Romanian government increases sports funding

The Romanian government recently approved a joint proposal by the Romanian Sports minister and the ROC, essentially agreeing to adjust the daily allowance given to athletes for food and other basic needs according to the inflation rate. The problems surfaced earlier this year when national rowing team members complained they were constantly hungry and could not practice well because of this. Right now, national team members are given 175.000 lei/day (about $6) to eat in the host club cafeteria, or 260.000 lei/day (about $9) to eat at a restaurant of their choice. The cost of vitamins or any other medicine used for rehab, is also provided and is now 125,000 lei/day ($4), compared to 86,000 lei (less than $3) before the new law was passed.

Prize money for Olympic medallists was also adjusted. First place winners in future Olympics will now receive $25,000 instead of $15,000, second place winners will be given $20,000, twice more than the $10,000 they received until now. Third place will be rewarded by a $15,000 prize, instead of 7,5000, 4th place -$10,000 up from $3,750 , 5th place -$75000 up from 3,000 and 6th place -$5000 up from $2500.

World titles will now bring in 126 million lei (about $4,200), while European titles will get a $2,100 reward. Prize money can always be doubled through a special order of the Sports minister, or the ROC president. Financial rewards for World record and National record were also increased to $5,000 and $500 respectively. The now infamous Olympic “scholarship”, which is what Octavian Belu’s salary was until now, will be increased to $130/month.

In an effort to motivate club coaches who discover and train future national team members in any sport, the law provided that the these coaches will now get 10% of any prize money the athlete will win in the future. National team coaches will also receive prize money for the medals their team will win. Federation employees will also receive a compensation for future medals, which will now total 40% of the prize money, instead of the 20% that was valid until now. These prizes will be cumulative, meaning only the 10% for the club coaches will come from the gymnast's money. The rest will be cumulative amounts that will be matched by team sponsors, or some other source of income, like ROC funds. Finally, Federation will now be allowed to sign private contracts with national team coaches, and receive money for this from private companies, not just the government. This means that coaches like Belu and Bitang could receive a significant raise, should any non-governmental sponsors, such as Romtelecom, agree to pay for (part of) their salary.

In related news, the national gymnastics team has a new choreographer in Marilena Jipa. According to Belu, the only unresolved problem is finding a team doctor.

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