18. April 2003  
Deva / Romania  
Artistic Gymnastics

Deva under Siege

Belu: A lot of troubles...

The Romanian newspaper Ziua wrote in an article this week, that the situation in the Romanian gymnastics center Deva continues to be tense, next to the abundance of problems that the trainers have had to face lately, another problem surfaced: the construction at the Deva complex and the worse thing is that the construction will last at least 4 years....
.... difficult times in Deva:
Because the work is next to the building where the gymnasts train and live, the discussion was raised to move the girls somewhere else so that their program wouldn't be disturbed by the noise of the machinery and builders who are working in the area.
Even though the Minister of Education, Ecatarina Andronescu, announced that work needed to be interrupted so that the preparation for Worlds wouldn't be hampered, up until yesterday, she hasn't made any decision. The officials of the Federation are unhappy, affirming that the work had started without anyone being informed.
On the other hand, the local authorities have searched for a solution so that the team doesn't have to leave Deva but the discussions were interrupted because of the Romanian Internationals and the gymnasts have returned to Deva.
On Tuesday, General Secretary of the Romanian Olympic Committee, Dan Popper, came to Deva to try and find a solution together with Octavian Belu and Mariana Bitang so that the gymnasts can train in optimal conditions.
The mayor of Deva proposed moving the girls to a kindergarten and the money that the adjusting of the building would cost, would be taken care of by the city hall of Deva.
Octavian Belu has declared that, indifferent of where they will have to move to, the team will not find the same training conditions as the ones they have in Deva anywhere, adding that the Federation and the ROC will decide where the team will continue their preparation. Moreover, Belu also added that 'the construction work at the Deva complex almost reaches as far as the gym. There will be a lot of dust and, certain is that this will affect our training. This even if we do move to the school.'
Adrian Stoica from the Romanian Gymnastics Federation declared: 'The proposal of the kindergarten is an old one and we have refused it. It needs a lot of money but even that isn't the real problem. What worries us is the timing, looking at how long things will last and Worlds is scheduled for the second half of August. It's an extremely difficult competition, most of all because the competitors for the Olympics will be decided here!'
source: Ziua, translated by Nicole Citroen