Mariana Bitang has declared for Mediafax earlier today:
“After the European Championships, after June, our quality as head coaches stopped. It is a final decision. We are trying to help out as we can, we did everything we could” said Mariana Bitang.
Then the head for the Romanian Gymnastics Federation clarified for another new agency, Agerpres: “I do not know and I cannot predict for how long they will be missing. It is the personal desire of two individuals. Despite the many efforts we all have done, we have been unable to convince them to return to better feelings. We will need to do something afterwards, an army cannot be without a commander. I have no other choice but to wait for Worlds to pass, as they will, and we’ll see after that. It is an issue that is under discussion for some time, but the International Federation recently published lists of delegates and everything started there. ‘.
Stoica added that the two coaches’ decision is not based on an offense or a dispute with someone: ‘No one has taken an offense to anyone. At least that was communicated, it’s not anger, but simply a decision that they took.”
A couple of observations here:
First, regarding Mariana Bitang’s declaration, this is not really something new, as right after the elections for the Romanian Olympic Committee’s Presidency the two coaches declared that they no longer wanted to be involved with the Romanian Olympic Committee nor with the Romanian gymnastics team (this was end of May). Then, in the beginning of August the two “returned” to Izvorani but nothing was mentioned regarding their official involvement with the team. The press assumed that they returned as coordinators but no confirmation was given.
Then the two did not travel with the team to Sweden for July’s training camp, nor to Switzerland for the tri-meet against Germany and Switzerland earlier this month. Even in May, at 2014 Euros, although Octavian Bellu traveled with the team, during the team final the three coaches on the floor were still Lucian Sandu and the Moldovans.
We all like to see B&B by the side of the Romanian gymnasts, whether for confidence, for reputation or technical expertise (which are all true); but their absence is not exactly surprising and it’s the norm rather than an exception.
Thirdly, without a doubt the two were disappointed by the aforementioned elections when they felt betrayed collectively by the Romanian sports federations and that was an event that triggered their decision to become less involved (if they stayed in the sport). But it was not the first time they mentioned they wanted a less visible role with the national gymnastics team. In fact, ever since their return, in 2010, the declared desire was to act more as advisers than as hands-on coaches for day-to -day training. It didn’t work out because time until 2012 Olympics was limited and options for replacement were not too many. So they decided to do the right thing and take it upon themselves to coach the team.
Let’s hope that this is just some tough love and setting some much-needed boundaries rather than a gradual cutting of ties. In her declaration Mariana Bitang specified they will no longer be head coaches and that they are helping according to their possibilities, after all. Here’s hoping.
As per Stoica’s declaration… there is a fine line between being diplomatic and being careless:”It is an issue that is under discussion for some time, but the International Federation recently published lists of delegates and everything started there.“.
A perfect contradiction wrapped in lack of accountability.
Article by: Bea Gheorghisor
Photo cover: Brigid McCarthy