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For
former news see the newsarchive
18
April 2009
Daniela Druncea retires, Patrascu is planning
come-back
Sadly Dana Druncea has decided to retire from competitive gymnastics.
Prosport reports
Nicolae Forminte saying that she drew the conclusion that she is not
making anymore progress and the skills that she had learnt were not
sufficient enough to contend for a medal and as it's not enough for
the coaches that she only participates and she has to win something,
she decided to retire. Moreover, there is no team competition this year
and the youngsters who have come to Deva, will have more chance to make
the team and that was also another reason for Dana to make this decision
together with her family.
Dana has been the sunshine of the team, always smiling and so grateful
for whatever you gave her. As she was always helping everybody else
to chalk up the bars and spray it with water, we called her 'Miss Watergirl'.
She won a bronze medal with the team at the World Championships in 2007
in Stuttgart, Germany. She surely will be missed and we wish her all
the best for the
future.
Dana's photo page is here: Dana's
photos
On a better note, Cerasela Patrascu who had to endure 2 meniscus operations
on her right knee after she injured herself in April last year during
the European Championships in Clermont-Ferrand,
is doing much better and is training on 3 apparatus, bars, beam and
vault. She would like to take part at the Romanian Internationals that
will be held in Ploiesti between the 5th and 7th of June. Nicolae Forminte
says: 'At the moment she is struggling with her weight but you can say
that
she is making progress. She remains really motivated and wants to come
back after this long break. Her goal is to make a good impression at
Internationals where she will compete on bars
and
beam.'
7 April 2009
Looking back at Europeans
Nicolae Forminte explains for Gazeta Sporturilor that the conclusion of Europeans is positive but also negative, as they didn't win a gold medal. Sometimes things go well, sometimes they don't. He is satisfied about Gabriela Dragoi's performance as she almost missed competing at Europeans and he was decisive not to make the same mistake as he did with Cerasela Patrascu, to give them a break for too long as they seem to gain weight and mature during a long break. The same thing happened to Aluissa Lacusteanu and to Andreea Acatrinei and it seems that after such a long break, coming back to competition level is too difficult.
Sandra Izbasa didn't win a medal and people are concerned that she will retire, as she was struggling with finding the right motivation to continue but Sandra is firm: 'I am not disappointed! We will analyse things and then we will continue.'
Forminte says: 'She doesn't understand what happened either. Lately, a lot of frustrations have been building up. She has to clear up things what she wants to do and that's difficult but I believe in her because I know she has a strong will.' Forminte continues by saying that although Sandra was injured, she still competed at Europeans and that it will be a lesson for her. Of
course he wanted her to defend her title on floor and win but the new code of points is very subjective.'
The newcomer Diana Chelaru did relatively well and explains for Prosport that she was very nervous but it was like any other competition. She believed in herself. Diana: 'It was my first big competition in which I had to do qualifications and an all-around final. I could have made an apparatus final but I think it was ok. In the all-around, I had to start on beam and I was nervous and you could tell but I picked myself up and did ok on the other apparatus.'
Gabriela Dragoi, who won a bronze medal on beam, says that the medal motivates her
enormously as it's her first individual medal at a major competition. Gabi: 'I was hurting but in a competition you have to forget the pain. I'm happy that I managed to win an individual medal
and I hope to win more medals in the future. I was really nervous but I managed to get through it.'
Anamaria Tamarjan was greeted at the airport by her twin sister, Adriana, who used to be in the national team but had to retire due to a spine injury. Anamaria explains how happy she is with winning a medal but it was very difficult for her as she endured pain in her hip and ankle. She is a little sad about missing out on an all-around medal: 'My right ankle gave way during the run
up and that's why I made the mistake on the double layout. I was in a lot of pain as I forced my left ankle on landing more. I needed to be strong, to pick myself up and to do the competition.' Adriana grabs her hand and smiles. In a few months both of them will celebrate their 18th birthday, together.
Anamaria's father:' I had two daughters with talent, one I lost (to injury), we don't want to go through the same thing with Ana.'
