 By Susan Hamilton - page 4b - September 2002. Deva updates (part 2). Elena Velicu (junior European silver medalist 2002) has broken her leg in July and is now at home in Bucuresti. She will return to Deva in September. Her birthday was on July 18 and she celebrated it with all her family and received lots of presents. Florenta Oancea spent her holiday at the seaside resort in Mamaia, near Constanta, for a week. She enjoyed it a lot. Belu has said he is counting most of all on Andreea Raducan for the world apparatus championships in Debrecen in November. Andreea has changed nearly all her routines, and loves FX, BB and VT. Lavinia Milosovici and Gina Gogean both got a job as a coach in Sinnicolau Mare, in the Timis county close to the Hungarian border. They were employed by officials from the town who wants to found a gymnastics club in Sinnicolau Mare. In the 2 months that they have worked there, Lavinia and Gina have managed to select around 100 children, boys and girls, between 4 and 8 years old. Coach Octavian Belu has been in Deva since 1981 and since then, his life, sport and private, is merged with gymnastics. He was born and raised in Ploiesti, where he met his wife Camelia who was a former athlete at the club Petrolul Ploiesti. Octavian Belu always left the impression of being a happy man beside his family. He has a beautiful daughter Iolanda, who was one of the most wanted models. There are rumors that he has now split up with his wife, as he hardly ever saw her.  From the team that won the World title last year in Ghent, only Andreea Raducan, Silvia Stroescu and Sabina Cojocar remain over. The other girls, Loredana Boboc, Carmen Ionescu, Andreea Ulmeanu and Monica Sabou have retired. "I took a relatively long break after Worlds. On the 2nd of June I went back to Deva after I signed a paper saying I can only be one kilo over my optimum weight, that my preparation level is at least at the level of the lowest ranked gymnasts of the national team and that I solved all my health problems. That was the term of the condition, plus we had to do everything at our own risk," says Loredana. "I retired because I realised I couldn't catch up with the other girls. "That was the same for me too," added Carmen Ionescu. "After the operation on my right knee, I started to gain weight. I too went back to Deva but after 2 weeks I told the trainers that I was going to retire. Maybe it was better this way." Loredana, is 18 years old and will continue at the high school in Deva. Carmen is only 16 years old. "I will enrol in a sports high school. After that I would like to go to the Sports University. I hope I'll succeed," she said. Page (c) Susan and Bernard for : Kostiskal Docs only can be reproduced for the private use of gym fans. |