Romanian athletes have officially been allowed to
interrupt lockdown since late last week. Athletes can thus train with the teams
they are part of, following a centralised system. The decision best suits those
athletes who are into team sports. However, the clubs they are signed up with
need to be able to afford accommodation and food for their athletes. The clubs will
also have to offer training stages, provided such stages comply with the law.
For the athletes practising individual sports disciplines and can train all by
themselves, joining the team in a training stage is not necessarily an option
worth pursuing. Track and field athletes, for instance, have been reluctant
regarding such training stages. Florin Florea is the President of the Romanian Athletics
Federation.
Florin Florea:
At the moment, athletes who are members
of the Olympic pool of regulars have not demanded a training stage. We have several
training schemes approved of by the
Romanian Olympic and Sports Committee and the Romanian Athletics
federation, in place until May 31. Now that the sports activity constraints have
been eased, we shall have a meeting with all Olympic head-coaches attending,
and we shall rethink the strategy and the training schemes for the next timeframe;
included in that scheme will also be the centralised training stage periods.
At the moment, five Romanian athletes have secured
their ticket for the Olympic Games in Tokyo. Florentina
Iușco and Alina Rotaru have earned their position in the women’s long-jump
event. Claudia Bobocea will compete in the 1,500 m race, while Daniela Stanciu
has qualified for the high-jump event. In the men’s version of the Olympics,
only one Romanian athlete has qualified so far. Alin Firfirica will prove his mettle
in the discus throw event. Of the entire Romanian pool of Olympic athletes,
Alin stands the greatest chance of winning a medal. We recall that at the World
Championships in Doha in 2019, Alin Firfirica came in 4th. In the long-jump
final of the same competition, Alina Rotaru came in 6th.
(Translation by Eugen Nasta)