Steliana was interviewed for Romanian tv while she was in Milan. Steliana: 'I'm tempted to come back to gymnastics if I can solve the problems with my hand. I have just finished the treatment in Eforie de Nord (resort in Constanta) and I'll wait a little bit of time and then I'll have another test. If I don't have any more problems, I will go back to the gym. I miss gymnastics, I would have loved to compete here.
Steliana hasn't yet talked to the girls or to Nicolae Forminte. Steliana: 'I haven't even had the chance to say hello to Mr. Forminte and I don't think the girls want to talk to me. I rang them but they don't answer their phone.'
5 April 2009
Disappointment for Sandra, Anamaria and Gabi win a medal on beam
There were no Romanians present in the vault or bars final so it was waiting for beam and floor
to start. Gabi was up first from both Romanians and did well, showing a good variety and good spins but encountered a wobble after her 1 1/2 pirouette with leg horizontal. She was a little bit off direction on her landing (2 1/2 twist) but scored a 14.650 and went into the lead, above Semenova and Zimmermann.
Anamaria started with a lovely Silivas mount but had a wobble after her aerial and also after her switch split leap she had a big balance check but scored higher than Dragoi, a 14.750 as she had a higher difficulty level.
Tiny Ukrainian Demyanchuk won the beam final with a similar routine as Tamarjan and also a balance check after her pirouette with leg horizontal. (14.775)
The Romanians had the disadvantage on floor by being up first and second. Anamaria opted for
a piked full in as her opening tumbling opposed to her double layout but stepped out of bounds after her tucked full in. She seemed a little insecure about her landings and seems to have difficulty nailing them, maybe due to her hip injury. (14.075)
Sandra was up next, looking different with a new hair colour and looking very mature. She used the same music as in Beijing and you could see that she was fighting on the landings. She
opened with a good full in piked, followed by a full in tuck, a 2 1/2 into front full twist and
finished with a triple twist and here's where the drama began. She wasn't fully around on her triple twist so it was going to count as a 2 1/2 twist but because she had already performed a 2 1/2 twist, and you are not allowed to repeat the same skill, she lost 0.5 because the last skill wasn't counted at all. This also made her dismount only a backhandspring which was before the triple twist. Sandra had to wait a long time before her score came up and couldn't really believe her eyes when she saw the 13.900 flash up on the board. Nicolae Forminte immediately went to the judges table to file a complaint and walked over to the head judging table to ask for it to be reviewed.
One has to hope that this will not demotivate Sandra of continuing gymnastics as she is already struggling with the idea of retiring but Romanian gymnastics needs her to stay on!
Results:
Vault:
1. Ariella Kaeslin (Sui): 14.625
2. Yulia Berger (Rus): 14.325
3. Anna Kalashnyk (Ukr): 14.275
4. Aagje van Walleghem (Bel): 14.200
5. Kim Bui (Dui): 14.150
6. Rebecca Downie (Gb): 14.025
7. Wyomi Masela (Ned): 13.950
8. Jana Komrskova (Cze): 13.875
Bars:
1. Beth Tweddle (Gb): 15.575
2. Ksenia Semenova (Rus): 15.500
3. Anja Brinker (Ger): 14.800
4. Youna Dufournet (Fra): 14.650
4. Ksenia Afanaseva (Rus): 14.650
6. Rebecca Downie (Gb): 14.525
7. Anastasia Koval (Ukr): 14.350
8. Valentyna Holenkova (Ukr): 12.700
Beam:
1. Yana Demyanchuk (Ukr): 14.775
2. Anamaria Tamarjan (Rom): 14.750
3. Gabriela Dragoi (Rom): 14.650
4. Marine Petit (Fra): 14.150
5. Ksenia Semenova (Rus): 14.125
6. Valeria Maksuta (Isr): 13.725
7. Vasiliki Millousi (Gre): 13.450
8. Yasmin Zimmermann (Sui): 12.850
Floor:
1. Beth Tweddle (Gb): 15.150
2. Vanessa Ferrari (Ita): 14.675
3. Ksenia Semenova (Rus): 14.625
4. Anamaria Tamarjan (Rom): 14.075
4. Ana maria Izurieta (Esp): 14.075
6. Valentyna Holenkova (Ukr): 13.925
7. Sandra Izbasa (Rom): 13.900
8. Lia Parolari (Ita): 13.525
All-Around: Tamarjan finishes 5th, Chelaru 14th
The Romanians had the worse start possible, with both girls falling. Diana Chelaru had to start
on beam, not a good apparatus if you are already prone to being nervous in your first senior
major competition. She started well but then had a big wobble after her front tuck and she
hadn't fully recovered from that error mentaly before going into the side-somi so she fell off and only scored a 11.900.
