Radio Romania International Sports Club
Florin Orban, 23.02.2022, 12:58
A new edition of the Winter Olympics Games has recently drawn to a close. This year, the competition was rather unusual because of the COVID-19 pandemic and the new restrictions that have been put in place for the safety of the participants. Nonetheless, the sporting show was there and so were the controversies. All things considered, it was an exceptional event that brought together the winter sports elite at world level.
Romania was represented by a 22-strong delegation, whose members competed in seven disciplines: luge, bobsleigh, alpine skiing, cross-country skiing, ski jumping, biathlon and speed skating. The most audacious objectives have been set by the Romanian Bobsleigh and Luge Federation. Among them, the winning of a medal, a feat that would have come as a premiere since 1968. However, performance failed to meet expectations, to that effect. Romanian delegation’s best result in the Beijing Winter Olympics was the luge relay crew’s coming in 9th. The athletes were Raluca Strămăturaru, Valentin Creţu and the pair made of Marian Gîtlan and Darius Şerban. Then Andra Grecu was 12th placed in the monobob event. 13th-placed was the 4-man bobsleigh crew made of Mihai Tentea, Raul Dobre, Ciprian Daroczi and Cristian Radu. Romania’s 2-man luge crew made of Marian Gîtlan and Darius Şerban came in 14th in the event.
As soon as the delegation returned to Romania, the President of the Romanian Olympic and Sports Committee, Mihai Covaliu, expressed his dissatisfaction with the Romanian delegation’s below-par run in the Olympics. Covaliu said that the special efforts made in certain disciplines did not translate into high-level performance. Among other things, Covaliu made mention of the fact that the bobsleigh crews had their training sessions in Germany. Mihai Covaliu went on to say that it was not okay for the Romanian athletes to train jointly with the German team, to have good training facilities, to succeed in a similar number of downhill races and then, at the Olympics, to have so poor a timing that they could not explain it themselves. The Romanian Sports Minister, Eduard Novak, added the Romanian athletes would have the chance to win Winter Olympic medals in 10 or 20 years’ time, provided investments are being made in infrastructure and coaches for the next four years.
(EN)
