Romania Gymnastics thread

[Livi]

Since we have one for Russia as well, I think Romania will be interesting to watch as well. They have some very good juniors coming up, which they seem to treat/manage a lot better in comparison to the last decade(s).
Especially Ana Barbosu and Amalia Puflea are ones to watch.

In this recent post on instagram they mention that they are working with Patrick Kiens and Daymon Montagne Jones, the former choreographers of (most of) the Dutch gymnasts. I’m really curious to see the results of that and hope that it will result in more mature, intricate floor routines for the Romanians.

 

[irichluck21]

Barbosu is senior this year and should help Romania make the top 24 (hopefully) as Puflea is 2007 and not age eligible yet. If these two are healthy I do believe they can help Romania back into the top 12 in Antwerp.

 

[Livi]

Yes, my mistake, Barbosu is a senior already!

 

[RAFIKI]

should help Romania make the top 24 (hopefully)

Imagine saying this just ten years ago.

 

[irichluck21]

Imagine saying this just ten years ago.

We kind of saw the writing on the wall in 2012 though. Bars was a mess then and they were scraping by to field competitive rosters. They relied heavily on Ponor, DTYs, and consistent beam while taking advantage of others making mistakes.

While they won team medals in 2007, 2008, 2012
2007 was by default with Kramarenko’s 0.0 on VT, Russia imploding in 2008, and China imploding in 2012.

Granted we didn’t think the team would fall from grace so quickly.

If you went back to 2001-2002 I would say, yeah you are crazy if Romania doesn’t have a full team for an Olympic Games, let alone two in a row.

 

[ArnoldRimmer]

Yes, it had been coming for a while. I really thought they’d manage to hang around and still be in the top 5 for Rio, but many of us expected them to plummet the quad after didn’t we?

That said, I’d disagree that 2012 was default. China would I think have just edged it had they gone 12 for 12, but it’s not like that ever happens plus Iordache’s injury was part of the reason for that. She would’ve been expected to add several tenths more on vault and floor if healthy. And the plascar thingy aside, Romania just turned up looking much better peaked.

 

[SriEa]

I was just checking the Youtube videos of the recent Romanian Nationals and couldn’t help notice the absence of Amalia Puflea.
I went on the federation site and there were recent news about her going to train in Barlad until her “issues” were resolved.
http://frgimnastica.com/news/193
So as I wanted to find out about those issues, I googled Puflea in recent news and came up with that very shocking and very sad article… anyone knows about that?

Shocking revelations about Amalia Puflea’s ordeal

Amalia Puflea, a 15-year-old gymnast from Bârlad, threatened suicide in the training camp in Deva, being terrorized by the behavior of coaches Lucian Sandu and Gina Gogean. The disclosure was made by the mother of the child, Elena Onel, who could not resist the pressure and left for Deva on...

romania.postsen.com

 

[J175]

When are the Romanian federation finally going to realise that whatever it is they are doing isn’t working?

They aren’t blind, they can see that their junior talent doesn’t translate to seniors and that no one is healthy enough or wants to continue for very long as a senior. At the moment they’ve only registered two gymnasts rather than a full team for Worlds, everyone else apparently being injured. Do they not look around at the other 23 qualified teams and see that no one else is having this same difficulty?

If there is any positive in Iordache’s retirement maybe it is possible that the realisation there are no longer any active Romanians with any top level success, no examples of the system producing those results, might prompt some reflection. Or probably not.

 

[YurchenkoLoop]

Voinea upgrade

Front roll mount A
Round-off + layout 1/1 BG .2
Wolf + split jump AB
Free cartwheel D
FF + layout BE .1
Turn A
FF + back tuck 1/1 BF .2
Split leap 1/2 D
Switch + switch 1/1 CD .1
Round-off + bhs + double tuck BBD .1
GFEDDDDC 3.7 + 2.2 + .7 = 6.6

a smooth front roll mount satisfies the turn requirement so they should take out her turn

 

[CameliasFingerpaint]

Her leaps have improved considerably. That split half is a hard pass, however.

 

[tsarinajen]

I’d love to see a scoring breakdown potentially for it. As long as the layout full doesn’t get downgraded (there’s no pike in the code right ?), she should be good.

 

[YurchenkoLoop]

sure, this is with a very strict pen:

Front roll feet separation -0.1
Pause -0.1
Layout 1/1 knees, leg separation, deep landing -0.3 (did not deduct for pike in hips)
Wolf jump leg at horizontal -0.1 (must be above. also when she lands, she should have her arms behind her to swing fwd/up into the split jump. I’m nervous this won’t get credit)
Pause -0.1 (borderline)
Free cartwheel feet -0.1
Pause -0.1
Layout knees, height -.2 (the flic before maybe had a slightly bent leg but I didn’t deduct)
Turn leg position, precision -0.2
Pause -0.1
Back full feet, landing adjustment -0.2
Pause -0.1
Split leap 1/2 body alignment, landing position -0.2 (the split position in air is borderline -0.3. The back foot is relaxed but I didn’t notice this at first)
Pause -0.1
Rhythm of connection between switch leaps -0.1
Switch 1/2 body alignment -0.1. She hits a full 180 but her hips aren’t square and she’s at risk of downgrade to a Johnson
Pause -0.1
Double tuck foot form, precision of feet on landing, hop -0.3
She’s also got a bent arm on her back handsprings but we’ve seen far more egregious versions and judges don’t seem to be deducting it

Artistry
Poor body posture (her head/shoulders) -0.1
Insufficient amplitude -0.1
Feet relaxed -0.1
Lack of work in releve -0.1 (she has a brief moment before the dismount but it’s too short)
Insufficient involvement of body part -0.1
Performance as a series of disconnected elements -0.1

7.4 - 0.6A = 6.8 E score

I’d anticipate her scoring ~7.7 if she hits this internationally. She could make the beam final with a large wobble but probably not a fall

 

[RedBirdie]

I’d anticipate her scoring ~7.7 if she hits this internationally. She could make the beam final with a large wobble but probably not a fall

I’ll be in the corner sobbing. The state of this damn sport

 

[YurchenkoLoop]

Lest you forget Li Shanshan won bronze on beam at 2007 Worlds with a fall! Ou Yushan came pretty close at Worlds last year…

but yeah, there’s not enough differentiation between hit routines from gymnasts like Maneca-Voinea and OYS. OYS has some built in pauses and usually lands a little deep on the fhs + front tuck series, but otherwise there’s really not much to take, save wobbles.

 

[Sasha]

Is that layout full/tuck full situation not an Eaker rings kinda scenario?

 

[RedBirdie]

Lest you forget Li Shanshan won bronze on beam at 2007 Worlds with a fall!

Li Shanshan is a lot easier on the eyes.

 

[tempest]

Lest you forget Li Shanshan won bronze on beam at 2007 Worlds with a fall!

and a fall was only worth .8 then however if the fall was 1.0, she and Ponor would have shared the bronze

 

[YurchenkoLoop]

nah, she has a slight knee bend but they couldn’t downgrade it to the a tuck. Her hips are open past vertical and the knee bend isn’t serious enough

 

[RAFIKI]

Lest you forget Li Shanshan won bronze on beam at 2007 Worlds with a fall!

I thought she tied for silver with Nistor?

Either way it’s a valid point though, only 0.125 from Liukin’s score.

 

[irichluck21]

Lest you forget Li Shanshan won bronze on beam at 2007 Worlds with a fall!

Silver tied with Nistor.

Li Shanshan also fell in the Olympic beam finals but placed 6th.