Anamaria Tamarjan started on floor, a good apparatus for her but she came to grief on the first tumbling series, a double layout with which she went out of bounds but also stumbled forwards and she had to put her hands down. She had minor errors on all landings and only scored a 12.700. (1.5 down on her qualification score).
Chelaru moved to floor and showed a good routine. She was a bit low on her 2 1/2 punch front but showed a good triple twist. (14.400)
Tamarjan went to vault but has a tendancy to split her legs before going into her DTY but she nailed the landing. It's a shame she can't learn to keep her legs together on the table as it
would increase her scoring by so much. (14.650)
Tamarjan did well on bars, showing a Tkatchev and Jaeger for a 13.975. Chelaru outscored Tamarjan on vault with the same DTY and the same error in the flight. (14.675)
Both girls were chasing the impossible, trying to get into the medal position, Tamarjan being
10th after 3 rotations and Chelaru 15th.
Tamarjan finished her competition on beam and showed a good aerial-flick-layout and good split leaps and a beautiful switch ring leap. Just a hop on landing after her double pike. (14.600)
Chelaru finished on bars and showed a Jaeger and Gienger but had a step forward after her double layout. (13.525)
Ksenia Semenova won the competition although was really struggling on bars with 2 major hesitations but didn't seem to get much deduction and still scored a 14.925. She did compete
well on all the other apparatus and after mistakes from all the other competitors, there was no doubt who was going to win the gold.
Ksenia Afanasyeva didn't qualify for the all-around, finishing 20th behind her teammate Kristina Goryunova but was put into the all-around in her place and won silver despite falling off beam.
Aerial Kaeslin from Switzerland won bronze after scoring a 15.300 for her stuck Rudi vault and pushed Ana Maria Izurieta from Spain into 4th place.
Results:
1. Ksenia Semenova (Rus) VT: 14.225; UB: 14.925; BB: 14.800; FX: 14.225; Total: 58.175
2. Ksenia Afanasyeva (Rus) VT: 14.525; UB: 14.925; BB: 13.575; FX: 14.575; Total: 57.600
3. Aerial Kaeslin (Sui) VT: 15.300; UB: 13.975; BB: 14.300; FX: 13.700; Total: 57.275
4. Ana Maria Izurieta (Spa) VT: 14.850; UB: 13.175; BB: 14.300; FX: 14.000; Total: 56.425
5. Anamaria Tamarjan (Rom) VT: 14.650; UB: 13.975; BB: 14.600; FX: 12.700; Total: 55.925
6. Aagje van Walleghem (Bel) VT: 14.200; UB: 14.125; BB: 13.675; FX: 13.900; Total: 55.900
14. Diana Chelaru (Rom): VT: 14.675; UB: 13.525; BB: 11.900; FX: 14.400; Total: 54.500
Anamaria Tamarjan qualifies as 2nd
Gabriela Dragoi and Diana Chelaru were first up from the Romanians and both competed well. Diana showed a Jaeger and Gienger on bars and a double layout dismount but her rhythm was a little off for a 13.700.
On beam she had a wobble after her side somi and hesitation after a sheep jump but otherwise the routine was good. (13.050)
The crowd really enjoyed her floor routine and she received large applause. The only mistake was a stumble out of her triple twist. (13.550). Diana qualified for the all-around which is a good achievement as it's her first major senior competition.
