After the recent
\ndisappointing results of the Romanian gymnasts, the coaches with the greatest
\nachievements in the history of Romanian sports, Mariana Bitang and Octavian
\nBellu, have agreed to return to the national women’s team. After having
\nwithdrawn several times from the helm of the team and being appointed state
\nadvisers for sports in 2006, they suspended their cooperation with the Romanian
\nGymnastics Federation in 2014 for family reasons. <\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
\n
\n
\n
<\/p>\n
Their recent
\nreturn occurred after the head of the Romanian Olympic and Sports Committee,
\nAlin Petrache, sent an open letter to the Romanian Gymnastics Federation,
\ncalling for concrete measures to improve Romania’s results in this sport. The
\nletter also requested clarifications regarding the role of Mariana Bitang and
\nOctavian Bellu in the 2016 Rio Olympics training and participation programme,
\nand recommended, as a last resort, that a foreign coach be hired for the team.
\nAfter talks with both the Gymnastics Federation and the Youth and Sports
\nMinistry, Bellu and Bitang have decided to take over themselves. Their
\nobjective is to have the Romanian team qualified for the forthcoming Olympic
\nGames. <\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
\n
\n
\n
<\/p>\n
For the first
\ntime in the last 49 years, the Romanian women’s gymnastics team was not a
\nserious contender for a medal in the latest World Championships, and finished
\nin a dismal 13th place. Since it failed to secure a place among the
\nworld’s top 8 teams in Glasgow, Romania missed the chance to qualify
\nautomatically for the Olympic Games. The only chance now to secure a place in
\nRio is to finish among the top four teams at the Olympic test event due in Rio
\nin April. While this may not appear to be an easy task, according to the media,
\nRomania still have a good chance, given the vast experience and expertise of
\nthe team’s new coaches. <\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
\n
\n
\n
<\/p>\n
Mariana Bitang
\nand Octavian Bellu steered the Romanian women’s gymnastics team through 6
\nsuccessive editions of the Olympic Games between 1992 and 2012, winning a total
\n22 medals, of which 11 gold, 6 silver and 5 bronze.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Mariana Bitang and Octavian Bellu return at the helm of the national gymnastics team.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":106,"featured_media":66451,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[37738],"tags":[29455,35830,35829],"coauthors":[],"class_list":["post-66450","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-today-in-the-news","tag-gymnastics","tag-mariana-bitang","tag-octavian-bellu"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n