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For
former news see the newsarchive
24
February 2009
Donation for Stela
As
you have all been reading lately, Steliana has health problems, especially
her hand is giving
her a lot of pain and trouble.
We have been in contact with Steliana and she would like to go to Canada
for treatment but
she doesn't have the financial possibility to do so.
A lot of Steliana's fans from as far away as China, have been emailing
and asking about the possibility to help her financially.
Stela was very touched that her fans would try to do something like
this for her and this is
what she wrote in an email:
'Hy to all my fans
A message from me to all my fans:
I apreciate what you do for me and I'm happy that you didn't forget
me.
Even now im not in gimnastics. Im happy that you think about me and
about my health, and I
am happy you try to help me, because the law is not obligate to give
me money for my health.
I thank you again for everything and for all my fans a big hug.
Stela.'
The plan is the following:
You can donate through PayPal by using
this email address: rusty@steliana-nistor.net
It
is the easiest and safest way to donate money as receiving a personal
payment (ie a gift) is free if the sender uses their PayPal balance
or their bank as a funding source.
We can't accept creditcard
payments through PayPal as after 2 creditcard payments, we
would have to set up a business account and then we will get charged
3.4% + 0.35 euro cents over each transaction paid into the PayPal account,
so not just the creditcard payments but EVERY donation and that's a
waste of money.
For those who don't understand how PayPal works or don't have an account,
you can read all about it here PayPal
For those who find it easier to transfer money from their bank account
into another bank
account, please email to the above address for more information.
The money will be credited instantly but if you use eCheque, the money
will be credited to the PayPal account after a clearing period of 7-9
business days.
It is advisable to transfer the money in Euros or Dollars as Steliana
has set up a bank account to accept both currencies.
Once we have received the donations, we will transfer the money into
Steliana's bank account. We will post proof of this on this news page
so you can be assured Steliana will receive all the donated money. We
are looking for a period of a month to do this as otherwise it will
drag on too much and the sooner Steliana gets her treatment, the better
it is for her.
We would like to thank you for your help and we hope this donation will
be a success.
Rusty and Nicole (webmasters of this site)
22 February 2009
Romania dominates 'Nadia Comaneci' competition, Racea 5th at American Cup
At the 'Nadia Comaneci International' competition, Romania dominated and won the team title while Sandra Izbasa won the individual competition. Sandra received the highest score on vault, beam and floor.
Team Result:
1. Romania 108.900
2. Ukraine 107.100
3. Israel 104.100
Romania:
Daniela Druncea: VT: 12.950; UB: 12.400; BB: 14.000; FX: 14.000
Sandra Izbasa: VT: 14.400; UB: 12.000; BB: 14.100; FX: 15.050
Individual Result:
1. Sandra Izbasa 55.550
2. Yana Demyanchuk (Ukraine) 54.450
3. Daniela Druncea 53.350
At her first senior competition. Amelia Racea finished 5th at the American Cup, which is a very good result as she's still a junior gymnast.
Individual Result:
1. Jordyn Wieber (USA) 60.200
2. Bridget Sloan (USA) 59.600
3. Kim Bui (Germany) 56.000
4. Rebecca Downie (GB) 55.600
5. Amelia Racea (Rom) 55.150 (VT: 13.900; UB: 12.500; BB: 14.550; FX: 14.200)
6. Kristina Goryunova (Russia) 54.600
18 February 2009
Andreea Grigore has weight problems
While Andreea Grigore was initially going to America together with Dana Druncea and Sandra Izbasa to compete at the 'Nadia Comaneci International Competition' on the 20th of February, coach Nicolae Forminte thought it was in her best interest to stay home. For Prosport he explained: 'Grigore has big problems with her weight and it could put her health in danger. (if she competes). I have decided that it's much better for her to stay in Deva and to try and lose the weight that she has put on.'
The competition in America is a competition for club teams and the girls in the national team
have the obligation towards their club, who basically made them and supports them
continuously. The competition there will also be a good test of what the girls have learnt so far, with the new code of points.
Why Sandra didn't retire after the Olympics
Sandra Izbasa decided to continue after the Olympics. Sandra, who will turn 19 in June and who has won an Olympic gold and two European golds on floor, wants to continue and she's hungry
for more titles on her favourite apparatus.
For Gazeta Sporturilor, Sandra explained: 'Gymnastics is in my blood. It would be difficult for me to retire. it's like a profession for me. From the age of 18, a gymnast starts to mature. What am
I going to do at home? divide my time between home and school. I would be bored! At least now I'm doing something constructive. This year I have my Bac exam and maybe I can win a gold at Worlds.'
