Olympic perspectives

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)