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[Dec 13] Catalina
Ponor wants to return at Romanian gymnastics team
Matei Stanei, former coach of Catalina
Ponor, has announced that he got a phone call from
Catalina (working in Japan for a TV Show), which told him
she wants to go back to training, in March 2007.
"She wants to work hard to get a
Gold medal on BB, at Worlds in 2007 and another Gold at Beijing
Games. I have had her confirmation that she is determined
to returns", said Matei Stanei, which has trained
Catalina
Ponor for European Championships this year.
"To have -again-a place in
the team, Catalina
Ponor must pass through the test of Romanian National
Championships"-has said main coach Nicolae
Forminte during a live TV sport
program at OTV station, last Sunday. He didn't looks very
enthusiastic or excited about that "news", maybe
because he don't believe in it. Or maybe he don't care, also-
since the goal of the new main coach is to have gymnasts able
to compete at all apparatus, not single-stars which can't
help the team.
"We needed Catalina
Ponor badly for this year Worlds, during the most
difficult moment of Romanian gymnastics since 1981!; she didn't
come to train or to compete-Floarea
Leonida did!-to help the team and her country; if
she wants to return now, it's for her own benefit, not for
the Team" - was told to romanian-gymnastics.com (under
anonymity) a Romanian gymnastics specialist.
The new policy at Romanian Gymnastics
team is to have gymnasts able to compete at all apparatus;
this is a huge step behind the Belu-Bitang era, when Romanian
gymnasts were named by some "code-whores" because
they just use or the backdoors of the older Code of Points
to compete at minimum and
avoid the hard training at Balance Beam. Very few people (in
Romania) did know that "small detail" about the
real level of training and efforts back then.
Another reason why Catalina
Ponor may not get warms greetings on her (very doubtful)
return is that she don't like to train at Deva, she wants
to enjoy her new life at Constanta and still make it through
the team. Her coach, Matei Stanei, does not have a
good relationship with the new team coach, partly because
he thought to be a favorite to take over Belu's position...and
he wasn't, in the end.
There was a big difference this year in the Romanian
gymnastics team training: no more scandals, which have been
started or (secretly) ignited in the past by former coaches
(to help their personal interests of getting more money, to
help them dump the "Old girls", hoping they will
get their hands on the new team and so on).
Catalina is considered to have a bad temper and a "big
mouth" sometime and nobody wants any more scandals; also
because she was the main one to get caught on high outings,
such a bad example must not "contaminate" the new
team of hard working girls.
Conclusion: Catalina
Ponor is a great gymnast; unfortunately her time as
a gymnast seems to be over. Her Beijing dreams? ...And pigs
will fly.
[Dec 30] Catalina's
return: a Romanian gymnastics Fan opinion
Catalina's return:"Stick
It /Again!/ Catalina's Revenge"
I completely agree with
your assessment; it sounds like it would be a bad idea for
Catalina
Ponor to return--most
of all because it sounds like it would hurt team unity.
But in response to the "pigs will fly" conclusion,
I recall another statement I read somewhere a few weeks before
Worlds: "China? yeah, right :-)))" ;-)
Just think about it: Maybe the return of Catalina
Ponor would be just like
that of Haley in the movie "Stick It."
Picture this: Catalina steps into the gym wearing
her street clothes, the girls currently on the team make catty
remarks, Catalina makes cattier remarks, Catalina disrespects
the coach, coach and Catalina both agree that Catalina needs
to train at a separate gymnasium until she's back in shape
and ready to play nice. Catalina begins to focus, the other
athletes show their more vulnerable sides, and tears are cried.
Catalina takes the girls out for a night on the town (with
the help of two cute guys), friendships are born, and the
team unites as one to become gymnastics rebels who turn the
sport upside down! Actually, yes, pigs will
fly.
Andrew
www.kingpigeon.com
Answer:
Catalina
Ponor is a very ambitious gymnast, one
of the most ambitious Romanian Gymnastics has vere had and
if she really, really want this, she can do it!
However, for the team unity and the new
politics of Romanian gymnastics team (having 4-apparatus,
longer careers gymnasts)... I'm afraid "Her" era
is gone. For ever.
If she was serious about return, she wouldn't
have had filled the forms for the monthly pension at all.
She has started the discussions about being injured-when
the Team really needed her badly this year for Worlds...then
suddenly she... was healthy again (?) enough to train for
a $$how in Japan, then again..."injured" (our distance
diagnosis: too bored to train hard again, even for a show)
means for us she haven't made her minds, but still wanting
the top of cream from both "worlds": being on top,
as a successful gymnast and being also a tabloid-star one.
She can't have both.
Related:
[August 8] The
Countdown for Worlds Championships has begun
Romanian Gymnastics News Archive.
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