An Octavian Bellu interview and one reason the Russians are so unhappy

The Americans are jubilant, the Russians disappointed, the Romanians infuriated -- that about sums up the emotional state of three of the world's top gymnastics teams following the most important international competition of the year.

The World Championships the year before the Olympic Games are about setting up storylines for the Olympic year as much as they are about medals and winning. The results of this World Championships set unconscious expectations -- that the U.S. will continue to be on top, that Romania will continue to be just shy of the podium. If one team performs better than at the 2011 Worlds next summer in London, it becomes a surprise. If they are worse, it's a letdown.

View slideshow: 2011 Worlds podium training: Romania and Russia

Perhaps those expectations are one reason for such unhappiness in the Russian camp (the judging was awful, they say) as well as from the Romanians (the gymnasts didn't live up to expectations, according to the Romanian press).

In a pre-meet interview in Tokyo, Romanian national team head coach Octavian Bellu sang a different tune. In the mixed zone before competition got underway, he was optimistic about Catalina Ponor's return and had high hopes for the team at Worlds. Here's a full transcript:

"I think it was a good touch [podium training], the first time in the hall I expect a lot of things from gymnasts with big experience like Catalina Ponor and Amelia Racea. For the newcomer like Diana Bulimar, the small one who comes in the team, I expect it is more...and I hope to be OK in the moment of qualification." -- on his impressions of the team's podium training

"I think it's important because we are unfortunately without Sandra Izbasa here, and we need to have a star, a leader within our team...she has come back and I think it's a good example for the young ones. I don't look to Catalina as a gymnast who is now 24 -- she's very dynamic and she keeps the same qualities as before. I think it will be OK if she goes in good health conditions to prepare the Olympic Games. It's only one step, this World Championships, but she looks to London and I hope she will be in her best condition in London." -- on Ponor's leadership capabilities

"It's not only a sign of normality after such a disaster happened in Japan, but also we come here with another sign of solidarity and we hope to spend here a nice time. We know the Japanese are among the best organizers in the world. For me to come back on the podium is something normal. If I look back, I don't have anything to regret in my time spent in another job, but it was not for me to be in politics or something like this. I didn't feel well in the world of politicians and I'm back with happiness in my normal position." -- on keeping Worlds in Japan after the March 11 Tohoku earthquake

"It was very, very difficult for me. I was in a position to help all kinds of sports. I was head of the Ministry of Sport and I was the President of the office of Entire Sports, but my heart was the whole time for gymnastics. I tried to help, looking to the budget and other facilities, it was not enough. I look to be there, to be in the middle of the phenomenon. I tried to do my best. I don't know if my coming back was enough to put Romanian gymnastics where it was before, but I am trying. Last year was a good step in Rotterdam, another was the European Championships in Berlin. Step by step we are arriving at the Olympics, and I hope to be good enough to hope to have good results in London." -- on returning to coach the national team after spending a few years in the Romanian Ministry of Sport following the 2004 Olympics

"Chelaru is coming back after a small stomach surgery that kept her out for five months. She only competed at the GBR-ROM meet. It was a small thing. It was abdominal, the muscle, a few fibers were broken, but it was not an important thing. But it's normal in preparation. I'm happy because looking generally we do not have any important health problems. And in the last five years this was a big problem for the Romanian team -- a lot of fractures, a lot of ruptures of tendons, a lot of things pulled, putting you out of the hall not two days, three days, two weeks, but one year. So it's very different." -- on the condition of Diana Chelaru

"She's another Ana Porgas. Looking at some picture or movie from Rotterdam, she's changed. She's a nice looking girl, she's growing and has another face, another attitude, but I hope to be smart enough to work harder than before to keep her level, especially on beam, and I hope to also be good on floor and bars. Ana, like all teenagers, 17-18, you're at the moment when you hope to stay working very hard and go on to the next competition to have good results, or to find another temptation. And for girls, it's harder and harder to keep them in the hall working hard and not to look to other temptations that are around at 18 years old, 19 years old. Catalina is an example. She knows what it means to coach in the United States or to do other things, and she's come back because she feels the way we do, that the place of a gymnast is in the hall. With three gold medals in the Olympic Games, it's better to be in the training hall than in the museum -- 'look how good Catalina was in 2004!' No, it is better to [be there in the moment again].'" -- on Ana Porgras's development as a gymnast and a person

"At the beginning I hoped because I knew her potential, but I was not so sure. The health...health with Catalina, and she has the endurance and the perseverance to work very very hard. But now Catalina works better than before. Because she knows what it means to be on the other side -- she was coaching in the United States, and she knows how hard it is to coach a difficult person. But now she is smart and I hope she will be a good example to the youngest. Looking to the world, 22, 23, 24 years old is not the limit. I don't talk about Chusovitina at 36, [that's] something strange. It's from another planet. But looking to other teams, I think the average for a gymast is now 22, 23, normal. It's very good for us, because at 22, 23 years old you have another dialogue than with a gymnast at 12-13, years old. Woman. You have another level of communication." -- on Catalina Ponor's comeback

"Now it's quiet. And I think she's more introverted. Now she gives you an answer faster than before, when she was very spontaneous in this kind of dialogue. She knows what she needs to do the first step, the second, the third step. Like before, you know you must push, you must find the motivation to do more repetitions, but now, you say do it and she knows what to do. Now she takes a part of the responsibility. She's 24 so you don't have to say you must do this, you must before your practice warm up very well and do these exercises. She has her program in her head and it's easier than before." -- on how Ponor has changed as an athlete

"I think she will be better but not at the same level of having three gold medals at the Olympic Games. Because there are a lot of other challenges for first place. But we hope. We hope because we never believed before Athens we would have three golds with one gymnast. But she is very optimistic, and she hopes..." -- on whether Ponor is a better gymnast than she was in 2004

"It's not an injury. It was an adema -- a kind of thing that pushes on the nerves and she feels uncomfortable, this is the problem. Some days she doesn't have any pain, some days she has some pain. The first rule is to come in the competition -- this kind of competition -- is to come in good health. You don't know, at the moment of the competition you feel well or not. And we don't want to use a lot of other things to kill the pain. Because if you kill the pain sometimes you make it worse than before. So we decided to stay home and to respect the recovery program and maybe in two or three weeks to start the preparation for next year." -- on why Sandra Izbasa did not compete at Worlds

"I think the most important thing for next year is to have five girls of nearly the same level. If you have two leaders and two gymnasts with some exercises with the possibility of being in the finals, you have 10 possibilities to have medals. So this is a very very simple thing." -- on the plan for London 2012

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