Gymnasts always wear make up to make them look older. Sandra explains that since she was little, she was told to use certain facial expressions and that she should wear make up. When
she couldn't do it, the coaches helped her and they taught her that she's an artist, not on a stage but on four apparatus.
In 2009, she's still performing her routine from the Olympics but is currently learning a new routine. Sandra: 'I'm getting on with both routines very well. The music is from the same theme that I used in Beijing but now it's not happy but sad.'
When Sandra does retire, she would like to listen to music, to do sportive dancing, and she
would have said handball but she doesn't want an elbow in the mouth as she had enough of
that when she was little. She'd like to go for walks and relax.
Before she can do this, she's got many training sessions ahead of her. Even though she uses make up, that she's at the point of getting her driving license, even though she's going to be 19 years old this year, Sandra, however, concludes the conversations with: 'I'm a different child.'
Today Sandra has left for America (with teammate Dana Druncea) where she will compete at a team competition organised by Nadia Comaneci in Oklahoma.
Eugenia Popa coaches in Northern Ireland
Who doesn't remember Eugenia Popa for her beautiful poses on beam? Newspaper Cotidianul caught up with her and looks back to how it all started. (click on the link to see the photos)
Eugenia took her first steps into gymnastics at the age of 6, when her coach Rodica Apateanu came to her school to see which children wanted to start gymnastics.
Eugenia didn't take it very seriously to start with but her coach was very persistent with her as she probably saw how talented the young girl was.
Eugenia made it into the national team and won a team silver in 1989 at Worlds in Stuttgart and
a team bronze in 1991 at Worlds in Indianapolis but at the age of 19, she decided to retire.
At that time in gymnastics, things were a little different because you had to compete on all four apparatus, not like it is today, when you can just compete on one or two apparatus. Eugenia considered herself old at the age of 19 and the coaches wanted young gymnasts in the team.
Eugenia became a coach in Bucharest but after 3 years she wanted to go abroad. Through the help of Aurelia Dobre, she got in touch with Tony Byrne who is the co-owner of the Salto Gymnastics Centre in Northern Ireland so when he came to Deva for a training camp with his gymnasts, Eugenia went up there to meet him and he offered her a contract for three months so she left Romania in October 1995. After that she taught private gymnastics lessons for 2-3
years in Birmingham and then she decided to leave the gymnastics world to try something
different. She chose to be a beauty therapist but as gymnastics is in her blood, she returned to the sport that made her famous.
Tony needed a coach so she went back to Salto. She does find it a bit difficult to teach the children gymnastics as the attitude was so different. Eugenia: 'You could see that they were
very talented, you wanted to ask more from them but you couldn't. Here the children have the liberty to say yes or no. Of course we had the right to say yes or no in Romania too but if you gave a negative answer, you didn't get a second chance. Moreover, the children here don't realise that you can be friends and opponents at the same time. For us, things were different.
At the training or in competition, we were rivals but at the end of the day, we became friends again.'
Her best memory of gymnastics is the moment that she beat Daniela Silivas on bars, one of the gymnasts that she idolised. Her most sad memory is linked to the Olympics in Barcelona where
she was made reserve by the coaches at the last minute and was replaced by the young Gina Gogean.
Eugenia: 'I don't have any hard feelings against Gina. Sure, I was disappointed because the year before the Olympics was extremely difficult for me. I wasn't even angry at Gina and we remained friends after that. It wasn't her fault, the coaches decided.'
Eugenia then explains that they looked for strong gymnasts and she was unlucky to miss two European Championships. She was an elegant gymnast but not strong and she thinks that Gina and Lavinia Milosovici were probably stronger and the coaches thought they had more chance
of winning.
Eugenia is married to businessman Adrian Dickson and they have a little girl Ellie Anna, who's
four years old.
More about Andreea Acatrinei
Andreea, who comes from Brasov, could have continued gymnastics after a break of 3 months
but coach Nicolae Forminte acknowledges the fact that he can't oppose the decision that Andreea and her parents have made.
Nicolae Forminte told Agerpres: 'Andreea prefers to retire. Everybody thinks about the future
and what is best for them. I have tried to change her mind but she prefers to choose a different road.'
At the last medical check up, Andreea was diagnosed with 2 slipped discs and the doctors advised her to take a break of 3 months.
Andreea will probably continue to attend school in Deva where she's in class 11 of the Sport
High School.
