Left: Larisa Iordache (photo by Silvia Vatteroni), Right: Catalina Ponor (Photo via Facebook)













Romanian Gymnastics Federation held a press conference to discuss the current situation.





Adrian Stoica, the president of the Romanian Gymnastics Federation, revealed that they have sent a request to the FIG to recognize Larisa Iordache's all around bronze medal from the 2015 World championships as an Olympic spot so they can send two gymnasts to Rio. Nevertheless, he admits chances are slim.





It is worth mentioning that only apparatus final's medalists of the pre Olympic World championships automatically earn Olympic spots, and that's only if their country did not qualify a full team.





Vietnam was able to send two gymnasts to the London Olympic Games, Phan Thị Hà Thanh who won a bronze medal on vault at 2011 Worlds and Đỗ Thị Ngân Thương who earned a spot in test event.





Stoica said that Larisa Iordache and Catalina Ponor will be fighting for the individual Rio spot. They will both compete at four competitions which results will determine the Rio Olympian.





If Ponor made it to Rio, she will be the first female Romanian gymnast to compete at three Olympic Games.





The federation's president rejected the idea of hiring a foreign coaching stating that it will not solve the team's problem. He explained that he cannot pay the foreign coach 3-4,000 euro per month while the current coaches, who have been working with the national team for a long time, get paid 4-500 euro per month.





Written by Gigi Farid.







