| 14. Simona Amanar, former Romanian National Team Member (1992 - 2000), gymnastics. This article appeared in the October 2002 issue of ‘Sport International’. “Amanar had the mark of a hand on her face” In the Dutch magazine 'Sport International', during an interview with Verona van de Leur, Renske Endel, and Ans Smulders, a former gymnast from the seventies, there was a discussion about the strictness of the coaches. Verona and Renske had the following to say: Verona: "Sometimes it's necessary that the coaches are very strict with us. It doesn't happen on a daily basis but I don't think that the coaches in gymnastics are tougher than coaches in other sports. If coaches are too soft then it's not good either. In other countries it's a lot tougher, although we don't always see that. If athletes are being beaten, then that doesn't happen in public. Among the Russians and Romanians, things do happen. One time, Simona Amanar didn't perform all that well at a competition and she stood on the podium with the mark of a hand on her face." Renske: "You see blue marks now and then, that the gymnasts have been pinched, but in Holland that would never happen. In Holland the coaches are just strict, nothing more, nothing less." |