Steliana declines to go to America
Adevarul published an article about how Stela is doing at the moment.
In the new apartment that she has received from the Sibiu authorities, the shelves are full of trophies, medals and photos of her entire career. Every one of them has a story and Stela doesn't mix them up. She remembers every competition, also thinking back how hard she had to work in order to win them but she also thinks of the emotions and happiness when she stood on the podium.
She doesn't have time to tell the story about all of them because it would take all day and her time is precious as she's trying to make up for 'lost' time when she was in full training.
Stela: 'Now I know how precious my time is, I'm trying to make up for what I haven't been able
to do for the last 19 years.' Her mother adds that Stela can't get enough of hanging out in the city with her friends and collegues from University.
Stela hadn't even announced her retirement and she got an offer to come to America to be a coach. The invitation came from her former coach Livia Ponoran, who is a coach in the USA and who knows very well what ambitions and ability Stela has. Stela, however, first wants to finish University and she would also like to start a course of psychology, like her older brother Marian, but she wants to see first how she will get on with the course she started now.
As a thank you for all her hard work and for making Sibiu renowned through sport, Stela received a rental apartment from the authorities in Sibiu and the first thing you see when you enter the livingroom is the wall with all her trophies.
The bedroom has been taken up by some of the stuffed animals that reminds her of the glory and her fans. Stela says that she has many more but she's waiting for some furniture so she can put them in there. The kitchen is ready and she has all the equipment she needs but she doesn't know how to cook, her mother cooks for her.
Because she lives in the apartment on her own, her collegues have given her a present, a white rabbit with reddish eyes which she named Puffy and who keeps her entertained. Stela: 'He's my
flatmate,' she jokes.
Her health problems have clipped her wings as Stela is at an age in which she still had plenty to give to the sport. She had to grit her teeth during the last competitions due to back pain and pain in her joints. She was a complete gymnast who competed on all 4 apparatus but each one
of them made different demands on her body. Stela: 'Physically I can't do it anymore. It's
hard but I just can't.'
What does make Stela a bit sad is the fact that after she retired, all doors closed. When before
she was received with happiness and a smile, now they close the door on her before she's even asked something. Stela: 'I continue to have back pain and a problem with the joint of my hand has appeared. I have physiotherapy every day but nobody has helped me, except for Mrs. Mariana Bitang.'
11 February 2009
Andreea Acatrinei has to retire
Prosport reports the very sad news that Andreea Acatrinei has to retire due to slipped vertabrea.
Nicolae Forminte: 'It is a huge loss as I was counting on her for the first part of the Olympic
cycle. I was counting a lot on her for the team but we have to try and make due without her.'
We wish Andreea all the best for the future.
Chat with Stela, Sandra and Nicolae Forminte
The team that won the bronze medal was in Bucharest to attend a gala for athlete of the year. They visited Maria Simionescu (former judge and Federation official and who has made Romanian gymnastics as we know it today) in hospital and stopped by the Prosport media centre where they were looking at photos of the Olympics on the computer screens and signing calendars.
Stela said she was doing fine, she's studying at the Sports University in Sibiu. She finds it really difficult without gymnastics as she loved it so much since she was little. She would have loved
to continue but she just couldn't because of her health issues.
Stela: 'I can't say that I am in pain all the time but it's true that I still have problems with my back and I'm struggling. About my hand, I don't know, the pain is worse than at the Olympics.'
She then adds that she will stay close to gymnastics and she hopes she can be a coach.
Sandra Izbasa's goals for 2009 are getting her driving license, pass her Bac exams and go to the World Championships in October, not necessarily in that order. She will look at her goals each month.
She is doing well with the new code of points, she's working hard on bars, floor is easier for her as now she has 4 tumbling passes instead of 5 but her routine will have a higher difficulty. She has to increase the difficulty on beam and the same for vault.
The only medal she lacks is a World medal for floor. Sandra explains that she was more focused on the Olympics as she really wanted to win the title for floor and the Olympics are every 4 years and Worlds is every other year. She's going to take it step by step, first up is Europeans and if she doesn't win at Worlds this year, there will be another chance at the next World Championships.
At the European Championships in Milan, Italy, she would really like to win an all-around title because she has struggled the most with this and not everybody has an all-around medal.
Sandra: 'Now a lot of gymnasts have retired after the Olympics and the code of points has changed which makes it difficult but I have the advantage that I can change my routines really quickly and of course I would like to make it to 2 finals as well, on beam and floor.'
