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20th April 2007 Source: Sport Total

Catalina Ponor will be absent from the Europeans in Amsterdam

After not competing at official competitions for a year, Catalina Ponor came back last weekend during the Romanian Internationals in Ploiesti, where she performed on beam outside of the competition. The leaders of the Federation have decided that the gymnast will not participate at the European Championships in Amsterdam, which will start on the 26th of April.
Matei Stanei: 'Catalina wanted so much to defend her title on beam, but in the end she understands the decision that we took together with the Federation, it's better for her to not force it now. Even the doctors at the Medical Centre have recommended me to take things gradually with her. She is very ambitious and progresses very quickly, but the training period has been very short. Matei Stanei even consulted former coaches Belu and Bitang, who were both present in Ploiesti.
Stanei has decided to leave the gym in Bucharest and they went back to Constanta where Catalina will follow her usual program until mid May.
Stanei: 'I want to enter her into some International competitions because in August we're going to the Universade in Thailand and I would like her to get some competitions under her belt. We will go to Ghent, Belgium on the 12th- 13th of May or to Moscow, Russia on the 25th-26th of May for the World Cup. We haven't decided which competition to go to yet.
I have presented Catalina's Olympic training schedule to the Romanian Olympic Committee. She will train on floor, beam and vault and on floor she will perform two new elements unseen at Worlds. We are training for Worlds in Stuttgart (1-9 September). She already shown a new mount on beam in Ploiesti.'

Catalina Ponor: 'Although I consider myself recovered from Scarlet Fever, it seems like I will have to wait until the next European Championships to compete. Now I will cross my fingers for the girls in front of the tv. I wish to double my efforts because I want to achieve results at Worlds and the Olympics in Beijing in 2008.'

Mariana Bitang: 'For Catalina to take part at the Europeans would have been of little relevan. I hope she will go to Stuttgart and win a gold medal, the only one that she misses in her career.'

Steliana was interviewed for Gazeta and talked about controling her emotions better because after all, up and coming Europeans will be her second Senior European Championships. Even though the opponents in Ploiesti weren't that strong, she still had nerves competing and managed to control them this time.
Stela would be happy with any medal she can win at Europeans. About the Europeans in 2004 she said: 'The most funny thing I remember was that at the individual competition, when I came into the hall, the podium was positioned differently so I stood there with my back facing the flags! Lucky thing that Vanessa Ferrari drew my attention to let me know I had to turn around.'
Steliana has trained very hard to get back to the top of gymnastics. Has she anything to prove to someone? 'In the first place I wanted to prove that to myself. The opinion of other people doesn't matter that much to me.'

15th April 2007

Unfortunately Sandra Izbasa had to withdraw from the apparatus finals today due to an ankle injury.
Steliana performed really well and won 2 golds and a silver medal in her 3 event finals, looking particularly strong on beam and physically very toned. Steliana lost out for the gold on floor by a small margin to Aluissa Lacusteanu, who also did very well considering she has been suffering with anemia during the winter and couldn't train to her full ability.

Event finals results:
Vault:
1. Dominique Pegg (Can) 14.025
2. Cerasela Patrascu 13.975
3. Aluissa Lacusteanu 13.650

Bars:
1. Steliana Nistor 15.800
2. Aluissa Lacusteanu 14.750
3. Dominique Pegg (Can) 14.000

Beam:
1. Steliana Nistor 16.100
2. Andreea Grigore 15.550
3. Charlotte Mackie 14.700

Floor:
1. Aluissa Lacusteanu 15.100
2. Steliana Nistor 15.050
3. Charlotte Mackie 14.000

Catalina Ponor competed on beam, outside the competition, for the first time since last years Europeans and looked very good and slimmed down. She was a bit hesitant on some of her elements but given the fact that she missed out on training due to her illness, she will no doubt be a force to reckon with.

Steliana Nistor wins the Romanian Internationals

On Saturday, Steliana Nistor won the individual competition of the Romanian Internationals held
in Ploiesti with a total score of 61.050 followed by Sandra Izbasa with 60.200 and Canadian Charlotte Mackie with 56.000.
The officials of the Federation were satisfied: 'The girls have done well, in fact really well, referring to our hopes of a medal at Europeans in Amsterdam, Steliana Nistor and Sandra Izbasa. The latter even had an outstanding score on beam, a 16,050 which is very difficult to obtain,' said Mircea Apolzan, the general secretary.

The Romanian Federation has given out the names for Europeans to be held in Amsterdam between the 26th and 29th of April in Amsterdam, Holland. The names on the list are Steliana Nistor, Sandra Izbasa, Aluissa Lacusteanu and Andreea Grigore but it's a provisional list as the names can be changed one day before the competition starts.
The Federation explained that there is a dead-line to enter the 4 gymnasts but it doesn't mean it's a final choice.
In the meantime, Catalina Ponor has recovered from Scarlet Fever and is training well, being only a kilo away from her ideal weight. She had a medical check up which went well. Matei Stanei, Catalina's coach is very pleased about Catalina's progress considering that she lost so much time due to her illness. They will leave for Ploiesti on the 11th of April and then they will decide whether she can go to Amsterdam or not. Stanei:'If she doesn't win gold and doesn't look ready, then we won't go at all. I have a strategy for her which is long term and the goal is Worlds and the Olympics. For the time being, we are only training on beam and floor. We have some new elements in our work but we will show them at the right time.'

Steliana competed at the French International and did quite well. Unfortunately she didn't qualify for the bars final because she fell performing her new element, toe-on to Tkatchev.
She did qualify for beam and floor and looked strong. She fell off beam with her full turn but still finished 4th.
On floor she looked very promising and had a new routine and tumbling. Especially her start, a double layout looked great. Stela finished 6th on floor.

Qualifications:
bars: 13th (6.000 + 7.325 Total: 13.325)
beam: 5th (6.500 + 8.750 Total: 15.250)
floor: 7th (6.000 + 8.550 Total: 14.550)

Finals:
beam: 4th (6.600 + 8.425 Total: 15.025)
floor: 6th (5.900 + 8.700 Total: 14.600)

Catalina Ponor had to take a break from training because of Scarlet Fever. Ponor who was planning to compete at the up and coming Europeans has seen her chances diminish. 'At the moment I'm just thinking of being well, after that I'll see.'

Catalina has also spoken about the girls training in Deva: ‘I talk to Steliana a lot. She’s a very talented girl and ambitious and she has to develop this quality much more. She’s still young. At 17 I was triple Olympic Champion but I don’t doubt the fact that she will win a lot of medals in the future. It is important that she controls her emotions and that she shows what she can really do.’