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Friday, 02 August 2024
Bucharest/Paris (ADZ) – Swimming star David Popovici, who won gold and bronze at the Olympics in Paris, is sharply criticizing the situation in Romanian sport and is demanding more money for athletes. He hopes that his medals will “create more attention for sport in general.” The fact that so little is invested in sport is a problem, Popovici told public broadcaster TVR. He has “not performed a miracle,” but at least he has defeated the British, Americans and Australians, who have “infinitely better” conditions, such as many swimming pools. He has to train in the same pool where he learned to swim when he was four. The outdoor pool is covered in winter with a plastic sheet, under which normal people feel as if they are suffocating.
Tennis player Sorana Cârstea went one step further on Thursday: politicians want to profit from the fame of athletes, but nothing has been invested in sport for 30 years, so that “unnatural, unique brilliant performances” are celebrated, she said on social media. However, such accusations are brushed off by Youth Minister Natalia Intotero: after all, she is not the head of the state sports authority, she told journalists.