Gabriela showed a good routine, toe on 1 1/2 Jaeger and a toe on to Gienger and a double piked dismount for a 14,350. Her beam routine was good with nice turns (1 1/2 turn with leg horizontal) which put her in the beam final. (14.350)
Anamaria Tamarjan and Sandra Izbasa competed in the last group and Anamaria stuck her DTY (14,650) and came through her bars routine well, showing a Jaeger and Tkatchev and a double layout dismount but it looked a tiny bit laboured. (13.900). On beam she had to encounter a wobble after a switch ring and a side somi but showed a nice Silivas mount and good aerial to 2 feet which gave her a place in the beam final with the second highest score. (14.525). Always lovely to watch on floor due to her natural elegance she performed a double layout although a little bit low and she qualified 5th for the final. (14.200)
Sandra Izbasa seems to be struggling a little bit due to her ankle injury and sadly she fell off beam on her front tuck and therefore didn't qualify for the beam final, which she hoped to do. (13.075). On floor she went out of bounds after her 2 1/2 twist but qualified second for the floor final (14.475) behind Beth Tweddle. (14.975)
For Prosport, Nicolae Forminte said: 'Diana has done well. It's her first competition without falls. She stayed on all apparatus. It's a shame that she didn't do a connection on floor because she would have received a higher score but it's a big step forwards for her.'
Results:
Anamaria Tamarjan: VT: 14.650; UB: 13.900; BB: 14.525; FX: 14.200 Total: 57.275 (2nd Q)
Diana Chelaru: VT: 14.450; UB: 13.700; BB: 13.050; FX: 13.550 Total: 54.750 (15th Q)
(First qualified for the AA is Ksenia Semenova (Rus) with 57.625.)
Gabriela Dragoi: UB: 14.350; BB: 14.350
Sandra Izbasa: BB: 13.075; FX: 14.475
On a side note, Steliana Nistor travelled to Italy on Thursday to support her former teammates.
She has had treatment in the resort Eforie de Nord, in Constanta over the last 10 days.
2 April 2009
Qualification starts today
The qualification for the all-around and the apparatus finals starts today. Newcomer Diana Chelaru and Gabriela Dragoi will start in subdivision II and will start their competition on bars.
Anamaria Tamarjan and Sandra Izbasa will start in the last group and start on vault. Although Sandra was set out to do all 4 apparatus, she will now only compete on beam and floor. For Prosport, Nicolae Forminte explained that it's better so she can concentrate on these 2
apparatus and try and get a better result. He also says he made the choice of putting Diana in the second subdivision so she can overcome her nerves and doesn't have to wait the entire competition before she can compete and he has picked the two gymnasts with experience to compete in the last group to cope with the pressure of the final group.
1 April 2009
Health problems just before Europeans
Even though the qualification for Europeans starts tomorrow, the Romanian team is struggling with injury problems and have had to compromise in their preparation. In fact, Prosport reports that Nicolae Forminte has taken the files of one of the girls with him to get some medical advice in Italy as he mentions that they have all kind of diagnosis but the problem is the treatment and in gymnastics you can't just take a break for long, a day's break has the equivalant of a week, a week that of a month and so on.
Sandra is complaining of pain in her ankle, from an old injury but she will compete on all 4 apparatus. Sandra: 'At Europeans, I want to know where I stand with the new code of points
and most of all it's a rehearsal for Worlds.'
Sandra will compete her floor routine from Beijing with little changes. Sandra: 'I think that my old floor routine suits me better and it's better for me at the moment but I have taken out one tumbling run. I like to smile, to be happy and for my new floor routine I have to be serious.'
Nicolae Forminte: 'It is not easy for Sandra to see the other Olympic champions model fashion, give interviews and do other activities other than being in the gym.'
Anamaria suffers from pain in her right hip and was diagnosed with a fissure in her thighbone.
She took a break and started training again in December but when she works with higher intensity, the pain reappears.
Anamaria wants to qualify for the all-around and for the beam and floor final, to even win a
medal in the all-around and one on beam or floor.
Even though people expect her to win a medal in the all-around, she doesn't feel the pressure and all that matters to her is that she does her job and things will be ok then but she hopes she won't be in much pain and that she can do what she has planned.
Nicolae Forminte worries the most about Anamaria as she should have been at the top of her game in this competition year but the pain has come back and what is even worse, they don't know what is causing it.
Gabriela is complaining of pain in her left tibia and started training again but with low intensity.
