From Prosport:

With a subscription to the second place of the podium on floor (silver at the 2010 WC, silver at the 2011 EC), Diana Chelaru would like to make a change at the 2012 London Olympics. Despite tough competition inside her own team represented by Olympic Champion on floor, Sandra Izbasa, the Onesti gymnast is working on her landings with the gold medal in mind. A wish Diana will be making again on the 15^th of August for her 18^th birthday.

At the Izvorani gym, training is following its course on a hot summer day. A small figure who seems to have gathered the entire energy of the gym attacks your attention. She quickly moves from uneven bars to beam, does a couple of vaults and stops by floor where she searches for her coaches. She talks fast, with quick gestures and smiles all the time while she keeps moving. ” I’ve learned to control my energy, use it constructively. Anyway, I only take haft of it to competitions, I leave the rest at home in order not to have extra luggage.” Diana laughs about it.

“From time to time I cheated in trainings”

Didi, as her friends call her, is the gymnast who has underwent the biggest transformation since Octavian Bellu and Mariana Bitang took over the team. Giving more attention to details, being more responsible and confident, the girl who stepped into the gym thinking about being the second Nadia has been constantly on the podium for the last two years: “Everything has changed for me as if I´ve had a confidence shot. Requirements are different, expectations are high, gold is important now, second or third place is not. This makes me more ambitious.”

This radical change not only influenced the way she competes, but also her routines: “I stopped cheating in trainings, I used to repeat less by saying I had already done the element, maybe this is why the results didn’t come. I’m much more responsible now, I’ve learned control.” says the gymnast discovered by Elena Dragomir.

Everything for Romania

Being more mature has not helped her to “taste” gold. Two silver medals and many dreams around the same apparatus, floor: “I work a lot and I believe I will get my chance. I don´t mind breaking the second place rule at the Olympics. I want gold on floor but I don´t mind sharing it with Sandra either.” Didi smiles. On the same note, the rivalry inside the Romanian team presented itself again at the European Championships, with Sandra Izbasa first and Diana second: “You are your own competitor, only you can put yourself down. I don´t understand this as a rivalry. Every gymnast works for herself, but when it comes to Romania, we are a team!” says Diana. A team that will be fighting for first place in Tokyo in two months from now.

For Worlds I want to improve my routines on beam and uneven bars, but I am also working on perfecting my vaults and my floor elements. (Diana Chelaru)

RGF