Gymnasts hope to keep up with their studies

Moch. N. Kurniawan, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

While being enthusiastic about their planned trip to Romania for a two-year training program, Indonesia's young gymnasts hope that their academic activities will not be hampered.

"I hope I can continue my studies in Romania while training," Natalia Winindo said after undergoing a physical test here on Thursday.

The 17-year-old is currently in the final year of high school and is expected to graduate in June 2005.

"Hopefully, I can study foreign languages," she said.

Natalia relished the challenge during the Romanian outing and was optimistic about the expected results afterwards, but she said academics would remain her priority as she would eventually have to rely on it to make a living after her gymnastics career ends.

Her younger teammate Nefi Nurbaeti also pointed out the importance of academic study.

Unlike Natalia, Nefi is in elementary school and another one, Windi is a first-year student in high school.

"I think academics are important," 11-year-old Nefi, a sixth grader, said.

Windi Yofilia, 15, hope that studies would be well arranged so that she could train without interrupting her.

"I prefer to study English literature," 21-year-old Endriadi, who has graduated from high school, said.

Natalia, Nefi, Windi and Endriadi are part of Indonesia's 10 gymnasts to be sent to Romania later this month with the Indonesian Gymnastics Association (Persani) hoping that they would be able to increase their medal chances in future international events, particularly at the 2005 Southeast Asian (SEA) Games in Manila.

The other hopefuls include M. Tri Saputra, 13, Melyusi Adeputra, 17, Pramu Nur Imam, 18, Dewi Prahara, 19, Riri Wulandari, 16, and Cici Mitasari, 18.

Coach Djefri Mutik, one of the four coaches to accompany the athletes' workout, said Persani was still seeking schools for those gymnasts.

"There are several alternatives. They can study in an Indonesian school there or in local schools that will require them to learn local language first," he said.

It will not be the first time that Indonesian gymnasts train in Romania. However, the previous session saw athletes train in short period.

"That was a wonderful experience for me," Eva Butarbutar, now a gymnast coach, said about her three-and-a-half-month training session in 1985.

Eva, then a 12-year-old, won two gold and two silver medals in SEA Games in the same year.

"If the three-and-a-half month training in Romania has helped me win two golds in my first SEA Games, we can expect more from them after their two-year training," she said.