Claudia News
April 29, 1998; 3:57 Mountain Time
Claudia is competing the 1998 European Championships! This will be her first senior Europeans, she competed as a junior in 1994! I will post results as they become available!
May 1, 1998; 9:05 Mountain Time
Romania won team gold at the Europeans by over three points! Claudita qualified second into the all-around, and fourth into the bars final. Good luck!
May 3, 1998; 9:11 Mountain Time
Claudita won bronze in the all-around and in the bars at Europeans!
June 2, 1998; 10:05 Mountain Time
Claudita was selected to represent Romania at the Goodwill Games! This will be her first Goodwills. Romanian Nationals are supposed to happen this month, I will provide specific dates and results as soon as I get them.
June 19, 1998; 9:41 Mountain Time
Claudita is currently in Deva, taking her graduation exams with Simona Amanar. Good luck ladies!
July 20, 1998; 9:31 Mountain Time
Claudita will be competing balance beam in Goodwills.
July 22, 1998; 10:34 Mountain Time
Claudita was pulled out of beam and replaced by Ungureanu.
October 11, 1998; 9:10 Mountain Time
The Romanian National Championships took place over the weekend. The only information is that Claudita took the beam title. As exciting as that is, she apparently didn't medal in the all-around. Hopefully, the Romanian newspapers will have some more results. Television coverage was pretty bad.
November 18, 1998; 9:24 Mountain Time
Claudita placed second at the Arthur Gander Memorial! They competed on three events of choice, and Claudita scored 28.425, .125 behind Svetlana Khorkina, who won the event. This competition will be airing in the US in January!
December 19, 1998; 9:10 Mountain Time
Hi everyone, I'm really sorry I haven't updated for awhile! I was sick and then I had finals so I didn't have much time on the Internet! Anyway, Claudita did really well at the Gimnastica in Mexico. Check out the results page. Also, her birthday is coming up really soon, which is exciting. This is the first time the Plaza will be celebrating this blessed occasion, and I haven't had much time to think of what we might do to celebrate, but I'll have something, I promise! :)
December 28, 1998; 6:07 Romanian Time
Happy Number 19 Claudita!!
February 13, 1999; 9:47 Mountain Time
The Romanian gymnasts have begun to prepare for the Worlds in October! They have added Chinese dishes to their diet so they won't have to adjust once they're in Tianjin. Let's hope this gives them enough of an edge to win the gold! :)
March 1, 1999; 9:00 Mountain Time
I have some bad news to report, as Claudia is having some family difficulties. I don't want to stick my nose too far into what should be a family matter, but I felt that I could post some of information that Claudia gave to a friend of mine. Apparently, Claudia has third brother who ran away from home when she was very little. He is handicapped, and he wrote her last summer asking her for help. Apparently, she had to go home to her parents to ask them if this was true, if she really had another brother. To complicate matters, this story made the front page of every tabloid in Romania. To some better news, Claudia said she had no intention of retiring, and is heading to Italy to compete in a team championship there. She also said she is working a full-in dismount off beam.
March 13, 1999; 9:14 Mountain Time
Claudita is scheduled to compete at the 1999 International Team Championships! Her scheduled teammates are Simona Amanar, Corina Ungureanu, Maria Olaru, Andreea Isarescu, and Andreea Raducan.
May 15, 1999; 9:23 Mountain Time
In a recent gymnastics magazine Octavian Belu said that Claudita, Amanar, and Ungureanu will make up the core of the World Team. Sounds like we'll being seeing Claudita this October!
May 21, 1999; 9:16 Mountain Time
Claudia will be competing in the 1999 Romania vs. Spain later this month. Her teammates will be Simona Amanar, Maria Olaru, Loredana Boboc, Olimpia Popa, and Andreea Isarescu. Also, on May 20th, Claudia participated in an exhibition for Romtelecom, the official sponsor of the National Team.
June 18, 1999; 10:29 Mountain Time
I just found out that when Claudia went to Italy earlier this year she had to have laser treatments for a shoulder injury. However, she has competed successfully since then, so it doesn't seem to have affected her.