Nicolae Forminte's goals for 2009 are Europeans and Worlds and he hopes that all the girls will
stay healthy. They are trying to put the finishing touch and to alter the routines after the code of points has changed. He hopes that Sandra, Anamaria, who has come back after a break, and Gabriela Dragoi will be healthy enough to compete at Europeans. He also talks about youngster Diana Chelaru, with whom they are working really hard and who could be a possible fourth gymnast for Europeans.
About the gymnasts who are injured he says that he's the most satisfied about the progress
that Ana Porgras is making, after she underwent knee surgery in a clinic in Italy. She will not
take part at Europeans but he hopes they can count on her for Worlds in October.
He is worried about the slow recovery of Cerasela Patrascu and Andreea Acatrinei and even Gabriela Dragoi. They have had such a long break that they are struggling with thoughts of retiring.
The gymnasts that he would like to put in the all-around at Europeans are Sandra Izbasa and Anamaria Tamarjan but they may also be in the apparatus finals.
He regrets coming to Bucharest for the gala as it has left a bitter taste in his mouth as Sandra didn't win the award and he thinks she deserved to win given her performances during last year.
2 February 2009
Steliana doesn't have the money for treatment in Canada
Steliana's case is known. She had to retire because of her injuries. Initially Stela wanted to take a break as she didn't want to give up gymnastics completely but even when she is not training, she is still in pain, bad pain and she's struggling. For the magazine VIP, Stela said that Mr. Belu and Mrs. Bitang have arranged a check up for her at the University Hospital in Bucharest and the diagnosis on her left hand is necrosis. Stela can hardly lift up a jug of water in her left hand.
Not one medic has given her a diagnosis for her back. All of them have said that her back is.....
'cabbage'. (Probably meaning it's a big mess.) She's continuing with a special therapy for her
hand but she doesn't notice any improvement.
Mr. Cirstoiu, who's a doctor at the University Hospital, has promised Stela to try and see if he
can arrange for her to go to Canada but she doesn't know whether it is for treatment or for an operation. Stela doesn't have the money, she's not earning money at present. She's tried to
work as a fitness instructor but she is just not able.
Stela: 'Mr. Topescu, who does the commentary for Romanian TV, has promised to help me get a job at TVR as a commentator, when my former teammates will compete at home,' confesses
Stela sadly.
Because she doesn't have the necessary money to pay for her treatment, Stela has decided to take matters into her own hands. She feels that she has given her all for Romania but she feels that people have already forgotten about her. She feels that it should be normal that the Romanian Federation should help her but nobody seems interested in her health issues. She has tried to ask Mr. Adrian Stoica for help, asked him to support her so she can earn money by being a commentator but hasn't heard back from him.
Mr. Cirstoiu explains that a kind of injury that Stela has, often appears in high performance
sports with a lot of athletes as there is a lot of repetitiveness involed in the sport. He seems to think that an old fashioned treatment in Canada would help her as she's still young and besides, Stela hasn't decided yet whether she wants to be operated on or just follow a treatment.
Adrian Stoica, however, explains that he was out of the country for a judging course and he was surprised to hear about Stela's problems. He acknowledges that he talked to Stela about the possiblity of working for TV but that was it and he can't give a verdict about the money issue
but the Federation will study the case.
Octavian Belu explains that Stela's injury are a 'profession illness' which happens to many
athletes and some sustain it better than others.
Belu asks for carefulness before Stela decides to go to Canada and to see if there isn't another clinic close by, in Hungary or Slovenia as a lot of athletes go abroad without recommendations of Romanian medics and the treatments didn't have any result.
He states that they would like to help everybody but it would be out of their own pocket. There isn't a special clause for injured athletes but maybe something could be organised on TV (appeal) or maybe business people could donate money to pay for the treatment.
Nicolae Forminte states that Stela didn't sustain her injury in Deva and when he trained the
junior team in Onesti in 2000, she was healthy. She has trained with a great number of coaches there so he doesn't know if she sustained a serious injury but when she came to Deva, she was complaining about back pain. The last time Mr. Forminte talked to Stela, she said that her back pain wasn't that bad anymore but that she had problems with her hand. When she trained in Deva, she never said anything about pain in her hand. Anyway, he says the door is always open for her.
Raluca Bugner was Stela's first coach and she was with her when Stela went to Germany for treatment in 2005. In Raluca's opinion, Stela's injury is due to wear.
Webmaster's comment: Maybe a good idea would be that if Stela is a little healthier, she could work in Deva as a bar's instructor alongside Mr. Sandu, her former coach, as there are far more gymnasts to train now as the juniors have come to train in Deva too and wouldn't it be all the more inspiring for the juniors to be coached by one of Romania's best bar workers of the last 15 years.
