Romanian athletes allege maltreatment, after national team is disbanded — Watch Aly Raisman speak at Scripps College

Hope everyone who celebrates had a happy Thanksgiving this week! 

Last week, I wrote that the president of the Romanian gymnastics federation (FRG), Ioan Suciu, had dissolved the Romanian national team in the wake of accusations of abuse. 

This week, five Romanian national team athletes sent a letter to the president of the Romanian National Agency for Sports, Bogdan Matei, accusing the FRG of “throwing us out with the trash” and endangering both their athletic and academic careers. 

Mara Ceplinschi, Amalia Ghigoarță, Denisa Golgotă, Anamaria Mihăescu and Ella Oprea signed the letter.

The IX Basketball, a 24/7/365 women’s basketball newsroom

The IX Basketball: A basketball newsroom brought to you by The IX Sports and powered by The Next. 24/7/365 women’s basketball coverage, written, edited and photographed by our young, diverse staff and dedicated to breaking news, analysis, historical deep dives and projections about the game we love.

Readers of The IX Sports now save 50% on their subscription to The IX Basketball, powered by The Next.

Of the five, Golgotă is likely the best known internationally; she is a two-time European Championships medalist who competed at the 2018 and 2019 world championships before retiring in 2020. She emerged from retirement this year and competed at Euros, where the Romanian team placed fourth, and at worlds, where she was seventh in the beam final and the reserve for the floor final. 

Golgotă alleged, after returning to Romania from Jakarta, where worlds were held, that she had suffered physical and emotional abuse by Romanian team coaches after coming back from retirement, and that she had filed a complaint with the FRG.

In her letter, she also alleged that the FRG favors a single gymnast on the Romanian national team – widely believed to be Sabrina Voinea, whose mother and coach, Camelia, accompanied the team to worlds – and that a colleague on the trip to worlds had threatened to punch Golgotă in the mouth until she needed plastic surgery. 

According to the letter signed by all five athletes, Camelia Voinea is allegedly now the only coach for national team athletes, and Bucharest (where Voinea coaches her daughter) is the only possible training site for elite gymnasts.

Golgotă, Ghigoarță, and Mihaescu all train with now-former national team coaches Corina Moroșan and Sebastian Nemeș, both of whom were part of the worlds delegation, and all say they wish to continue training with them. Ceplinschi complains in the letter that she will have to train alongside the Voineas and that she fears retaliation. 

All of the athletes say that their schooling is at risk of interruption if they have to relocate for training.

Oprea concludes that there was no justification for disbanding the national team. 

In addition to the athletes who have come forward, Foti Tona, the team’s trainer, has also alleged mistreatment by Camelia Voinea. 

It seems likely that for any athlete to pursue the 2028 Olympics, they are going to need to curry favor within the Romanian system, and that is a terrible catch-22 for these athletes who deserve justice and no contact with an abusive system. 

Your business can reach over 3 million women’s sports fans every month!

Here at The IX Sports, our audience is a collection of the smartest, most passionate women’s sports fans in the world. If your business has a mission to serve these fans, you should reach out to our team at BAlarie@theixsports.com to discuss ways to work together in 2025.

Other gym news

College Gym News tells us all about the new rules for obtaining a National Qualifying Score (NQS) in NCAA gymnastics. You should read the whole story, but the big news is that now, a minimum of nine meets will be factored into the NQS, rather than just six. 

The Gymternet has the Junior World Championships results. 

Dulcy Caylor will defer her NCAA career at Florida until 2028 so that she can train for the Olympics: 

Check out Jordan Chiles’s showstopping freestyle dance finale from Dancing With the Stars this week! Chiles won third place (for real this time) in the televised competition. 

Here’s Jade Carey training a full-twisting double-layout bars dismount. 

Five at The IX: Aly Raisman at Scripps College

Aly Raisman recently gave a talk at Scripps College in California as part of their Scripps Presents lecture series. Here are a few of the shorts released from the event: