Lavinia Milosovici threw her money out the window
The Lavinia Milosovici -RGF scandal has been in the headlines for more than a week. The entire debate stems from three exhibitions, the 1996 Olympic Gala and two competitions in Germany. In gymnastics, all competition arrangements are made through the RGF which receives money or objects in exchange for sending their gymnasts. Lavinia is accusing the Federation of withholding money from the gymnasts. A fact unknown to the general public, as explained by head coach Octavian Belu, is that there are no laws that would allow the Federation and the gymnasts to share the money.
Why this scandal started 4 years after the gala performances remains a mystery. Some of the people in Deva talked about the extravagant house Milo built in her hometown of Lugoj, and blame the palace she now owns for her current financial troubles. The fact that the accusations were brought to light in the Olympic year might hurt the current National team.
When asked how she feels about the situation, Gina Gogean, Lavinia's former teammate, said she's not interested in the money. She is satisfied with the money she earned as a competitor, and right now she hopes to become a successful coach in her new home--Scotland. Lavinia and Gina were both asked to coach at Deva, but Octavian Belu explained that at that time there were too many coaches for the gymnasts who were training there. The solution they proposed was to have Gina and Lavinia work as teachers at the Deva school, until they could resume their work as coaches. Gina preferred to move to Scotland, and Lavinia said she can't remain in Deva when her family lived in Timisoara. "Their teaching positions are still open, should they ever want to come back to Deva", says Ioan Badoi, director of the Deva Sports program.
Lavinia's reason for leaving, wanting to be near her family, seems at best unfounded, since both Octavian Belu and Mariana Bitang as well as other coaches still work at Deva, even though their families live elsewhere in the country.
To say the Federation stole money is just too much, said Octavian Belu. One thing's for sure, the FIG fax published by the newspapers clearly shows the money Lavinia asked for entered in RGF's bank account. The Federation is subordinate to MTS, the Romanian Sports Department and is subjected to the same rigorous financial laws that all government subsidized organizations have to follow. In their case, once money enters a certain bank account, only a certain amount can be taken out. Milo and her teammates, as well as their coaches, are obviously entitled to get the money they earned through their work. The only problem remains finding a way to pay this money to those who deserve it.
In conclusion, Lavinia only asked for something that was rightfully hers. The way she decided to go about doing it cannot be held against her, because letting the press know about it was the best way to speed up the bureaucratic process involved in releasing the prize money. The way she brought this up is open to debate. No one challenges her right to the money she earned, but the time she chose, as well as her motivation are not as righteous as Milo would like us to believe
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