THE OLYMPIC GAMES Deluged with congratulations, the medal winners awaiting their compensations

The Romanian Olympic and Athletic Committee already has to prepare a few hundred thousand Euros to pay the awards of the Romanian athletes who won medals at the Olympic Games. The goal which was set prior to the beginning of the competition, of winning 9 medals, is very close after the first four days of the competition, and by the end of this week, the Romanian athletes may win at least three more medals. The fact that Romania is among the top 20 countries in terms of medals won is a reason to be proud, but also comes as a surprise, when considering that in comparison to the major players, in Romania investments in sports are small, as is the available pool of talent. The topic of prizes was also discussed in the government, and the prime minister reassured the athletes that they will get their well-deserved money: "All the prizes will be available because they have received plenty of encouragement, but little or no prizes at all. This time I want to keep our word and all the athletes who win medals will be paid".

Following a 36 year-old tradition, the Romanian female gymnasts climbed the podium again in the team finals. The gymnasts trained by Octavian Belu and Mariana Bitang won the bronze medal in the team finals. Given the competition they had to face, and the fact that some of our gymnasts were as much as ten years older than their competitors, the result is commendable. Chief trainer Octavian Belu made a realistic assessment of the situation: ''I am not happy and the girls aren't either, Cătălina and Sandra already know the < < taste > > of a gold medal, and the others know what it's like to win first place. But that is all we could do today, I am happy that they focused better than they did in the elimination rounds, and what is left now is for the girls who entered the apparatuses finals to fully exploit the opportunity. You can never say you did everything, that you've given everything for a very good result. Today went away, the team contest is already history, from now on everyone will have to manage their emotions as well as possible, to avoid leaving these Olympics dissapointed. Every morning when I wake up I ask myself how is it possible to fight the US, China, and Russia, when seeing their potential. With all due respect to the gymnasts in the three countries, we have a small pool of talents to choose from, with which we try every day to build good teams with which to participate in competitions. We're now ranked third, and for me this amounts to merely surviving". The final ranking of the teams competition was the following: 1. USA 183,596 points, 2. Russia 178,530, 3. Romania 176,414. 4. China 174,430, 5. Canada 170,804, 6. Great Britain 170,495, 7. Italy 167,930, 8. Japan 166,646.

Our female gymnast have qualified for four Olympic finals - floor exercise, vaults and individual-composite, as follows: individual-composite: Larisa Iordache - 9th in the elimination rounds (57,800 points), Sandra Izbaşa - 11th (57,532); floor exercise- Sandra Izbaşa - 2nd (15,066), Cătălina Ponor - 7th (14,600); balance beam - Cătălina Ponor - 7th (15,033), Diana Bulimar - 8th (14,866); vault - Sandra Izbaşa - 2nd (15,316). Given the scores obtained in the elimination rounds and in the teams finals, there is hope that our Romanian gymnasts can win 2-3 medals in the individual competitions.

A pleasant surprise came from weightlifter Răzvan Martin, who won the bronze in the 69 kg category. The last medal won by the Romanian weightlifters, also a bronze, had been won by the current chairman of the Weightlifting Federation, Nicu Vlad, in Atlanta in 1996. He hopes that our weightlifters will win another medal: ''I hoped he would win a medal and I am happy that weightlifting contributed to the number of medals won by the Romanian delegation. I am happy that we did our duty this time as well and I still have hope, because we have some more athletes who have a chance of winning who will be competing in the coming days".

Today is another important day for our mission, as we have a chance of winning several medals: in canoeing, where the famous team of 8+1 will be competing in the finals, in gymnastics, Sandra Izbaşa and Larisa Iordache are fighting for the individual-composite gold, and in judo, where giant Daniel Brata wants to follow in the footsteps of his female peers Alina Dumitru and Corina Căprioriu.