Gabi will only compete on beam and bars and she hopes to make the beam final. She finds that competing in the beam final in Beijing, is an advantage as she managed to concentrate well then and it means a lot for her for the future.
Nicolae Forminte explains that Gabi only trained on bars and beam as that was recommended by the doctors. The tibia injury is healing well but but the renewal of the bone tissue takes much longer. It's important that she will do her routines at Europeans without forcing it.
Debutant Diana Chelaru (15) is the only one who is healthy and will compete on all 4 apparatus.
She wants to do well, have a clean competition without mistakes (falls) and to do the routines
as cleanly as possible, to concentrate and not be afraid. She is nervous as it's her first big senior competition and it will be a test for Worlds. She's been through a lot of bad luck last year so she hopes that this year will be much better.
She would like to get into the all-around final and to make the final on vault and floor.
Nicolae Forminte is expecting the most of Diana as she has potential and the most important
thing is, she's healthy. He's curious how she will deal with the pressure of a big competition.
When the team arrived in Milan, the organisation had forgotten to pick the Romanian team up so they stood waiting for an hour an a half in the cold and rain but Nicolae Forminte also stipulates that the people he has been in touch with so far, were very friendly and cheerful.
The podium training went well and Nicolae Forminte is trying to convince the girls to fight within themselves and to do everything they can. The only problem is the dreary and rainy weather as that causes the injuries to flair up and every day the girls are having analgesic and physiotherapy.
The qualification will start tomorrow.
20 March 2009
Gazeta Sporturilor talks to Nicolae Forminte about the current situation in Romanian women's gymnastics. With 6 seniors and 8 juniors who joined the team in Deva, he is looking ahead to the Olympics in 2012. The first competition of this year, however, is the European Championships. This year there is no team competition but Forminte has a lot of other problems to contend with in Deva. The adoption of the budget was too late and that put them in a difficult situation. Besides, nurse Margareta Turcu retired and it was difficult to find a replacement for her, which they found but this person is working voluntarily.
Forminte is also having to deal with problems with the gymnasts who have stayed on after the Olympics in Beijing, motivation problems, weight problems, health problems etc. Even Sandra Izbasa is having doubts now whether to continue or not as she's struggling with weight issues, motivation and also adolescense.
The generation from Beijing was a challenge, they had a lot of health problems but they managed to compensate for that through their talent. The new generation gymnasts are healthier but he hasn't observed a twinkle of talent yet in this generation. They are very obedient, receptive, they train hard and do what the coaches tell them to do.
Nicolae Forminte also finds that you can't force someone to do gymnastics, everything has to be done through consent. What is forced, is not done with love. He is certain, however, that the girls are fond of him.
The new code of points is a disadvantage for Romania because it affects them on beam and
floor, their strongest apparatus because of the loss of acrobatic skills on both apparatus. Bars has stayed the same. The accent is on artistic now.
Nicolae Forminte about the gymnasts who will represent Romania at Europeans:
Sandra Izbasa: 'She is going through a period of trying to refind her motivation. She's hesitating between continuing and retiring. She will do beam and floor. I will be happy if she will defend her title on floor.'
Anamaria Tamarjan: 'She is at 50-60% of her physical potential.'
Gabriela Dragoi: 'They recommended a break for her, to take it very slow this year but the chance that she will make a complete recovery is small. We are trying to send her to competitions but she is only competing at 30% of her potential.'
Diana Chelaru: 'She's a gymnast with perspective but with big gaps in her base preparation.
She doesn't have experience. We need to be patient with her.'
He adds that they are looking for a solution to win medals. Theoretically they have 11 juniors
but practically there are only 4-5 that could be put into a competition.
Amelia Racea wins in Jesolo
Junior Amelia Racea booked her first win at the Jesolo competition in Italy by scoring the highest total score of juniors and seniors. The youngster had a total of 55,550. She performed well on bars with good stalders on the low bar. She got a deduction because her coach thought she
was going to fall on the Jaeger and touched her (but better safe than sorry!) and she struggled on her dismount where she had to take two large steps forward.
Raluca Haidu has improved enormously and has grown so much since she was filmed in the documentary 'The Secret of Deva'. She mounted on beam with a wonderful Silivas mount but
she was a little wobbly on the beam due to nerves as this is her first big international
competition and she had to put her hands down after her double piked dismount but she will get there.