July 12, 1999; 11:06 Mountain Time
Claudia recently competed in the ROM vs. ESP vs. GER meet. She helped her team to the title, but she only did three events so her scores didn't count for the all-around.
July 31, 1999; 9:35 Mountain Time
Claudia had to pull out of the ROM vs. GBR meet today because of a shoulder injury. Her coaches think that she will be healed in time for Worlds, however.
August 14, 1999; 9:18 Mountain Time
Claudia is going to Hallein, Austria to receive acupuncture treatment for her shoulder by Dr. Mohamed Kalifa. Dr. Kalifa has treated other famous athletes, such as Steffi Graf, Boris Becker and Goran Ivanisevic. She will be accompanied to Austria by Ion Tiriac.
September 11, 1999; 9:30 Mountain Time
Claudia will compete at NED vs. ROM. She wasn't on the original roster, but has since been added.
September 18th, 1999; 9:21 Mountain Time
Claudia pulled out of the NED vs. ROM. Andreea Ulmeanu took her place.
September 20th, 1999; 3:26 Mountain Time
After a long career that was not as successful as it should have been, Claudia has choosen to retire.
October 29, 1999; 10:04 Mountain Time
After about a one month hiatus, Claudia has moved back to Deva to give Sydney a second chance.
December 30, 1999; 10:41 Mountain Time
Claudia turned twenty two days ago. Happy Birthday!
January 10, 2000; 3:35 Mountain Time
Claudia is officially a National Team member again, and her goal is to compete at the 2000 Olympics. Coach Octavian Belu said, "Claudia is an important part of our team and we hope she will make a full recovery by the time the Olympics start." Go Claudita!
May 5, 2000; 9:44 Mountain Time
Claudita recently competed beam and floor at the 2000 Romanian International, earning two 9.45s. She expressed her desire to make the Olympic Team later this year.
June 1, 2000; 10:22 Mountain Time
There have been some rumors circulating that Octavian Belu said that Claudia is the all-arounder to watch out for in Sydney. I suppose we'll see if there's any truth to that...
June 28, 2000; 9:31 Mountain Time
Claudia recently competed at the ESP-ROM-GBR-UKR meet, helping her team to the title by contributing a 9.65 on bars, a 9.675 on beam, and a 9.65 on floor exercise. She didn't compete vault.
July 12, 2000; 10:29 Mountain Time
Claudia is on the roster for the ROM-ESP-FRA meet, to take place July 21st through July 23rd.
August 10, 2000; 9:24 Mountain Time
Claudia is on the Olympic Team! After Nationals the seven members were named, and today Andreea Ulmeanu was designated as the alternate which means that Claudita will compete. We wish her the best of luck in Sydney, along with the rest of her team. Regardless of her result, she has made us all so proud already, overcoming injury and coming out of retirement to accomplish this. GO CLAUDITA! Our prayers are with you all the way.
September 20, 2000
Six years ago, Claudia Presacan made her senior debut at the 1994 World Team Championships. Today, she is an Olympic champion. Congratulations Claudita. There are no words to express our pride.
September 25, 2000; 9:24 Mountain Time
It is over. Claudia performed the final routine of her career at balnce beam finals in Sydney, placing fourth, only .025 from the bronze. For an athlete whose qualification to this final was a huge surprise, she did beautifully. And just as a side note, I love you Andreea Raducan. You are the Olympic All-Around Champion.
October 11, 2000; 9:17 Mountain Time
It has been decided that Romanian athletes who placed 4th, 5th, and 6th will also get prize money, not just the medalists. This means that Claudia will earn money for her gold medal and her 4th place finish in beam finals. Claudia said, "I was shocked when I found out about the prize money offered for 4th place, but this is definitely a nice surprise. It's about time we had a few of those, after all we've been through in Sydney." Claudia will also recieve a new Ford Ka for her efforts. Claudia had said that learning how to drive is one of the first things she wants to do when she retires.
October 14, 2000; 9:22 Mountain
The Romanian Women's Gymnastics Team has returned to Deva and were welcomed with a small ceremony where each girl made a short speech and the mayor of Deva presented them with a cake and sausage.
