Fangymnastics - Romanian gymnastics blog

From Wall-Street:

The Athens three time gold medalist, Catalina Ponor is one of the Romanian gymnastics team´s stars. She returned to elite competition this year after having become a coach. Now her new goal is to place as high as possible at next year´s London Olympics. In an interview for Wall-Street.ro, Catalina Ponor discussed the price behind elite gymnastics, the status of a senior gymnast and her future in the sport.

It took 10 years of training for her to reach her first World Championship. At 17, Catalina competed in the Athens Olympics, winning 3 gold medals with the team, on beam and floor. She stayed in competition until 2009 when she decided to leave for the USA, at the invitation of a former gymnast, to become a coach. At the beginning of this year, the gymnast returned to Romania and joined the team coached by Mariana Bitang and Octavian Bellu.

Despite the lack of medals at the Tokyo Worlds and a recent injury which kept her from competing at the Swiss Cup on the 6^th of November, Catalina still finds the spirit she needs to look forward to her next challenge: the 2012 Olympic Games.

Wall-Street.ro: Keeping in mind the Tokyo Worlds results, what can Romania achieve at the 2012 Olympics?

Catalina Ponor: It´s too early to say. It all depends on the results of the daily trainings. There´s a lot of work to put in, a lot to catch up with and I hope we can cover the gaps in the little time we have and do our best at the Olympics.

[Read the rest of this entry...]

Artistic Gymnastics is undoubtedly the Olympic sport with the largest number of medals in Romanian history. The Romanian delegation returned from this year’s World Championships without any medal. Where is the problem? Must something change? Can we, as simple fans, help out?

Fangymnastics Blog and Romanian Gymnastics Fans Facebook page would need your opinion in their effort to develop a program supporting Romanian gymnastics. If you would like to lend us a hand in this new journey we are starting, please take this survey and share it with your friends.

The survey can be found here.

Thank you!!!

Gimnastica artistica este fara indoiala cel mai medaliat sport olimpic al Romaniei. La recentul Campionat Mondial, delegatia Romaniei s-a intors fara nicio medalie. Unde este problema? Trebuie sa se schimbe ceva? Oare noi, simpli fani ai acestui sport, putem ajuta? Blogul Fangymnastics si pagina Romanian Gymnastics Fans au nevoie de parerea ta in incercarea de a dezvolta un plan de sustinere a gimnasticii romanesti. Pentru inceput ne poti ajuta raspunzand la intrebarile unui chestionar.

Chestionarul poate fi completat aici

Multumim!

De la Alina & Amalia - coordonatoarele proiectului TARE:

Numarul 3 al revistei Tare este unul special. Am incercat sa cuprindem cat mai mult din ceea ce inseamna gimnastica romaneasca. Nu va ganditi doar la cea artistica, ci si aerobica si ritmica.

Va vom invita sa cititi interviuri de suflet, dintre care va oferim un fragment: “Atena 2004  ramine in sufletul meu!  Am vazut  cum s-a cladit o echipa intr-un an si jumatate. Am vazut cum s-a format echipa care a  scris istorie. Sa cistigi 4 medalii de aur din 6 posibile e fabulos!  Am fost saptaminal la antrenamente si am trait fiecare miscare ca si cum ar fi trebuit sa o fac eu. Cunosteam atit de bine indica?iile antrenorilor incit ma trezeam ca  indrept virfurile in pantofi sau string mina  pe linga corp, ca zimbesc la sol odata cu fetele… a fost  superb si  nu voi uita toata viata acele trairi. “

Concursuri: “In prima zi de antrenament, in timp ce ne acomodam cu aparatele, mai trageam un ochi la concurenta. Erau sportivi pe care ii cunosteam si le stiam valoarea, dar nu ne-am lasat intimidati, mai ales ca stiam ca eram pregatiti si intr-un concurs se poate intampla orice. Dupa prima zi de antrenament am iesit pe afara sa vedem imprejurimile. Am ramas uimiti cand am vazut cati sportivi sunt la concurs.”