Diana Trenca also had a lot of wobbles on beam but has the difficulty so it's a matter of getting the routine secure.
Results Juniors:
1. Amelia Racea (Rom) VT: 13,800; UB: 13,150; BB: 14,800; FX: 13,800 Total: 55,550
2. Carlotta Ferlito (Ita) VT: 13,400; UB:13,700; BB: 14,150; FX: 13.600 Total: 54,850
3. Erika Fasana (Ita) VT: 14,050; UB: 12,550; BB: 14.000; FX: 14,000 Total: 54,600
9. Raluca Haidu (Rom) VT: 12,550; UB: 12,850; BB: 13,800; FX: 13,500 Total: 52,700
12. Diana Trenca (Rom) VT: 12,800; UB: 12.050; BB: 13,450; FX: 13,750 Total: 13,750
Lia Parolari from Italy won the senior competition. 5th was Anamaria Tamarjan, who competed at her first competition since Beijing as she sustained an injury. Her bars routine looked good but
she had to put her hands down after her double layout dismount.
Gabriela Dragoi had a very nice spin combination and a one and a half pirouette in her beam routine but she came to grief after a split leap to one leg followed into a side somi.
Sandra Izbasa is still on her way to full form and she looked a little untidy in some of her work on beam (flick-step layout) but she did post the highest score in the senior field. On floor she sustained a 0,50 penalty. Not sure if the penalty was because she took her shoe off while standing in the corner and threw it to the side or if she went out of bounds.
It shows that Diana Chelaru has been training very hard. She showed a good beam routine, pity about her fall after her side somi but she looks very promising.
Results seniors:
1. Lia Parolari (Ita) VT: 13,550; UB: 13,500; BB: 13,850; FX: 13,850 Total: 54,750
2. He Ning (Chn) VT: 13,000; UB: 13,650; BB: 14,300; FX: 13,650 Total: 54,600
3. Bruna Leal (Bra) VT: 14,300; UB: 13,350; BB: 12,950; FX: 13,900 Total: 54,500
3. Paola Galante (Ita) VT: 13,400; UB: 14,100; BB: 13,600; FX: 13,400 Total: 54,500
5. Anamaria Tamarjan (Rom) VT: 13,950; UB: 12,350; BB: 13,750; FX: 14,100 Total: 54,150
9. Diana Chelaru (Rom) VT: 14,200; UB: 12,750; BB: 12,950; FX: 12,800 Total: 52,700
15. Sandra Izbasa (Rom) VT: 13,800; UB:-; BB: 14,350; FX: 13,700
Jesolo Trophy
Sandra Izbasa, Gabriela Dragoi, Anamaria Tamarjan, Diana Chelaru, Dana Druncea and juniors Amelia Racea, Raluca Haidu and Diana Trenca will compete at this competition in Italy.
For Prosport, Nicolae Forminte explained that they are only traveling with 3 juniors because they are the only three that are fit and training at full capacity and don't have injury problems.
For the senior gymnasts this is going to be a test competition and he is looking for clean routines that are close to competition performance.
Proof of refund donation money
Here are 3 images of proof that we paid everybody the donated money back. We have blanked out the names of the people who donated as we feel that is private but you can compare the donated money with the money that has been refunded. (On the paypal account you see a
minus on the second image, on the banking it says 'af', which means withdrawn.)
On the PayPal account, the amount of 4,48 has been changed as we repaid this person 10 euros for the help and costs that she provided so that's why you don't see this amount paid back.
(The 10 euros was paid by ourselves with the money that was already in the Paypal account before we started the donation.)
Click on the thumbnail to see the larger version.
10 March 2009
Patrascu and Dragoi on the mend
Injured at the European Championships in 2008, Cerasela Patrascu has struggled, not only physically but also mentally. She missed out on going to the Olympics and while her teammates were going strong at various competitions, Cera, as her teammates call her, had to undergo two operations on her right knee but things have brightened up and she's back in training on three apparatus. For Prosport, Nicolae Forminte said that she is training on bars, beam and vault but she has only been doing vault for the last couple of days. He feels that the way she is training
at the moment, gives the coaches hope that she could be a contender for Worlds in London.
