Puzzle

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Puzzle key

Puzzle website is first of all a collection of short biographies of Romanian gymnasts starting with the ones in activity in 2012, the year when Puzzle idea came to life.

– Color Code: blue – active; red – retired
– Gymnast profiles information structure
Coaches are listed in alphabetical and reversed chronological order (current coaches  on the first row/s, former coaches on following row/s)
Competition results section refers to national and international events. For the moment no results from internal inter-clubs events are presented (insufficient data)

Puzzle Team Foreword

Amalia

Everything started with her…

It’s not like gymnastics itself began with her. Not even for me. Ever since I was a little girl I enjoyed watching gymnastics competitions on TV, collecting every piece of newspaper with pictures of our champions. I remember how amazing it was to see that always, at every competition a new Romanian princess was crowned.

But with her a new age of gymnastics started for me. If before I knew her I had been just a spectator or a viewer like everyone else, when I met this lovely child and her family I started to see it (gymnastics) with different eyes. Because of her I attended for the first time a gymnastics competition; besides her and her family I lived the emotions of every salto, jump or landing. It was so much different than in front of the TV.

It’s hard to describe in words how I was feeling… But one thing is for sure! From that moment on gymnastics changed for me. Everything didn’t seem as easy as it appeared to the little girl watching gymnastics on TV, I started to realize how much work is behind all those shiny medals, how much effort, how many sacrifices… And all this I started learning from this wonderful child.

And I fell for her immediately! Now, as a few years went by, I love her just as much. You might wonder why I chose to talk about her. “She is no longer a competitive artistic gymnast. You can talk about so many wonderful, talented children that actually do gymnastics at this moment”  you might say. This is true, I could talk about lots of great little girls, but for me she will always be the dearest. We have posts here dedicated to all currently active gymnasts, all precious little girls  who I all love and appreciate and  I can probably tell you something about each and every one of them but here I just wanted to share with you my thoughts  about Irina.

Although she retired from artistic gymnastics I want to thank her and her parents for giving me the chance of being near her  with all my heart! Unfortunately her gymnastics career ended prematurely and suddenly making me aware of the cruel and unpredictable obstacles in a gymnast’s live. And so, this child who thought the adult me great live lessons, inspired me to create this site dedicated to Romanian gymnasts.

Anna

When Amalia first told me about Puzzle I was more than excited. Our juniors, the future of Romanian gymnastics, were already the most interesting and thrilling part of gymnastics for me. To follow a little girl from her very first steps, first walkovers, handstands, first medals to the Olympic podium in the best case scenario… the satisfaction must be incredible! So, the idea of creating a presentation site for all Romanian Olympic hopefuls seemed brilliant as I hoped the result would be  much more helpful than all my Excel files and memory tricks that I used for remembering  all the junior related info.

So, I got involved, sometimes probably too much, too fast and getting on my teammates nerves. In my defense I have to say I did it hoping that the outcome will be really helpful for the fans and most of all enjoyable for the gymnasts. Cause Puzzle is dedicated to them, the little Puzzle pieces that build it every day with passion and hard work. In the end some of them will make us proud from the top of the world – the Olympic, World or European podium.

Monica

I rediscovered gymnastics in 2008, few months before the Beijing Olympic Games and that year’s Romanian Olympic team made me a gymnastics fan forever. Of admiration for the gymnasts I started creating fan-sites, first for Sandra Izbasa and Steliana Nistor and step by step for all active gymnasts of that time. Once caught I never escaped the virus, so ever since I am trying to promote Romanian gymnastics in the on-line medium as much as I can. Now I can proudly say I am the administrator of some official sites.

Hearing about this project, of course I couldn’t stay away, I tried to help and I did it with all my heart although my very limited free time might have slowed down the launching of the site. But I am very happy with the end result. I know there are lots of things to be improved upon and lots to be added but I am sure our passion for the sport will make this project develop nicely.

Our mission is to make known all the girls involved in the gymnastics phenomenon, not only the ones that get to be national team members. Because they all work as hard but not all are as lucky or as talented as they need to be to get to the top. We invite you to meet them all and also to contribute if you have more information or ideas.

Dan

As any Romanian I love gymnastics and I’ve heard of Nadia and Dan Grecu. Gymnastics photography was almost an accident, it started when Ana Toma from Bender came to Bucharest to compete in Irina Deleanu Cup in March 2011 and Dimush said: let’s go and take pictures of her. It happened to be a great competition then with Russians, Ukrainians, Americans, Canadians and even Brazilians.  I stayed right near the competition floor and took pictures, the music sounded great and so did the applause and the cheering. I was fascinated; it was one of the best experiences ever. Since then I am trying not to miss a rhythmic gymnastics competition again.

At artistic gymnastics I went because Betishor asked me to: Dan, why don’t you come to Onești? This was in 2011 also. I stayed in the stands but on the bottom row near the vault track and I felt the wind on my face when the gymnasts run. The feeling impressed me. I remember specifically Diana Bulimar, I had seen her on TV but it was different seeing her in person, I could feel all the hard work behind her. It was my first impression, I realized the sacrifices the gymnasts made for the sport but not just in theory as we all do in front of the TV, I saw it on their faces and their hands and I felt the concentration they put into a  perfect vault.

I like photography a lot and if I get to capture something that I, myself feel and pass it through that makes me feel fantastic. You guys don’t know but when I take a beautiful picture I almost cry with happiness. There is one more thing, an amazing feeling when you give  someone a little joy, I upload my pictures on Facebook and I see the reactions and this encourages me to take more and more sports photos: athletics, gymnastics, fencing, swimming…  it doesn’t matter.