Andreea Răducan, elected as President of the Romanian Gymnastics Federation

Former world and Olympic gymnastics champion Andreea Raducan was elected, on Friday, as President of the Romanian Gymnastics Federation by majority of votes of the affiliated members to the General Assembly, organised by the Ministry of Youth and Sports.

43 of the 51 members attended the General Assembly, as well as Minister of Youth and Sports Marius Dunca.

Raducan has won the mandate for 2017-2021 by 42 ‘for’, one ballot was annulled.

Aged 33, Raducan said after the election that the current team leading the Gymnastics Federation has eroded and has called for unity to bring back gymnastics where it belongs.

“One person cannot change a system, this is why I ask you to stand by me with all professionalism. Gymnastics is the sport that brought most medals for Romania, I believe I haven’t forgotten gymnastics. We need to have a united team. Unfortunately, our team has eroded from within lately. There’s no room for egos, I will not allow any accusations in public, nor exaggerations, most of them unfounded in time. If necessary, I will resort to justice, but I hope it’s not the case. I will not tolerate inadequate behaviour from the coaches,” Raducan said.

She added: “I will have a new team to combine the youngsters’ enthusiasm with experience. I wish we are all responsible people, because there is much work to do. We all know that without work and discipline there is no performance. You will have me as a partner for dialogue, I want to know what the problems are, but I also want solutions. I want us to become a united team and to attend the competitions with our heads up high.”

Andreea Raduca is to take over the office from Adrian Stoica, FRG president for the past eleven years.

Răducan began competing in gymnastics at a young age and was training at the Romanian junior national facility by the age of 12. As one of the outstanding gymnasts of the Romanian team in the late 1990s, Răducan was known both for her difficult repertoire of skills and her dance and presentation. Over her four-year senior career, she won Olympic or World Championships medals on every event except the uneven bars and earned three individual World Championships titles, on the floor exercise in 1999 and 2001 and the balance beam in 2001, according to Wikipedia.org.

Răducan competed at the 2000 Sydney Olympics, where she contributed strongly to the Romanian team’s gold medal and won an individual silver medal on the vault. She was also the original winner of the all-around title, but was disqualified and stripped of her gold medal shortly after the competition concluded, when it was revealed that she had failed doping controls, testing positive for pseudoephedrine, a banned substance. She and her coaches maintained that she had been given the substance in two cold medicine pills by a Romanian team physician, and that they had not affected her performance in any way.

The case generated a significant amount of media attention, and Răducan was supported by members of the gymnastics community and the Romanian public. Her case was brought to the Court of Arbitration for Sport in the fall of 2000. Răducan herself was exonerated of any personal wrongdoing by the CAS, the Romanian Olympic Committee and the International Gymnastics Federation, and was not subject to any disciplinary measures. However, her medal was not reinstated, and the team doctor who administered the medicine was banned for two Olympic cycles.

Răducan returned the year after the Olympics to win five additional World Championships medals, but retired from gymnastics in 2002. As an adult, she has worked as a sports announcer and media personality, and has pursued university level studies in journalism. She, along with gymnast Simona Amanar, was awarded a diplomatic passport by the Romanian government for being a “good ambassador for Romania”.