29 June 2007

Tri-meet Spain-Romania-Italy

This meet will be held in Vitoria, Spain on the 30th of June. Steliana will compete alongside Ponor, Patrascu, Tamarjan, Grigore, Druncea and Gutu.
Realitatea.net reports that Ponor will compete on vault and beam. Catalina explains that this competition is a test for her to see in what kind of shape she is at the moment. She's ready to compete as that is what she trains for.
Her coach Mariana Bitang feels that Catalina has recuperated very well after a break of a year but it doesn't mean that she's in her best possible form yet.

There's also talk about a meet held near Rome, Italy. The Italian team will compete against Romania, Egypt, France, Switzerland and the Czech Republic on the 21st of July.

Prosport reports that Sandra Izbasa has resumed training after her metatarsal injury. Her plaster cast has been taken off and she's only wearing a supportive bandage around her ankle. Nicolae Forminte mentions that in two weeks she will try and do somersaults again.

30 May 2007 Source: Monitorul de Sibiu

Sandu puts his stakes on Nistor

The name Lucian Sandu has resonance in the gymnastics world. For almost 10 years, he's been a coach for the National Romanian team. At this moment, he's concentrating on the come-back of Romania at the World elite but he's also looking at Sibiu and he's sad that at home, the sport is in free fall.

Sibiu is well represented in the world of Romanian gymnastics, not only by gymnasts but also by coaches who perform at the highest level. You can also count Lucian Sandu amongst these who, for almost 10 years, has been part of the staff who works with the Romanian National team. 'It's a great honour for me to say that I am part of the National team. At this level you are working with gymnasts of the best quality. However, the pressure is very big too. At the National team, you need to obtain results because you have to respect the coat of arms that Romania has produced for a long time. You can't afford to make mistakes,' says Sandu.

Lucian Sandu was one of the assistents who was the closest to the couple Belu and Bitang but remained the second coach even after Nicolae Forminte became head-coach. He says that for the time being he doesn't emit the pretention for a higher position. 'I think that things come in time and there's no point to hurry. When they appointed the jobs, I could not have pretentions for the position of head-coach. I still have a lot to learn. I hope that one day I will get to the top of the pyramid but this all depends on myself. If I will work hard and it gets results, the world will automatically know that I have the quality to go up,' thinks the man from Sibiu.

At the National team, the coach from Sibiu deals with the routines of the girls on bars. He says that the latest results give him hope for a come-back of Romania at the World's elite. 'At the last Europeans we have won a silver medal on bars. It was the first one after a very long period. Honestly, I believe in the quality of this generation and I am convinced that we can get to the top of the World hierarchy. We don't only need a lot of work but at the same time also the luck that the girls don't get injured and therefore can carry on in the best condition,' declares Sandu.

The fact that Steliana Nistor is also from Sibiu has made that Sandu has a very different relationship with her. He says that his pupil is very hardworking and she has the possibility to get onto the rostrum at any important competition. 'After the routine on bars that she performed at the latest Europeans, I hope and want that we go on and win at Worlds, that will take place in two months. I discuss this a lot with Steliana and she told me that she wants the same thing. If we correct the mistakes that we have made now, we can hope for this position. (outcome) It will be really difficult because we have very strong adversaries but we can't let that get us down,' promises Sandu.

At gymnastics level, Sibiu has constantly launched gymnasts with a great quality. Nevertheless, at this moment Sandu's outlook is somber. He says that, after Steliana Nistor, no quality gymnast came through and because of that, a quality coach from CSS Sibiu. 'I still have a desk in Sibiu and from time to time I go there to see what is happening. Unfortunately, with small exceptions, the coaches who are there at the club now don't want to do performance gymnastics. The quality results only come after the work you put in. If some of them are just satisfied with the stature of gymnastics coach, without wanting to do high level gymnastics, we can only emit the pretentions. It's a great shame because Sibiu was a centre with a name but now nothing will follow it up,' says the coach.

