Part 1

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=crVYJoNwKko

In Deva, there is a real factory which brought to Romania plenty of gymnasts. Long ago, our host started working in this factory. This man kept a low profile instead of being in the limelight; he put a hand concerning Romanian gymnastics. Today we’ll go to Nicolae Forminte’s home, the head coach of Romanian National Gymnastics Team.

Q: Mr. Forminte, here we are in your home, your home from Deva, if Deva can really be called your home. I’m asking you: is Deva your home?

N.F.: I can say I feel homelike here in Deva. This house/apart where we are now, became my second/additional home after my apartment owned in Constanta. Step by step I tried to create a familiar microclimate where I can easily feel so homelike.

Q: Your home isn’t only this house but also the entire ground where the gymnastics is happening in Deva, as well as the training hall and the meeting room. In fact, how is your life in Deva?

N.F.: I can define my life as a constantly preoccupation to accomplish my objectives assumed towards Romanian Gymnastics Federation and Romanian Olympic Committee. But, first of all, the objectives which we assumed towards Romanian people who are always expecting from gymnastics many delightful moments.

Briefly, this is my life in Deva. I have a constant concern for the gymnasts who are training here, I watch for their health in order to go on safely their activities.

Obviously, there are some rarely moments, relaxing moments when we celebrate a birthday or we go out for a coffee or meet local officials, general school manager, minister/government officials. I can say I am always welcome as if I would be in my hometown wherever I go, so I feel homelike.

Q: For sure you don’t have an easy life, especially because of those responsibilities that you’ve mentioned earlier. Is there a moment when you don’t think about gymnastics? I mean that relaxing moments that you’ve talked about it.

N.F.: It’s hard to explain…my wife and my son (who has grown up lately and has a great say to me now) told me: Stop talking in your mind. I would say I shared my consciousness and my subconsciousness in many “folders” (he uses exactly this English word) which are independently working all the time. This is no fiction, it’s a real thing, I don’t want to seem interesting, and practically I don’t stop to find out solutions.

So, my answer is no, there is no second when I cease to think about gymnastics, maybe only when I am asleep, but even than I may dream something related to my everyday preoccupations. I try my mind not to take any break.

Q: I would like to access some of that “folders” as you said earlier. I would start with the “folder” Childhood. I suppose in that period you could rest much easily. How was NF in his childhood?

N.F.: I was a normal child.

Part 2

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IqgKUPA3oWM

There is no secret that I came of a poor family. In ’57 – ’58 my father had to make a choice between joining the party and following the drum or listening to his family from Campulung Moldovenesc meaning not to join the party. Therefore he was bound to leave the army; this has affected his life, his future. He became a machineman/machinist. He and my mother struggled a lot to nest, to have a home in Medias or Campulung Moldovenesc.

The fate led them to Constanta where at the beginning they have slept under the open sky/covered with the moon. They have worked at the Mamaia’s dockyard. Step by step they started to build a home, have an apartment which was earned by the aid of Minister of National Defense. I was a child pretty concerned about the daily problems of the family, such as lack of money, lack of food. But I was happy that my parents had a strong marriage, no domestic fights, no quarrels. I was supported by them, I went to school. My father grabbed my hand to sport. I tried to play football but they said I was too short, then we went to athletic sports, but we met the same problem. Finally I was led to gymnastics. Since then all my life has changed, every day happened between the school and training, the camps and the training camps. I think that was a beautiful childhood.

Q: You followed the gymnastics…

NF: The 60’s gymnastics (’61-‘62) was always a part of my life. There is an example which I followed later and who touched my next formation. This is my first gymnastics coach Cornel Dinescu. He and my family have shaped me; they were my models in my life. In fact my coach career is also due to the same person. After I left Junior MAG team I wanted to quit the gymnastics. Getting tired of so much lacks, after the high school graduation I said that I want to become a taxi driver.

But one day I had an unexpected meeting with my former gymnastics coach in Constanta.  While I was getting down of the trolleybus in Constanta, I found him trying to get in.  …. Pulling me down, I remember that he said to me: “Oh, maestro Forminte!” He said that because after I got back from Junior MAG team, I never return in the training hall in Constanta for 2 years. At that moment I was so tired of gymnastics, so I didn’t go even to salute him. And he asked me: “How are you? What do you do now?“. I answered: “I’ve graduated the high school, I have my diploma“. He said “Congratulations… the miracle is still happening. What are your plans for the future?“. I said “Well, in September  I want to apply for a school for taxi drivers.”. I couldn’t finish my sentence cause I felt he smacked me in that public place (by the way I was 19ys old). He said “You have no shame, you bastard, you don’t have any self-respect. You should try to enter to a college, it doesn’t matter cause you are stupid and you can’t enter. But at least, you could try to offer an excuse.”  This is a real story, you know!!! And he ordered me “You get your equipment and you’ll be present tomorrow in the training hall!“

