| 24. Oana Petrovschi. Romanian National team member, 2001-2003. Article publised January 30, 2004 in 'Gazeta Sporturilor'. |
| "I don't think you're a virgin" That's what Mariana Bitang told Oana Petrovschi when she was complaining of a stomach ache. When the girls come back from town, they are sometimes searched to the skin. The former gymnast says that now when she watches her former colleagues on tv, she's praying that they won't make a mistake so they won't be punished. "Petrovschi is a mediocre gymnast!" said Octavian Belu yesterday but the statistics prove otherwise. In the last 10 years, Oana is the only gymnast who won a world medal on bars. Yesterday, Belu and Bitang accused Oana of stealing and also accused her of having a boy in her room. Oana explains that she and another gymnast went into the coaches’ office to take the chocolates, that the girls had bought a couple of days before, but were taken away from them. About the boy that came out of her room she says: "That was after my birthday, in the morning at 7 my former boyfriend came to me to wish me happy birthday. He stayed 20 minutes and left. When he left he was seen by the medical assistant and she reported it to the coaches." Robert Berza, the interviewer then asked if they accused her of having sex and Oana says: "Yes because after this happened, I complained of a stomach ache so Mariana Bitang sent me to a gynecologist together with the medical assistant." The medical assistant stayed with her all the time and after the examination, the doctor said that Oana was still a virgin. When Oana competed in Groningen, Holland last year, she competed with a splint on her ankle but she already had a terrible pain in her back and wore warm plasters on her back. She said she didn't know what to do with herself because of the pain and in fact it wasn't even necessary that she competed there as it was just a friendly competition. The team moved to Bucharest and one day her back jammed, she couldn't move without pain. At first the coaches thought she was lying so she wouldn't have to train but then the National Sport Medicine Institute told her to take a month's break but Bitang still didn't believe she had serious back problems, saying that the doctors were liars and incompetent. There have been many rumours about the girls being slapped but Oana explains that's not the problem in Deva, it's the mental pressure, the insults. Oana: "When I came to the National team, they said 'We are your family from now on. If you want to talk to someone, we have to know beforehand.' "In Deva, you can't take any decision on your own." Oana then talks more about the mental pressure, that some of the letters are opened or they don't arrive at all and when the girls sent a letter, they told them to be careful what they wrote, especially when it was sent abroad and they were only allowed to talk to reporters when they knew what they were going to say. Oana is then asked if she remembers an episode of the censorship. "One day, when they were checking our rooms, they found a journal (diary) of one of the gymnasts who's still in the team. They confiscated it. They read it without even being embarrassed, moreover, Bitang laughed at the girl during her routines. When she made a mistake, she reminded her of some of the paragraphs of her journal, in front of us." Oana won't be getting her life annuity money but she doesn't care. She explains that money is important but she's not doing everything for it. She says: "I don't have my life annuity money, I have lost my childhood and I'm behind with school. I dreamt of going to Athens. It wasn't to be but I won't stay in Deva for a day longer." Sabina Cojocar: "Oana isn't lying!" Yesterday, Sabina Cojocar spoke out and said that Oana wasn't lying and she added: "Why would she!" Sabina explains that she doesn't have anything to add as she has said everything up until now that she wanted. People wonder why the girls don't talk while they are still competing and Sabina said: "I'm very sorry that I have to say this but only naive people could say that. Of course no one of us could have said anything back then. We arrive there, time goes by, we work hard, we go through so much and it's not convenient to have (create) problems. Everybody should know that Oana's allegations are perfectly true." Oana's mother: "She didn't even tell me anything even after a couple of months when it was clear that she didn't have chances to go to the Olympics because of her back problems. She was quiet and even when I kept on asking her to tell me about the period that she spent on the National team, I couldn't get it out of her." "When we were in Techirghiol, for treatment, she started to tell me some details. When she told me the story about the cast and the sacks of sand, I said that I wasn't hearing it properly! That's a crime! If I would have known this on time, I would have taken her out of the team. Nobody deserves to go through this." Alexandra Barac: "I have also been through what Oana has been through. In my opinion the truth is somewhere in the middle." Maria Olaru: "Thinking of the fact that it's an Olympic year, I think that these things shouldn't have been made public. The girls need peace (quietness) before such a competition. Octavian Morariu, President of the National Sport Agency: "I don't want to get involved in such problems. However, those who are making the accusations have to be more thoughtful (balanced) in their allegations. Performance sport is not easy and often there's a soldierly regime. This is going to be a difficult year in which there isn't any room for these kinds of incidents." Nicolae Vieru, president of the Federation: "I disapprove of all the noise (hassle) that she makes. They are just lies. Nothing is true. She's a manipulator. Oana Petrovschi has never come to me to complain about such things. Why is she making all these accusations now? I have met her so many times while she was in the team, I always helped her. With the injuries too, and with all the problems that she had." |