He also explains that you can see that her motivation has grown and that she has changed for the better.
The other injured gymnast, Gabriela Dragoi who was diagnosed with a stress fracture straight after the Olympics, has had a long break to recover. After a check up in Italy, she was then
sent to Vienna a few days ago for another medical opinion. Forminte: 'Things are going well with Gabi, the doctors who looked at her in Vienna have recommended reduced training, great care in training and they have told us that the problem she has with her tibia, isn't as serious as what they had told us initially. That makes us happy as it also confirms the opinion of the medics in Italy, so we are a little bit more relaxed about it all now.'
Gabi is training for the European Championships that will be held in Milan, Italy from the 2-5 of April but she is only training on two apparatus at the moment, bars and beam and on beam she
is only doing 75% of her potential. The coaches are hoping that she will be able to compete on bars in Italy where she could get into the bars finals and maybe beam but the coaches don't want to force her so they are taking a steady approach.
Anamaria Tamarjan is also doing well after recovering from her injury (crack in her thighbone)
that she sustained before Beijing. She has niggling pains but that is more due to training.
Nicolae Forminte hopes that she can put an end to her bad luck and show her maximum potential. Anamaria trains on all 4 apparatus and the goal is to get in as many finals as possible and of course onto the rostrum.
Anamaria will compete at a friendly competition in Jesolo, Italy at the end of this week.
Steliana Nistor: 'I am not poor!'
The newspaper Jurnalul has a small report about Steliana's situation, in which they mention her medical condition and that she has decided not to go to Canada.
The story says that fans all over the world started to collect money for her after they learnt
that she initially wanted to go to Canada but that Belu and Bitang convinced her to stay in Romania for treatment. Steliana: 'I have got used to the pain. I'm having therapy but it can
take up to a year before it improves.'
The article mentions the donation started through this site and how much money we collected but that the gymnast asked for the donation to be stopped as she was staying in Romania.
Steliana's case has been reported in the Romanian papers but she feels that her words have
been misrepresented and her image has suffered. Steliana: 'I have decided not to give
interviews anymore as a lot of things printed were untrue, that I have asked the fans for money or even Chinese gymnast Cheng Fei. They wrote that I don't have money for University, that I have entered without paying. I have a life annuity and even though I haven't had the money
yet, I live in an apartment that was granted to me after the Olympics so I am not living in poverty, as it was portrayed.'
Note from the webmaster: I have been in contact with fans from the Chinese Steliana Nistor Fan club and over the past two months there has been no article about Steliana asking Cheng Fei for money in the papers at all.
This would appear to be an invention of one of the journalists unfortunately, maybe to get a reaction out of Steliana.
Steliana hasn't asked anyone for anything in her entire life and it is very harsh the press wants
to change the facts and belittle her in this way.
Throughout the world Steliana is respected for her wonderful sportive attitude and her devotion to gymnastics, she has been a great ambassador for Romanian sport during her career.
The media should be applauding and celebrating Steliana's achievements.
She is an example to anyone that, however humble your start in life, hard work, bravery and ambition can triumph over any adversity.
All her fans worldwide have been mailing to wish her well and hope the treatment is a success.
2 March 2009
Donation stopped
Steliana talked to Octavian Belu and Mariana Bitang yesterday evening and they have convinced her not to go to Canada as they feel the treatment in Romania is better.
Because everybody donated to help her to go to Canada so she could get treatment there, we have decided that we will refund everybody their money.
Let us make it very clear, we started the donation with the approval of Steliana. Several times
she stated in the press of her wish to go to Canada. Even today there is an article in Prosport about this issue, her saving to go to Canada so who knows what has happened that she
suddenly changed her mind.
We would like to thank everybody who was so kind to donate and we apologize sincerely but there is little that we can do.
In the end, it is Steliana's decision to stay in Romania.
The total amount of the donation was 579,55 today, that's an amazing amount in just 5 days
and we thank you all so much. Unfortunately it is all in vain.
We will start refunding the money tomorrow and we hope Steliana will get the right treatment.
Rusty and Nicole