Part 3

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nY2Ahglc9iY

N.F.: I had studied really hard for three weeks and then, at the end, the next day I was supposed to register, and he came with me for the registration to make sure that I was going to register, and he told me only this: – Don’t worry, you are stupid, but you are lucky that you are good at it

Q: -…becoming also, in turn, a coach, a professor, a mentor, a pedagog, for so many generations of gymnasts, first in Constanta and then in Deva, at the national team. Gymnasts for whom, as well as for you, Deva means “home”. And starting from from this idea I would like to continue: how does your family from here, from Deva, look like?

N.F.: I would like to believe that I also manage, the same way as my coach, to be a role model for my students, that from both behavior and life principles point of view I succeed to send them a few things which they could use in their life and in their formation as individuals. I have a few signals from former students whom I am extremely proud of, of what they became , and I would like to start in the order…[N.R. I trained them] with Daniela Maranduca, followed by Simona Amanar, Olaru, Milosovici, Gogean, they are former gymnasts…although I wasn’t their headcoach and I only had a relationship with them from my position of a technical staff member, I notice that I meant something to them and that everything is not just politeness from their part when we meet and that they can also show affection and gratitude when they meet me.

But I would like to believe that all the energy which I consume with them, affectively, because I don’t know if it’s a defect or a quality, but I, if I don’t affectively attach to my gymnasts, I cannot collaborate with them. I try to be “cool”, but I cannot, although my screams in the gym and my pushing from the back could give you the impression that I don’t feel anything for them, it’s exactly the opposite, they know this, I said it a million of times, I am a sensitive person, I think, affectively, I care greatly about children, I wanted very much to have one, but life did not allow me to be next to him and I think that all the affection which I would have liked to give to him I am giving to these girls who are next to me.

[Short interview with Ana Porgras:

Q: Deva, the Olympic Center, doesn’t only mean “home” for Nicolae Forminte, but also for all the girls from the women national team of Romania, so also for you, Ana. Tell me, how is it at home in Deva, at home with Nicolae Forminte?

A.P.: Well, this is “home” for us, because we spend here all our time. Practically all the years when we stay here we do not leave anywhere else…the few days when we go home maybe don’t even count for us, we don’t feel the same thing as when we stay here.

Q: But does Mr. Forminte succeed, I am asking you, to replace what you left home, parents, brothers, sisters? How is the relationship with the coach, because it’s more than a relationship gymnast-coach, taking into account that you live here 24/7?

A.P.: Mr. Forminte supports us both in and outside the gym. So he succeeds to replace [helped by the reporter] mother, father, sister…We get along very well with Mr. Forminte and when we have a problem we go to him to solve it.

Q: How is Mr. Forminte, how would you characterize him in a few words, how do you think he is?

A.P.: Well, he’s very ambitious, strong and he doesn’t give up, at all.

Q: And does he transmit this also to you?

A.P.: Yes. And I think this is very good…

Q: And when it’s necessary is he also sensitive?

A.P.: He is also sensitive, and…like any parent. When it’s necessary he’s also a bit tougher, and happy, and he’s happy for our joys, and…absolutely everything.

Q: Would you like to have another coach?

A.P.: No. Because…it’s like this. He is very good, for me.]

Part 4

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cOGQ-TysDY4

Q: How “cool” have you been as a parent?

N.F.: For a long time me and my son have a deal: he tells me once, I tell him once. For us it there are no…actually with my whole family, with my wife it’s the same, for us there are no divergences or we communicate…for us it’s sufficient to say any thing only once for that thing to have effect.

Q: Aren’t you sorry that he didn’t follow you in the gymnast carrier? Dragos is a football player.

N.F.: Yes, he followed, he is trying to follow a carrier as a football player, I asked him, I didn’t oblige him, I asked him, and he understood, that it’s very good to also build a strong educational foundation, he finished the best highschool in Constanta, “Mircea cel Batran”, and he finished it well, ending up 15^th on the Constanta county at the A-level exam, so he listened to me. And now he has from my part two years to try to see if can become a professional football player, what he wants and dreams about, because studying in a faculty he can also do later. So now he is 100% busy with football, I really wish him to succeed, I always explain him that he can only do this through hard work, I know he’s got talent, because else I wouldn’t have let him waist his time on the stadium.