Fani minunati: “O iubesc pe Sandra Izbasa chiar de prima data cand am vazut-o in 2006 la Aahrus. Imi place gratia, eleganta si exercitiile ei de la sol. Sunt foarte bucuroasa ca a revenit - campioana olimpica. Imi place de asemenea si Diana Chelaru si energia ei.“

Cel de-al treilea numar al revistei TARE este pe drum. Abia asteptam sa o citim pe toata! Cum vi se par cele trei paragrafe? V-au starnit curiozitatea?

[Leapsa primita de la Oana Kovacs]

Sportul poate imbraca multe forme si poate fi prezentat atat din perspectiva unui practicant, ca si din cea a fanului, a supoterului, sau a celui care-l urmareste din pura pasiune. Fara indoiala, in acest articol cand voi spune sport, ma vor referi la gimnastica. Este de la sine inteles motivul! Nu am practicat niciodata sportul meu preferat (si ce rau imi pare acum), dar de la varsta de 5 ani sunt fan si nu am pierdut aproape nicio competitie importanta. In timp am incercat sa-mi dezvolt pasiunea si sa inteleg mai bine ce inseamna gimnastica. Nu mica mi-a fost mirarea cand mi-am dat seama ca ceea ce vedem la TV, la un concurs, reprezinta doar 1% din tot ceea ce reprezinta acest fenomen sportiv. Da, pentru mine e un fenomen si il consider un sport extrem de greu, care impune foarte multe sacrificii, dar si riscuri.

In ultimii ani am trecut la un alt nivel cu gimnastica si am inceput sa ma implic, asa cum pot, si in promovarea acestui sport, a gimnastilor si nu in ultimul rand a antrenorilor. Participarea, in calitate de spectator, la Nationalele din 2008, la primul concurs live, a fost, este si va fi unul dintre cele mai frumoase momente. Au urmat multe alte competitii nationale, apogeul fiind reprezentat de Mondialele de la Rotterdam, la care am mers anul trecut si unde am experimentat emotia ascultarii imnului national al Romaniei pentru succesul obtinut de campioana noastra, Ana Porgras.

In concluzie: ce inseamna gimnastica pentru mine? Simplu si la obiect - o pasiune!

Leapsa merge mai departe spre Alex!

The CSS 2 Bucharest gym is in a central area of Bucharest, less than 100m from Obor Station so many people could bring their kids here to do gymnastics.

Clubul Sportiv Scolar nr. 2

Str Ferdinand I, Nr. 141, Sector 2, Bucuresti (zona Gara de Est - Obor), Romania

TRANSLATION: The Medal Factory (29.10.2011) - (c) DigiSport Tv

In today´s episode of The Medal Factory, we´ll get to know the gymnasts and coaches of Bucharest´s Nr. 2 School Sports Club (CSS 2 Bucuresti). Inside the gym, the little gymnasts are training happily while their coaches are putting in a lot of passion, patience and responsibility. All of them have been gymnasts, from both Artistic and Rhythmic gymnastics. They all have high expectations from the girls although the working conditions are not up to the usual standards. They get motivation from the children who want to reach the highest level.

Andreea Raducan: Romanian gymnastics has always had results. People need to understand these results start at the very bottom, in the clubs and from the gymnasts we are meeting today.

We already know the number of gymnasts is coming down every year. There are many reasons behind this: either parents cannot take their children to the gym, cannot support the costs or the kids give up the minute training gets a little harder.

“Unfortunately, the difference from previous years is that we have to work with all the kids who come in. There are situations in which they come in, they like it but when they have to train every day they give up, either because their parents cannot bring them to the gym every day or because they think gymnastics is very hard. Despite all this, we still have a number of kids working here every day, winning medals. One of our gymnasts, Anda Butuc, was selected in September for the Junior National team in Deva and she will be going to the Worlds in September….I wish it was Worlds, I meant the National Championship. I´m sure she will medal there. I hope she will stay healthy and get to a World Championship one day, she has all the necessary qualities to make it.”

