This after-noon a bugging little article was being shared on social media (or rather on my favorite Romania-focused group). The accompanying headline hinted that two Romanian gymnasts are about to change the country they represent.
Google translate says it means this:
“The Herentalse turnverein Corpus Sanum had with the sisters and Ioana Diana Teodoru two Romanian topgymnasten guest. Who trained in Herentals in preparation for a test internship at the Top Sports School of Gymnastics Federation Flanders. Along with trainer Rudi Pihay they worked a week of hard to lay off. Proper testing Would welcome the sisters Teodoru emigrate to Belgium and allow themselves to nationalize. Sixteen-year-old Diana Teodoru is a member of the Romanian junior team and her eleven-sister Teodora Ioana is a candidate for the youth team.”
What I understand, from a less than perfect translation, the two Teodoru sisters are at the “pre-testing” stage. It sounds like they came in for a week and then they will also have a “test internship”. But that if things are going to work out between the two parties, they are going to become Belgian citizens. And represent their new country from now on.
The older sister, Diana, is a new senior this year (not a junior as the article seems to suggest). With only 6 healthy seniors in the National team, this is far from happy news from Romania. Diana is a strong gymnast with good potential for development on vault and floor.
The only meet she took part in this year was Romania’s pre-Euros Friendly against Belgium where she had the following results: vault 12.750/D 4/ bars 9.700/D 4.8/ beam 13.650/D 5.3 / floor 13.300/D 5.3.
Looking at these numbers and considering her progress over the past two years, some would say that chances for her to be selected for a major team were not overwhelming. But given the lack of depth of the team for this years’s Worlds (with Diana Bulimar’s injury they only have 6 seniors with teams being composed of 6 gymnasts!), this will still be a huge hit for Romania.
Lately Diana seemed to be in a good place in her preparation, this spring she gave this interview to Puzzle and she seemed focused and determined.
Teodora Teodoru, born in 2003, was last year a national All Around champion in her age group (b 2003). At the recent Team Nationals, in June 2014, she was seen by Puzzle editor as “among the best difficulty level and form wise (Skills range: double full dismount – beam; double back, double full – floor)” (source).
If you have more info about this, please share. I hope you will be able to tell me that this is just a huge misunderstanding!
Diana Teodoru – floor, 2013
Teodora Teodoru – floor, 2014 (Thanks Puzzle for the video!)
Article by: Bea Gheorghisor
Photo Cover: Raluca Haidu and Liliana Cosma, Brigid McCarthy 2010
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