Q: And I know that you also wish him something else. You wish him to live his life besides his family, his child, his loved one. That because you didn’t have this chance. You were confessing at some point that you had left in Constanta a young woman and a small child and you found a mature woman and a teenager, a mature child. I don’t know how easy or how difficult it is to live far away from the family, because it’s not easy to see them, I don’t know, once per month, once in a month and sth, two months, how often do you get to see your family in Constanta

N.F.: Well, that depends on the training period. Sometimes I get there once a month, sometimes once in a month and a half, other times once in two months, and when it was necessary, even once in three months, there is no time limit or a rule. On the other hand, besides the other things I have told you about, I have told him something else: I hope he won’t ever be in the situation when he should choose between staying with his child and being obliged to live in order to be able to provide him with what he needs. And I hope he won’t be in this situation and that he will be able to stay with his family, when he will have that family.

[Presentation of photos with Nicolae Forminte’s family]

Q: The family, you said, was always the engine which motivated you, which made you go on, but the family was also the reason why you didn’t leave abroad, to coach, when you had the chance to do this.

N.F.: Indeed, but you should know that this fantastic will I have from my mom. She transmitted me the desire to always want more and better, and this has also reflected to my family, and my ambition to give them everything I have never had. God was good with me and I had the chance to achieve this. Regarding…indeed, the family has been the engine, or better said, the starter which, every time I feel like giving up, restarts my energy and brings me further, and, regarding the option of leaving abroad or not, it’s debatable. First, it’s very clear, at least for me: if you want to excel, if you want to make carrier, then you cannot do that anywhere else but in Romania. Or you do it better in Romania. With much chance, very few coaches succeeded this abroad, and I would only name Bella Karoli, but he left in another period, in other times, when The West was willing to help the people coming from The East.

Part 5

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jy40lqcS2U8

They had their wives with the same job, so it was easier for them. In my case, my wife decided to stay home taking care of Dragos and if I had had decided to leave, they would have to stay home alone all day. Actually, my wife said last time I had the opportunity to sign a contract in Australia, that I would go there to do what I like, but “what about me”, she asked.

Life went on, but there was a moment after the 2004 Olympics (Athens) when I had to put my life in the balance. My son grew up and the proportions in our family had changed. Till then, the score had been 2:1 for them, but now it`s 2:1 for me, because our son is the swing vote, the one who decides the majority. But, back then in 2004, my son was 14-15 years old and came to me saying that if I want to go abroad, he will be by my side. But the destiny was to remain here, in Romania. My opinion is that abroad you loose some professional satisfactions, but you can gain financial safety…you have a fixed wage and you don’t live through the prizes from the results you get. Also, there the educational and the cultural levels are different. Here if we don`t win it will be a national failure, but there they invest more, prepare themselves better for the next competition, even if they don`t get good results.

Q: What can you want more than to train the Romanian national team? Do you want more? Where do you see yourself in about 10 years?

N.F.: I would like the statesmen to realize that not destroying the sport, the problems Romania is facing, nowadays, will be solved. I want to finish this Olympic cycle and to have a good behavior at the 2012 Olympics (London) and after this I really consider to retire and to take care of my family. Also I am interested working with young coaches and help them to develop their background, because this is our weakest chapter in Romanian gymnastics.

Q: In the end, I will not ask you if you have any regrets, because I know you don`t regret anything. But I want to know if you would like to thank someone?

N.F.: If I have to thank someone, the list will be long. First of all I want to thank my parents, but regarding this I have 2 regrets: first because my parents hadn`t live enough to be proud of me and second that I could not stay with my family. But I want to thank my parents and Dinescu family (Cornel and Marinela) who influenced my life and future. I would want to thank Albu Victor, the one ….

Part 6

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ry9EX2DHPy8

N.F.: …who trusted me during the University. This thing became more obvious when we got back in contact after a long period of time (after Graduation)…he called me after we won the European team-title in Clermont-Ferrand telling that I was the chief of all his promotions from the University. In was an honor for me, because he is an extraordinary person. So, I have to thank everyone who stayed by my side, because I tried to take from every person something good and to avoid making mistakes. Before drawing the conclusion, I have to thank Sandra Izbasa, because she was the person who helped me a lot when I got the position of head-coach. When there was a difficult period, she was the gymnast who found every time the resources to help me go on through her performances. Her gold medal from the Beijing Olympics made me remember all those medals, which were “stole” from me.

In conclusion, I want to thank my wife, Mariana (Mary), and my son, Dragos. What can I say… it`s a bit difficult to thank everyone. I should make a big list.

Mikeyy, Ioanavol and Andra (Fangymnastics’ friend)