We wish you all the best Stela! and lots of health.
31 January 2009
Busy schedule for Sandra Izbasa
Sandra is training for the Europeans according to the new code of points, but in the meantime, she's also trying to get her driving license and to study for her Bac exam.
For Prosport she said that it's a very difficult year for her but she will fight. It's tiring for her to have to divide her time in between so many different things but she's trying to do her best. In the morning she has school and training, in the afternoon, in her free time, she has her driving lessons and studies for her Bac and another training session and in the evening more studying. Her instructor works really hard with her and she can already drive on her own and she states that the traffic in Deva compared to Bucharest is a breeze.
Sandra: 'The elements in the new code of points are going ok. I'm training for the individual competition at Europeans and I'm training really hard to try and win the title at Worlds as that's the only one that I miss.'
Sandra's first test will be on the 20th of February where she and her teammates from Steaua will take part in a club competition in Oklahoma, organised by Nadia.
25 January 2009
Amelia Racea to replace Tamarjan
Anamaria Tamarjan will not go to America to compete at the American Cup on the 21st of February but will be replaced by junior Amelia Racea. Amelia is a great talent and won a silver medal on beam and a bronze medal on floor during the European Championships in Clermont-Ferrand last year in April.
(Click on thumbnail for larger version)
Juniors will train alongside seniors in Deva
After talking to the Federation, they have decided that the juniors will train alongside the seniors as they will learn from this experience. For Prosport, Nicolae Forminte said: 'I have asked the Federation to send 4 more juniors from Onesti and I am waiting for their decision. I want that they will 'grow up' with the national team without feeling rushed and because there is no team competition this year, they will have time to accomodate.'
'All the gymnasts who are eligable to take part at the 2012 Olympics need to be in Deva so we can guide, correct and prepare them for such an important competition.'
The names in Deva at the moment are: Sandra Izbasa, Anamaria Tamarjan, Gabriela Dragoi, Andreea Acatrinei, Cerasela Patrascu, Andreea Grigore, Dana Druncea, Ana Porgras, Loredana Sabau and Diana Chelaru and juniors Claudia Voicu, Amelia Racea, Raluca Haidu, Diana Trenca, Daniela Andrei and Malina Savoaia.
Lavinia Milosovici is trying hard to cope
After losing her 4 and a half year old daughter Denisa in October, Lavinia finds it very difficult to pick things up from the start and she explains that for someone who has been through something like this, it's not easy to get back to normal life quickly.
Lavinia: 'I miss my little girl, everything that we went through together, our fight. I have to be strong but it's terribly difficult. I'll never get over it. She will always be with me, she was my life.
I don't know what I will do with my life. I haven't thought about how it will continue yet. I hope that time will heal my wounds and that I can forget the pain.'
Lavinia does say that former teammates and friends are ringing her a lot to ask how she is doing and their gesture makes her happy and makes her feel that she's not out there alone. She is trying to find some peace but she finds it difficult to find a balance.
Simona Amanar who was Denisa's Godmother said: 'We are alongside Lavinia and we try to help her as much as we can. We want her to find peace because she's a special person and she deserves all the best in life.'
7 January 2009
Druncea, Grigore, Izbasa and Tamarjan set to compete in America
First of all, Happy New Year to everyone and good luck to the Romanian gymnasts this year.
The gymnasts have returned to Deva after spending 10 days at the mountains in Poiana Brasov for a training camp where they mainly focused on physical training.
For Prosport, Nicolae Forminte stated that he can already notice the benefit of the training in Brasov and especially the juniors withstand the conditioning much better now.
Sandra is back in Deva again after she could spend a few days at home with her family.
The coaching staff will have a meeting to set up the competition calendar and to draw up a training plan for this year.
The first competition will be next month in Oklahoma where Dana Druncea, Andreea Grigore and Sandra Izbasa will compete at an international club competition organised by Nadia Comaneci.
They would like to send Ana Maria Tamarjan to America too to take part at the American Cup on the 21st of February.
They would also like to send the juniors to a few competitions as a test. One of these competitions will be in March and will probably be held in Italy or England but it isn't sure yet.
Madalina Gutu and Andreea Palade have been sent home to train at their own club LPS Onesti. While both girls have been given a number of chances to prove themselves, they haven't managed to do so but Nicolae Forminte states that the door will always be open to them for
when their motivation and attitude changes.