FRG president fired for punishing Ungureanu
The president of the Romanian Gymnastics Federation (FRG), Nicolae Vieru, has been sacked by the country's sports minister for punishing Romanian star Corina Ungureanu for appearing nude in Playboy, the FRG revealed on Thursday.
The FRG decided not to pay the 20-year-old brunette, who has now retired from the sport, a bonus for being part of October's world championshp winning team because they said she had violated the sport's ethics for posing nude in Playboy's Romanian edition.
The Federation also left Ungureanu, who was crowned 1997 world champion in Lausanne, off a list of the country's top 10 gymnasts for 1999.
"Why offer her an award, hasn't she already been sufficiently paid by Playboy?" said Vieru, justifying his decision.
However, his actions were widely cricised by the media and also by Sports Minister Crin Antonescu, who accused the FRG of "excessive puritanism".
Antonescu, said on the controversy, that if the gymnast "was of age, everything was in order."
Playboy, also denounced her treatment as injust and said that they would be paying her 1700 dollars in compensation for the bonus.
FRG secretary general in the 1980s, Vieru was appointed president in 1990.
In the past he has been noted for his severe criticism of multiple world champion Nadia Comaneci following her defection to the United States in 1989, just before the fall of the Ceausescu regime.
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