ROMANIAN COACH DISALLOWS PUBLIC CEREMONY
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As Romanian sports-newspaper "Ziau" reports, national head Coach Octavian Belu stopped a 
public retirement ceremony for Corina Ungureanu at the Romanian Internationals end of April.

The 20-year old gymnast from Ploesti was not honored together with her team mates Simona 
Amanar, Maria Olaru and Claudia Presecan, but in a seperate, non-public cermony. The 1998 
Europan Champion on Floor fell out of favour with the Romanian Gymnastics Federation after 
posing for the Playboy Magazine end of 1999.

As the newspaper went on, the decision to hold separate ceremonies came after head coach 
Octavian Belu expressed his disapproval over Corina's presence saying she wasn't the same 
caliber gymnast as the others honored. The guests of honor at her hometown Ploiesti, where 
the tournament was held, were very surprised to find out part of the ceremony had already 
taken place.

The incident has been linked to the much publicised Romanian Playboy affair.