From the Associated Press :
The future of Romania’s storied gymnastics program is in question after two top gymnasts violated their contracts by leaving a training camp over the weekend to attend a birthday party.
Catalina Ponor (above), winner of three gold medals at last year’s Olympics, and teammate Floarea Leonida were seen at a birthday party for a male gymnast Saturday night.
That led Romania’s gymnastics federation to disband its women’s team Tuesday. Adrian Stoica, the federation’s secretary general, said all gymnasts would now train at their own clubs.
Ponor, 18, told a Romanian television station that only athletes were present at the party. She denied reports that she drank alcohol and vowed to train hard for the world championships in November in Australia.
“I hope I will prove that it’s possible to perform well even without the tough restrictions at the training camp,” Ponor said.
Another gymnast on the team, Daniela Sofronie, has threatened to retire.
All this talk of lady gymnasts brings back happy memories of Rufus From Queens, who used to regale the hosts of WNYU’s evening sports yack show with his ferverent desire to “fuck Mary Lou Retner up the ass.” Either WNYU has since employed a 7 second delay, or Rufus has retired.