October 27, 2000; 9:45 Mountain Time
Claudia is scheduled to attend a ceremony in Monte Carlo organized by Eurosport to honor European Olympic gold medalists along with the rest of her team and Marius Urzica.
November 3, 2000; 11:11 Mountain Time
Claudia has comfirmed her retirement saying, "Due to health reasons, but also because of my age, I decided to retire. From now on I will 'fight' for the Romanian team as a coach." She was awarded about $2500 by the mayor of Sibiu to show her hometown's appreciation for her results and all that she's done to promote Romanian gymnastics.
December 8, 2000; 9:53 Mountain Time
It has just come out that Claudia had some health difficulties during the Olympics. I put the basics on it in her biography, but I good in-depth article can be found at Romanian Gymnastics News. In better news, Claudia apparently spent St Nicholas' Day (Nov. 6th) passing out gifts at a Bucharest orphanage with Maria Olaru. She also went to a nursing home.
December 15, 2000; 9:33 Mountain Time
Maria Olaru and Claudia had a fun week in Claudita's hometown of Sibiu last week. They took in the finals at the Stalinskaya Cup where Claudia got the chance to cheer for her favorite soccer team Inter Sibiu. Claudia also took a stab at taking the driver's license test, but didn't pass so she'll try again. Hopefully she'll be able to drive her new Ford Ka soon. :) Claudia has left for Buchrest to get a license number for her car.
December 28, 2000; 10:22 Mountain Time
Wow! Awards galore for Claudia! The ROM Olympic Committee won team of the year (fifth time in a row). Claudia attended the ceremony along with Andreea Isarescu, Loredana Boboc,and Maria Olaru. CSA Steaua Bucuresti named Claudia athlete of the year, and Radio Cluj named her the best Transylvanian athlete for the year 2000! Today is also Clau's 21st birthday. Happy Birthday to Clau and Happy New Year to everyone!
January 8, 2001; 3:38 Mountain Time
Wow! Claudia's switching to rowing! I wish Claudita the best of luck with her switch, and may she be as successful in rowing as she was in gymnastics! Click here for more info. Good luck Clau!
January 16, 2001; 9:23 Mountain Time
Claudia has spoken to International Gymnast a little bit about her switch to rowing. "This is a completely new sport for me," she told IG, "but I must admit practicing as a coxswain is much easier than gymnastics." Explaining her switch, she also said, "I wanted to stay involved in a sport and stay active." She also spoke a bit about her goals. "Of course, I would like to make the Olympics but I have no guarantee that I will make the team. I still have a long way to go." Go Clau!
January 30, 2001; 3:16 Mountain Time
Claudia spoke to the Romanian newspaper ProSport about her switch to rowing. The article can be found (in English) here. By far the best part is the end, where head coach Nicolae Gioga states that "[Claudia] has a very good chance of being the starting cox for our team."
April 29, 2001; 3:32 Mountain Time
Over the weekend, Claudita was honored at a ceremony during the Romanian International.
June 4, 2001; 9:55 Mountain Time
Um, well, this update is a looong time coming, but about a month ago (Agh! Sorry!) IG reported that while some of Claudita's teammates had choosen to stay in Seattle after a rowing competition, Claudia is still training in Romania at Snagov Lake outside of Bucharest.
June 13, 2001; 9:51 Mountain Time
Claudita has decided to quit rowing and has gone back to Timisoara and the Univeristy. Read more about it at Romanian Gymnastics News.
July 31, 2001; 9:39 Mountain Time
Claudita was one of the gymnasts featured in a recent ProSport article dealing with the weight gain of retired gymnasts. "The first three months after Sydney, I gained 10 lbs. And this happened even though I don't remember eating a chocolate bar or anything else that could have really counted. At least with all this weight gain, I know I don’t have to buy new clothes. Before, all my clothes were a little small. Now they fit perfectly." You can read the entire article at Romanian Gymnastics News. Also, Claudia recently attended the book launch of Corina Ungureanu's brand-new biography.
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