Lipa - "I don't know whether Dragulescu will return to the top"

CS Dynamo president, Elisabeth Lipa, said on Monday that she doesn't know whether Dragulescu will be able to return to the highest level in gymnastics, but stated that she went through such times and succeeded in the end in winning an Olympic medal.

"It's hard to tell if Marian will be back up there where he used to be. We can't say that now. No one believed in me when I returned to rowing, but I managed to win an Olympic medal. Now everything depends on him. Marian is at an age where it is still possible to perform at a high level, but we'll have to see what happens. I know he has health problems, and it remains to be seen how he will deal with them," said Elisabeth Lipa.

Lipa said that Dragulescu made the decision to return to gymnastics when after he was asked to decide if he wanted to act as the club coach or return to gymnastics competing. "We talked to him, because our club listed him under the sport, and he was already an active coach. I asked him to think well and decide what to do next. After two days he came and said that he would resume training and continue competing. If he manages to make the performance standard, it will be excellent, and if not, there will be no problem.," she added.

Dragulescu - "I'm an ambitious guy!"

Marian, what made you decide to return to competing?

"It won't be hard to come back [?]. I miss the competition, the atmosphere of the team, but I admit, there are also personal reasons behind my decision. In addition, I am an ambitious guy!"

[something about his health, he says he is ok]

It's not too short a time for Worlds?

"There are four months, and I'm not starting training again from scratch, so I think there's enough time. I also competed twice in Germany, so I have routines prepared."

What do you hope to achieve at Worlds?

"What everyone wants - a medal. I'll be attempting to medal in three events, and I hope to reach the podium on at least one."

Tuesday was the first official workout. How did you feel?

"We started a little easier. We discussed with the technical staff and put a plan on paper. I will gradually return to training without pushing too hard, so as to reach peak form by Worlds."

"You've decided to do three apparatuses: floor, vault and high bar. Why these ones?

"We talked to coaches and I realised that I had the results already. I know what I need to do. What I can say now is that it will be difficult, but safe."

[last question and paragraph are muddly]

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Coach Pascu gives his opinion:

"I was glad of his return, he was accepted unanimously by the entire team.

"He has no weight problems, he remained healthy during his months of rest, and also competed in the last two weeks of the Bundesliga.

"Our first objective is for his to back on the team I formed, and then to work on his FX and VT, especially his second VT, to give him more confidence. We also must prepare a routine on HB.

"We will work on these three events, and he will compete on them.

"His floor will have a difficulty of 6.6, even though he has dropped two elements.

"He will have sufficient time to train for Worlds.

"His decision to continue is entirely his. I have kept in touch with him and I think it is a wise decision. Marian still has a lot more he can accomplish in gymnastics."