Gymnasts break the silence (B1TV)

Gymnasts break the silence: For a better future in sports! (video)

Check Media show, B1TV live, March 2, 2025

Sports issues on the government’s table.
We need to become a civilized, educated state. We are 17 years behind in terms of safeguarding regulations in Romania.

Guests of the show:

Ștefan Pălărie, Senator, Commission for Abuses:

I am a senator for Bucharest, and because it’s a very large constituency, I have countless meetings with citizens who come with all kinds of issues.

I acknowledge that, as a senator in the Education Commission, there were many cases related to education, but also to labor issues in the previous mandate. And I often came into intimate contact with people’s suffering. Sometimes, indeed, it’s an issue of an unjust law, and then all you can do is pick up a pen and see where the law was poorly written, and then it needs to be fixed through amendments. But, very often, you have a good law that is not applied further. And that’s where, especially in places where a kind of management becomes ossified and seems like no one can get it out of there, things start to distort, issues begin to be covered up in the case of abuses, and things just stop working. When I heard that such an association was established, and I partially watched the first hour of your show on my phone, I was happy. It means that, in fact, the people who suffer, it’s good for them to come together, to coalesce, and protect or support each other, creating a stronger voice. And now we get to what should be done in any regard. Whether we’re talking about associations for patients’ rights in healthcare, or associations of parents in relation to schools, it is important to have these organized voices, these coalesced voices. I have often appreciated when they came with very pertinent legislative proposals. These were often written with lawyers, with legal experts who knew exactly which law needed to be amended and where.

Coming back now to what I have watched and understood from your show, I realize there is an ocean of testimonies, with many people involved, including top-level athletes, who say, “I got here, but when I look back on how I got here, I have trauma, I have problems, I even have nightmares. I got here, and maybe I could have arrived as a person, still here, without going through all those abuses.” And here, I heard a lot of talk that seems essential to me, the difference between authority and power exercised abusively. This is an area where I believe the state authorities need to be much more vigilant. Because, especially in certain domains, and sports is one of these, it seems that when there is a medal or someone has won it, that person is given a blank check and can do anything with athletes or, beware, very often with minors involved in that sport.

This issue needs to be approached with much more delicacy. And, certainly, we at the Petitions and Abuses Committee encourage anyone who feels there is a problem like this to send it to our Committee in Parliament, and we will analyze it every time. So, if we can do something in Parliament to improve the law, we will certainly do so.

Otherwise, as a senator, I have often written interpellations, raised questions, and sent letters to state authorities. I get frustrated because, sometimes, state authorities only act when they see that a senator is interested in a subject.