Sandu accompanied Andreea Grigore and Ana Maria Tamarjan to the World Cup in Moscow. 'If will be difficult to return with a medal. Honestly, I'd be happy if they get into the final,' said the man from Sibiu.

14 May 2007 Source: Sport Total

Belu is ready to give Catalina Ponor advice

The President of the National Agency for Sport, Octavian Belu, has declared yesterday that he's ready to give Catalina advice if she needs it but he specified that he will not be involved with
the training of the gymnast because he doesn't have enough time.
Belu: 'I can give advice to Catalina anytime, if she needs my help. Now I would say to her to take care of her health, to remember slowly, slowly what the demands are of training at a high level and to keep the same motivation of how she feels now, to make a come-back. It's not easy but it is not impossible.'
Belu added that he doesn't have the time to go into the gym to assist in the training of Catalina. Belu: 'It will be more difficult to go into the gym because I don't have the time. My schedule is very well worked out per hour. I have to be present at a lot of events in the country, there are things that I need to solve and that got me the position as President of the National Agency for Sport and it wouldn't be normal if I got involved in an activity that I can't do the way I am used to, in which I don't have continuity. When there is talk of advice, with a lot of pleasure and anytime.'

9 May 2007 Source: Sport Total

Bitang might come back to coach

Although Catalina Ponor has repeatedly said she'd rather forget the period in which she was trained by Mariana Bitang, she has now taken a shocking decision. She has stopped working with Matei Stanei and has chosen to work with the ex-counselor of the president, who is now testing the gymnast. The training was resumed in Bucharest, in the same gym in which the men's team train, something that Stanei didn't agree with.

At the end of 2005, Ponor stopped training in Deva with the rest of the gymnasts of the National Team and chose to go back to her first coach, Matei Stanei. She trained seperately in the same gym with the men coached by Dan Grecu in Bucharest. After 6 months she retired from gymnastics. She reconsidered this year when she decided to come back during the Europeans in Amsterdam but she didn't leave for Holland as she hadn't completely recovered after the treatment for Scarlet Fever.

This time, Catalina took a decision more shocking than the ones before. She wants to train with Mariana Bitang, although she repeatedly critisized the regime of Belu and Bitang until in 2005, when the two resigned. Both were named counselors for the President on sport problems. In January, Belu became president of the ANS, while Mariana Bitang had to resign from Cotroceni in April after the president Traian Basescu was suspended.

Carmen Ponor: 'She put in front of me a fact already decided.' Matei Stanei said shortly: 'I stopped training her a week ago.'

The coach and his gymnast went back to Constanta as he considered it was much better for Catalina to train in her home town. This year, as also last year, they shared a gym with the men's team in the Lia Manoliu complex. The changing of coaches will bring Catalina back under the same roof, her boyfriend, Robert Stanescu, included, with whom she has had a relationship for about a year and Robert being in the men's team coached by Dan Grecu.

Nicolae Forminte: 'I have heard that Mr. Stanei has health problems. I'm very sorry to hear this and I wish him a speedy recovery. Other than that, I don't have a reason to comment about Catalina's decision. The Federation decides and I, at this moment, don't know the opinion of the Federation. She abandoned gymnastics, came back, said she would take part at the Romanian Internationals, changed her mind, she wanted to train with Mr. Stanei, now she wants something else. Tomorrow, who knows what else I hear but I can not comment on anything other than concrete facts.

Adrian Stoica (President of the Federation): 'Now, Mrs. Bitang is testing the will and actual capacity of Catalina Ponor. She will make a decision in about 10 days, 2 weeks maximum if it is worth the effort to continue like this. The Federation will agree with everything she will decide because the name Bitang doesn't need an introduction in the gym. The training takes place in the Lia Manoliu Complex in Bucharest. If the training continues, they will take place there too because Mrs. Bitang can't leave Bucharest.

