Many are summoned, and few are chosen, and this also applies when it comes to the participation of our athletes in the Olympic Games of London. Prior to the last three days of the competition, the number of medals won by our country could be considered a step forward compared to the previous edition, in Beijing, but doesn't hold up to the comparison with those won in the glory years between 1976 and 2000. With a little luck, the Romanian mission could match the performance it had at the Olympic Games of Rome (1960) when it won 10 medals. This edition clearly proves that we can only rely on 4-5 disciplines to bring us medals, whereas for the rest the only principle that still applies to is: "what matters is to participate". It is obvious that this state of things is the result of insufficient funding, but it doesn't make it any less true that in certain disciplines, the athletes and their trainers have allowed themselves a lot of slack, and they look at the international competitions as mere travel opportunities.

So far, Romania has won 9 medals (2 gold -5 silver -2 bronze): gold - Alin Moldoveanu (shooting) and Sandra Izbaşa (gymnastics - vaulting); silver - Alina Dumitru, Corina Căprioriu (both in judo), Roxana Cocoş (weightlifting), Cătălina Ponor (gymnastics - floor) and the male fencing team; bronze - the female gymnastics team and Răzvan Martin (weightlifting). The conclusion is simple, at this moment we have five athletic disciplines in which we won medals (gymnastics, weightlifting, judo, shooting, fencing) two which counted in the finals (rowing and kayaking), and the rest were far below expectations. Athletics and swimming disappointed compared to the achievements they showed in the previous editions, and the much-praised and talked about female fencing team provided us with an unpleasant surprise. All of our athletes disappointed so far, in the London