| 06. Corina Ungureanu, former Romanian National Team Member (1993 - 1999), gymnastics. There are two interviews/articles presented. a. Excerpts of an interview originally published in ‘Evenimentul Zilei’, 2001. More information can be found at http://www.geocities.com/gimnastica/articles01/cungureanu01.html . "We were breaking our bones training, and Vieru was getting paid three times more than us." Corina Ungureanu. Former World team champion Corina Ungureanu gave an exclusive interview to Romanian newspaper Evenimentul Zilei. Fallen out of RGF president Nicolae Vieru's graces after she posed for Romanian Playboy in 1999, Corina has had to deal with Vieru's open hostility towards her. The RGF president attacked her harshly in interviews, saying her decision to pose for Playboy hurt the image of the sport. His latest "maneuver" prompted the former gymnast to break her silence on the subject. Evenimentul Zilei: Corina, it's been two years since you posed for Playboy. Did your relationship with the RGF improve since then? Corina Ungureanu: You should know this was fairly weird scandal. I didn't speak directly to anyone from the RGF in '99. Vieru started the scandal by his comments in interviews, without even calling me beforehand. They accused me of rushing into things when I took that step [posing for the magazine]. But I explained I couldn't have waited 6 moths like they wanted me to. An athlete gains weight immediately after he retires. In our [gymnasts'] case it's all the more obvious since we are so short. I already weighed 54 kg and I'm 1.56m (120 lbs, 5ft 1). This was a unique opportunity for me, an exciting proposal I did not want to miss. I didn't want to get into arguments with anyone. Honestly, knowing Mr. Vieru, I expected him to call me and reprimand my decision, but I never expected such a violent reaction. EZ: To what extent did this incident affect you? CU: I eventually realized that the scandal, all the accusations and the media attention actually helped me. No one gave me weird looks or said anything mean to me, except the people from the federation. EZ: How much did Playboy pay you for posing? CU: Eh, I might as well tell you this because I almost never talked about money until now. I got $4000 for the photo shoot, to which Playboy added another $2000 to compensate for the prize money the RGF refused to give me. EZ: What have you been doing since then? Did you try working as a coach somewhere? CU: No. Here [in Romania] you can't live off that income. What am I supposed to work for? If I started working in Bucharest or Ploiesti, the money they pay you wouldn't even be enough to pay for bus tickets to and from the gym. EZ: Why don't you try working at Deva? CU: There's no place for me there...At least, not as long as Vieru still works at the RGF. He never forgot what I did. For example, between February15-17, there will be a gymnastics tour in Romania. I would have liked to be in it. I'm still in decent shape, and I'm sure I wouldn't have had any problems with the routines, especially since there weren't too hard. I called Mr. Belu and asked him if I could join the tour. He said yes, that wouldn't be a problem. The other gymnasts were happy about it, as well. Later on, I talked to the agent that organizes the tour and he said I couldn't join the team because Vieru doesn't want me on the tour. I simply do not understand. Everyone agrees I should do it, but not Vieru! I don't know what his problem is. EZ: Why do you think he dislikes you so much? CU: Back in 99, after the Playboy scandal, Sports minister Antonescu forced Vieru to resign as RGF president. He probably figured it was because of me. Actually, there were many other things to consider. Vieru's reaction to my case was the straw that broke the camel's back. EZ: Is there anything to be done in that case? CU: Well, he should retire somewhere where he doesn't get in people's way. Mr. Adrian Stoica, current general secretary of the RGF, is very good at his job. A lot better than Vieru. He's an old man; he's 70 now. Then again, maybe me needs the money... EZ: Is the RGF president well paid? CU: Extremely well paid, not just well paid. Us, gymnasts, go to various galas where organizers pay an appearance fee to get us in their show. That money doesn't go into our pockets. Most of the money stays within the RGF. Once, in the Netherlands, we broke the equipment training for a 3-day gala and we only got $200. Where did the rest of the money go? Thousands of dollars? After Worlds or Europeans, they give us prize money, but it's not worth anything [she literally said the prizes are so small they make "a cat stand on its tail"]. We break our bones training, and Vieru sits behind his desk, making more money than anyone else, even coaches. After the 1997 Worlds, I won $5000 in prize money, but he got 3 times as much. b. Original article published in ‘Gazeta Sporturilor’, June 29, 2001. Former gymnast Corina Ungureanu reveals details in a book, that will appear next Friday, about the 'Playboy scandal' and about the slaps she received from Octavian Belu Corina Ungureanu has written her memories into a 130 page thick book in which she talks about the 'Playboy scandal' which has been discussed over and over again by the media, up to the slaps from Octavian Belu. The book of the former gymnast is called 'Corina Ungureanu - ending and beginning' and will appear next Friday on the 6th of July. Laurian Stanchescu, a poet and an ex-friend of Nichita Stanescu, has helped Corina. "I think this book will stir up a big scandal," said Laurian. From the 130 pages, 30 contain photos of Corina and the rest is a kind of dialog started by Stanchescu with the former gymnast as well as the opinion of some of Corina's best friends, among them Maria Olaru. Of course, the 'hot' chapter will be about the scandal that started at the end of 1999 when Corina decided to pose for Playboy naked. Corina tells about how her mother received a phone call from the trainer of the national team, Mariana Stan, who said somewhat aggressively: "Mrs., do you know what you daughter has done?" After which my mother said that "It's my daughter's own business what she does, but I saw that she began to cry," says the former world champion. On the other hand, it's interesting that the gymnast remained secretive in front of her father up until the last moment that she was going to pose naked. "I told him the evening before just because it was written in the paper. He was shocked but he was ok fairly quickly and then he encouraged me." Moving on to the chapter about her performance, Corina remembers the day that she decided to retire from gymnastics. "I was on a plane home, just after the world championships in Tianjin in 1999, when I got the idea to retire. From the first moment that the thought entered my mind, I knew that I was going to retire definitely." Corina Ungureanu was, probably the most disputed gymnast who has ever been on the Romanian team. She was always in the clinch with Octavian Belu and Mariana Bitang and she doesn't hesitate to admit this and talks about the 'corrections' she got over the years from both of them. "I also got slapped, but I considered that in sport it's necessary to undergo a Spartan education, not one of the academy for young ladies. Probably because of these slaps, I stayed in gymnastics and I was able to perform the way I did." |