The break between Matei Stanei and Catalina happened around the 27-28 of April, says her former coach. The reason was, by both parties, the training system. Stanei: 'The was plan drawn up for her benefit, approved by the Olympic Committee and the Federation. Everything was ok. Unfortunately, having Scarlet Fever weakened her physical ability a lot and for some time she couldn't respond to the expectations of the training. We worked on three apparatus and I told her that the finicalities will always be raised by everyone on her part. We haven't understood each other on this and I was the one who stopped the colaboration.'
'I wished her to be the girl in which I believed and that I wish good luck. I haven't slept for three nights, I was restless and disapointed, I have taken a lot of medicine. Catalina was like my own child. I'm really sorry I couldn't continue after what I had promised the Olympic Committee and the Federation.'

Catalina went to Bucharest to talk to Mariana Bitang, who is the only person who can train her in the capital. Carmen Ponor, Catalina's mother: 'Yes, she did go to Bucharest all the time but not to cause an argument with Mr. Stanei. She took the decision to talk to Mrs. Bitang on the 1st of May. In Bucharest she also met with her boyfriend, like every other girl does, because she's grown up now. She's almost 20 years old.'

However, the multiple Olympic Champion says that the state of Matei Stanei's health was the ground of the decision and not that her boyfriend lives in Bucharest.

In the newspaper Ziua, Adrian Stoica is clear about one thing, that Catalina has to do three apparatus, vault, beam and floor, she will not go to Worlds if she can only compete on beam as at Worlds there's a team competition to be done for qualifications for the Olympics. Stoica was also resolute about the come-back of Monica Rosu, who he doesn't think will make the team with only doing vault.
He also says that the injury that Aluissa Lacusteanu sustained in Amsterdam seems quite serious. Her knee is still inflamed and it seems an anterior crusciate ligament problem but he is afraid it's
a serious injury.
Sandra Izbasa has a metatarsal fracture sustained after her beam dismount at Europeans on Sunday during the final and she's wearing a boot plastercast but she has also has ongoing problems with her right ankle. Adrian Stoica hopes that she will be doing ok soon. Steliana has recovered from her disappointment of making errors in the all-around at Europeans and wishes to compete, which is a good sign.
Steliana is lined up to compete at the World Cup in Ghent along with Madalina Gutu this weekend.

2 May 2007 Source: Sport Total

Back home

The Romanian team returned home from the European Championships on Monday but two of the girls came home injured. Aluissa Lacusteanu sustained a knee injury during training in Amsterdam and Sandra Izbasa injured herself during her beam dismount and couldn't take part in the floor final. It's likely she's suffering from a metatarsal injury and might go abroad to get treatment.
The harshness of the new code that was introduced a year ago seems to leave an imprint on the Romanian gymnasts. Forced to add as much difficulty as possible to obtain a high start value, exposes the gymnasts to more injuries.
Nicolae Forminte: 'In every high performance sport you are under risks at any time. In fact, overstressing causes problems in any kind of area. On television I saw the case of a girl who died because of exhaustion because of too much work. It's important that we know how to administer our own means of the right proportion of physical and psychological resources to achieve results and to avoid the unpleasantness.'

Without Catalina Ponor, they brought back 4 medals. Steliana Nistor won her first senior medal during the bars finals and also won bronze on beam. Unfortunately she missed out on a bronze medal in the individual competition due to mistakes on beam and floor. Sandra Izbasa won silver in the all-around and silver on beam.

Nicolae Forminte: 'I have proposed to the Federation to employ a psychologist who could try to work with the girls in this field. Difficult competitions are coming up and we need all the help we can get.'

Catalina Ponor: 'The girls have done everything they could. I'm so sorry for Stela. She doesn't have competition spirit. It's probable that at a stronger competition, she has more nerves. She needs to learn how to deal with it. Her problems are the full in and the pirouette.'

In Libertatea, Nicolae Vieru declared that if Steliana would be healthy, she will do well at the up and coming World Championships. Vieru: 'She needs to work more on the mental part before a big competition. I'm sure she has a big chance to beat Vanessa Ferrari.'