[Read the rest of this entry...]

The Medal Factory - (c) DigiSport Tv
TRANSLATION

Catalina Ponor: “I’m not thinking about the 4 year gap in training, what I need to do is to be consistent and work even harder”

Adrian Stoica: I can´t say we´ve very happy. We´ll have to do an analysis to see where we are and what we can do till the Olympics. I think everyone could see we are facing titans in competition, a couple of exceptional athletes…

Despite the fact that at this year´s Worlds Romania did not make the podium, this cannot be considered a drama. The change in generations and the kids and their parents´ way of thinking have changed compared to the times when having results was something mandatory or necessary. Romanian gymnastics´performance has not been overshadowed just by one World Championship, where the girls could not pull themselves together in time.

[Read the rest of this entry...]

From GSP:

The Romanian National team coach, who returned from Tokyo together with his gymnasts on Monday evening, stated at the Henri Coanda airport that he will be going back to hard trainings. “Those who can cope, will cope! Those who won’t, won’t!” The Romanian delegation returned from the Tokyo World Championships without any medal, this being the worst result in 30 years.

- How do you see this result?
- Downright terrible. I assume responsibility for it, although it’s hard to take this in considering the amount of work I’ve put in. It’s probably also our fault, we made a bad evaluation at the beginning and we were wrong. We thought some girls can and want more. If we don’t admit something is wrong, we won’t solve anything. This generation is less prone to sustained effort and this cannot improve over night.

- Is this the current level of Romanian gymnastics?!
- The lack of medals at this World Championship is not a surprise. In the last few years we’ve moved away from the three world powers, the US, China and Russia. Even if we did reach the podium a number of times, it was mostly in individual events due to good performances from some of the girls. It is getting harder and harder for us to have 3-4 gymnasts who can compete at the highest level on all events.

The difference in mentality.

[Read the rest of this entry...]

Mai sunt doar 16 zile pana la debutul Campionatelor Europene de gimnastica aerobica, care vor fi organizate de catre tara noastra la Bucuresti (Romexpo). Cea de-a saptea editie a intrecerilor continentale va avea loc in perioada 9 - 13 noiembrie si va alinia la start un numar de aproximativ 240 gimnasti din peste 21 de tari. Dintre acestia, 120 sunt inscrisi in concursul seniorilor (minim 18 ani) si aproximativ 122 in competitia juniorilor (cu varsta cuprinsa intre 15 - 17 ani).

Delegatia Romaniei (seniori):

[Read the rest of this entry...]

Reprezentantele clubului Cetate Deva - Madalina Blendea, Adela Florea, Laura Jurca, Andreea Iridon, Ioana Nicoara si Maria Pastiu - vor concura la sfarsitul saptamanii viitoare (28 - 29 octombrie) la un turneu international de gimnastica organizat de catre clubul de gimnastica din Hamburg (Germania).

(de la stanga la dreapta: Ioana Nicoara, Maria Pastiu, Madalina Blendea, Andreea Iridon, Adela Florea si Laura Jurca)

PROGRAMUL DE CONCURS:

Vineri, 28 octombrie:

• 15:00 - 17:00 - Grupa 1 (cluburi din Egipt, Elvetia, Marea Britanie, Germania si Olanda);
• 17:00 - 19:00 - Grupa 2 (cluburi din Germania, Belgia, Egipt si Marea Britanie=;
• 19:00 - 21:00 - Grupa 3 (cluburi din Romania, Spania, Germania si Egipt;

Sambata, 29 octombrie:

• 11:00 - 13:00 - Concursul “Lucky Loser”;
• 14:00 - 17:00 - Etapa principala;
• 18:00 - 20:00 - Finala “Top 5″;

Multa bafta!