19. Januar 2006  
Bucharest / Romania  
Artistic Gymnastics

Belu and Bitang to be presidential advisors

Belu, Bitang (ROM)

The Rumanian press announced yesterday, that former national gymnastics coaches Octavian Belu and Mariana Bitang accepted the offer made by Romania's president Traian Basescu to become presidential advisors on sports related issues.
Octavian Belu accented, that it will be not a 'Good bye' to gymnastics....
Octavian Belu and Maria Bitang to be presidential advisors

Belu said to the Rumanian press: 'We have no clear information about what we are supposed to do but as far as I am concerned, it will be only issues related to sports, general problems that sports are facing and monitoring sports events that have great importance for Romania,' adding he hopes their work will be important for the president.
Belu also said that he does not consider his activity as a presidential advisor as a sort of good-bye to gymnastics. 'Gymnastics will always remain in our hearts. The difference is that now gymnastics will only be a part of the issues we will have to deal with.

Traian Basescu,
President of Romania

Romania's President Basecu met the two former coaches of the Romanian women gymnastics team on Tuesday and offered to them a place in the team of advisors at Cotroceni Palace.
According to the presidential advisor Adriana Saftoiu, the president made the offer because 'such values should not remain isolated.'
Saftoiu also said that the president thanked the two coaches for their activity which has brought a lot of benefits for Romanian sports.
The new presidential advisor Belu said that he does not exclude the idea of collaboration with the Olympic Committee to work at the Sports Academy in Izvorani.

Romania's Headquarter in Izvorani

He said that although he does not know much about the Labor Code and about whether it would permit him to hold two positions, himself and Mariana Bitang would like to support the project.
Last week, the Olympic Committee of Romania made a proposal to the former coaches of the Romanian women's gymnastics Olympic Team to be part of an 'Olympic Academy', which is to be set up at Izvorani. The two coaches have not yet given a formal answer but said they are considering the offer.
(> GYMmedia-News 2005, Dec 16)
However, this project has triggered a gap between the two boards, according to the federation's president Adrian Stoica on Tuesday.
'This is a very complicated matter. As far as I know, according to the law, the federation is the one that deals with gymnastics in Romania,' said the president of the Romanian Gymnastics Federation, Adrian Stoica. He mentioned that the project of the Olympic body is interfering with the federation.
In a reply, the secretary general of the Olympic Committee, Ioan Dobrescu, said that the federation does not know what the project is about. 'The project of the Academy in Izvorani is not only related to gymnastics. If the people at the federation were not capable of making a project that would keep coaches Octavian Belu and Mariana Bitang in the country, then they should understand that we are going to make those projects,' Dobrescu said.
'We want to collaborate with as many big names in sports as possible in this project which is only at the beginning,' he said. The president of the federation, Adrian Stoica, said that the presidential offer made to the two coaches was 'an exceptional solution' and that is the best thing that can happen at the moment.
He said that he had also proposed for the two coaches to remain with the federation and continue their activity of supervising the teams that are to participate in international competitions but the two refused.
Romania's Olympic Committee secretary Ioan Dobrescu also said that the proposal to become presidential advisors is one that could not be refused. 'Personally I think the proposal to work at the academy and the president's can co-exist,' he said, adding that the best thing would be for the two coaches to remain in Romania.
Sources: Rumanian media