) material filmed in Deva. Speaking about the beauty of "older" gymnastics- Nadia at Montreal- they showed some of those "Perfect 10" moments, then asked little Sandra (stupid question) like "What do you think about Nadia's exercises, how they look to you now?" Sandra took a moment and, smiling as usual, said "Seems easier for me now." Stupid question, right answer. Problem is, you can't compare...

IOC Consensus Statement on Training the Elite Child Athlete 
Having identified “Training the Elite Child Athlete” as a theme to be carefully studied, the IOC Medical Commission (MC) last week held a meeting in Lausanne.
Coordinated by Margo Mountjoy M.D, member of the IOC MC and Lyle Micheli M.D., of the Harvard Medical School, discussions involved a group of experts including leading paediatric sports medicine and scientific experts from around the world as well as a retired elite child athlete.
During the meeting, relative scientific literature was reviewed and safe guidelines were produced for the training of the elite child athlete. At the end of its two-day meeting, the group of experts adopted a consensus...

[Nov 19] B&B offer for China has been partially confirmed*
Romanian TVR1 (the official State channel) has (somehow) confirmed that B&B are having negotiations with China officials...
[Nov 20] The B&B's offer for China is confirmed by the transcript of TVR1 news aired last night and the Prosport article.

[Nov 19] Nadia's 10, among the best athletic achievements
Forbes.com has a poll asking fans to vote for which athletic achievement they wish they had seen in person. Romanian gymnastics fans can can vote in the Forbes poll, by answering to their question: "What feat would you have liked to witness most?". For the moment, Nadia's achievement is leading the poll.

[Nov 15] "Geniali" Tv show (2nd part) is replayed today, from 13,45 to 15,15.

[Nov 14] Romanian gymnastics team left for Worlds


[Nov 13] Alexandra Marinescu, backing up B&B's ... Surprise?
Personal message: Dear DocM and ggmb gym *lovers*, I hope this news will ruin your Sunday as it ruined mine: Marinescu was in the "Geniali"show. Minutes ago the second part have started to be aired in Romania and Belu himself has presented Marinescu -showing a sad-figure. She looks like she was there against her will, disgusted, but still there in her red dress...

[Nov 12] Nadia Comaneci- the very first "Perfect 10" World Citizen
"The world's first perfect gymnast"
By BRUCE LOWITT ,
from "Top 100 Sport Stories of the Century"

"The silence was broken only by the sounds of clicking -- hundreds of cameras capturing the moment.
What they caught was perfection. Nadia Comaneci, the 14-year-old Romanian, arched in midair for an instant on her dismount from the uneven parallel bars, then the feet supporting her 4-foot-11, 86-pound body landed softly on the mat.
The silence was shattered by an explosion of cheering and applause that, after a few seconds, turned to consternation. Flashing on the electronic scoreboard was 1.00. It took a moment for the 18,000 spectators at the Forum to realize that Comaneci had, in effect, outperformed modern technology."

[Nov 11] Catalina Ponor and Floarea Leonida are going to Worlds
Catalina Ponor and Floarea Leonida are the only Romanian (women) gymnasts which are going to compete at Worlds later this month.They were chosen after the today trial, announced Prima TV station this evening. Of course Catalina is (almost) a sure bet for Worlds, Floarea is going to help Catalina get a place in a better group...and maybe to entertain the referees, as she did when competing abroad (her recent landing in head was both funny and sad). Or maybe Floarea is earning miles for a new RGF traveler club, who knows.

[Nov 10] Alexandra Marines (sad) story at "Acasa" TV

[Nov 7] Marius Urzica, backing a change at RGF

TV Alert : B &B at "Genialii" Antena 1 show
Friday, November 11 (from 20,30 to 23,00)-First part and Sunday 13 (from 21,30 to 23,45)-Second part. Romanians can see B&B and some of the Romanian top gymnasts during a 2+2 hours show at Antena 1. The replay of the first part is on Saturday from 15,45 to 18,30; the second part is replayed on Nov 15, from 13,45 to 15,15.

Romanian gymnastics during 80's

[Nov 2] Romanian gymnastics: The Revolution is close
15 years after the communism went down in Romania (or at least we like to think so), a new era may start soon in Romanian gymnastics, finally.

November Birthdays on Romanian gymnastics:
3:Monica Zahiu; 8:Anca Grigoras; 12:Nadia Comaneci; 13:Teodora Ungureanu 16:Aurelia Dobre; 18:Mihaela Cojocaru; 19:Beatrice Tistu; 22:Carmen Ionescu 24:Cristina Sabau

TV alert: Nadia Comaneci documentary & interview on TVR2

Romanian Gymnastics News Archive.

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