Looking for a Second Vault

Original article was published on September 26th in ProSport

It�s been five months since the Romanian men�s gymnastics team won four gold medals in Patras, along with a silver and bronze. Marian Dr�gulescu helped the team win the gold medal, along with his individual gold medal on vault and a bronze on floor. He�s now training alongside Marius Urzic�, Ioan Suciu and Dan Potra, in Sf�ntu Gheorghe while the national training center Lia Manoliu is undergoing construction work. His main goals are the Apparatus World Championships in Debrecen, Hungary.

GS: Working hard, Marian?
MD: Yes, I have to. Nationals are up next, followed by some Grand Prix competitions and Worlds in Hungary. Based on my performance at Nationals, I know what I�ll do at Worlds.
GS: Which events will you compete?
MD: Since this is an apparatus competition, I�ll only compete on floor and vault, where I�m hoping to medal. I�ll take care of the rest next year.
GS: Any predictions?
MD: I want to medal on floor. As for vault I couldn�t tell you much because I haven�t picked my second vault yet. Almost everyone has two 10.0 Start value vaults, but I�m still looking for my second vault. Once you get a feel for it, you can learn a new vault in just three days.
GS: Otherwise, you�re just busy with training and conditioning?
MD: Not quite. We�ll watch TV sometimes, most of the time when soccer is on. I was very happy for National and Rapid�s results [they won their first round matches in the UEFA Cup], even though I�m not a soccer fanatic. I don�t have a favorite team. But I like playing soccer, especially as part of our warm-up for training sessions.
GS: How do you like Sf�ntu Gheorghe?
MD: We�re in the gym training all day, so we don�t go out too much. Every once in a while we�ll go out, but there�s not much to say about a city you can walk across in 5 minutes. Besides, it�s bit cold around here.
GS: Do people speak Hungarian a lot?
MD: When you go into a shop and buy something, they�ll talk to you in Hungarian first, but they�ll help you even if you only speak Romanian. In any case, since the city�s small, they found out the national gymnastics team is coming and people recognize us.

328 is the COP number for the skill named after Marian Dr�gulescu. The vault is a double tuck summersault with a 180 degree turn (double front half turn). He first performed the vault at an official competition in the US, causing problems for the judges. �They asked me what the start value of the vault is in Europe. I told them 10.0 and that�s what they scored it from,� recalls coach Dan Grecu. Dr�gulescu is the first male gymnast from Romania to have a skill named after him in the current code of points.

Back to Articles Page