Romania did not have a women team at the Olympics for the first time in more than 40 years, after failing to qualify for Rio at the 2015 World Championships and also at the 2016 Olympic Test.

Okay, so the wait is over.  Finally, I would say! The Romanian Gymnastics Federation has drawn some conclusions after the nightmare the Romanian Gymnastics faced this past year. “This past period of time has been a harsh one for the Romanian Gymnastics, on so many levels. Of course, some errors were made, and not few, but we claim the responsibility for everything and for the way the results had been affected. We want to avoid similar errors in the future, that is why we took some decisions on the reformation of the Olympic team.” (Adrian Stoica)

The long term goal targets the 2020 Tokyo Olympics, and in order to establish a good process of preparation towards it, the Federation decided to move the Olympic team from Bucharest back to Deva, under the guidance of Nicolae Forminte, who will be the head coach.

The new Olympic team (juniors & seniors) will consist of: Laura Jurca, Maria Holbura, Dora Vulcan, Denisa Stanciu, Olivia Cimpean, Alisia Botnaru, Carmen Ghiciuc, Ioana Crisan, Carmen Glavan, Denisa Florea, Alexadra Mihai, Andra Anghelescu, Beatrice Butunoi, Denisa Golgota, Laura Iacob, Nica Ivanus, Ariadna Stanciu, Camelia Anghel, Alexia Borascu, Ioana Stanculescu and Antonia Duta.

On the coaches side, we will have: Nicolae Forminte (head coach), Liliana Cosma, Adela Popa, Florin Cotutiu, Daniela Nicolai & Remus Nicolai.

Catalina Ponor, Larisa Iordache and Ana Maria Ocolisan expressed their option to resume training in Bucharest and the Federation accepted it and promised to support their training. No word on the coaches they will be working with, but it’s not a difficult guess. Lucian Sandu, Cristian Moldovan and Lacramioara Moldovan would be the obvious choice.

Deva will be also running an Olympic Center for the gymnasts who had been training in Onesti, until now. This center will include the following gymnasts: Iulia Berar, Maria Pana, Diana Mandrea, Ana Maria Puiu, Ioana Oprea, Teodora Manolache, Coleen Tataru, Silvia Sfiringu, Daniela Trica & Luiza Popa.

The coaches Raluca Bugner (head coach), Ioana Grava, Florin Uzum, Ramona Micu and Marius Vintila will team up for the Olympic Center.

A new beginning? Definitely, maybe…

Will we qualify a full team in Tokyo? It’s hard to say. We shall wait and see what happens! Fingers crossed.

Mihai