The Olympiad in Oradea, Romania: an unusual time, but excellent organization.

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The ^37th edition of this year’s Olympiad took place from Aug. 11 to 13 in Oradea, Romania. Not only a first for the organizing country Romania, but also at a very unusual time so in the middle of the pigeon season. Because of all the Covid troubles, the organization was forced to postpone the celebration twice. And in fact, the next Olympiad is also starting to approach. More on that later.

Oradea (pronounced Orada) is a town in western Romania with a population of about 190,000, near the border with Hungary. Centrally located to Poland, Slovakia and Hungary. But relatively far from pigeon countries such as the Netherlands, Belgium and Germany. That also explains why there was quite a small audience from these countries. So why not organize near an airport like in the city of Bucharest? First, because the Oradea city government was enormously willing to get the pigeon Olympiad into their city. A brand-new sports center was provided free of charge. By comparison, such accommodation in Bucharest would cost €100,000 in rent. The awards ceremony was allowed to take place in the middle of town in the central square. So all in all, a practical but logical choice. By the way, the question is whether more foreign visitors would come if it did be held in Bucharest. So in the middle of the flying season, that was not an attractive option anyway.

Then the program. Friday morning at 10:00 the Olympiad opened. Well before ten, visitors gathered in front of the Polyvalent hall where the Olympiad was to take place. This hall is brand new and completed in April this year. The hall is mainly used for national-level sports competitions such as basketball (very popular in Romania), volleyball and handball. A little after 10 a.m., the Olympic anthem was played and visitors were addressed outside by a nationally known presenter and a well-known actor. This was followed by several more speeches by dignitaries such as the Prince of Romania as patron of the homing pigeon hobby, Istvan Bardos, president of the FCI, a member of the Agriculture Committee of the Parliament in Romania, the state secretary of agriculture, the mayor of Oradea and Marius Tunduc, the president of the Romanian Pigeon Federation and head of the Olympiad Commission. Then, of course, a number of baskets of pigeons were released and by 11 a.m. the flag parade took place, just like a real sports Olympiad. Countries were listed in alphabetical order, after which the representative of the respective country with the flag presented his country. On behalf of the Netherlands, Ben Geerink was the flag bearer. Together with board member Hans van Dijk the representatives of the Netherlands and the NPO.

After the flag parade, the hall was opened to the public. Free admission until 11 a.m. Tickets for the various events could be purchased in advance online through the website specially created for the Olympiad at www.olympiad.ro and www. racingpigeonsolimpiade.ro. In the hall after the entrance, all the Olympic pigeons were in their cages with water and food. Continuously guarded by imposing-looking security guards. Don’t get past the ribbon in front of the cages because you’d immediately have a security guard on your neck. Most of the pigeons were lying quietly in their cages and given the time in the season not surprising that some were moulting quite a bit. Attached to all cages was a performance list showing the prize achieved in the joint Olympiad ranking. Most of the^1st prizes in the various categories were won by Poles, Czechs and Romanians, but the Netherlands competed very well internationally. But quite honestly, of course, it’s still comparing apples to oranges.

On the first floor, the hall was set up as an exhibition hall with various stands similar to those we know from our trade fair in Houten. It was a very limited fair with few international suppliers. However, several well-known feed suppliers were present such as Beijers, Versele Laga and Van Robays. Of course, fanciers (mainly Romanian) were also present to sell young pigeons.

Although not very publicly announced, Wim Muller gave a seminar on Friday to those interested in the marathon. This category is very popular in Romania. Exactly what it was about (marathon, of course) and how many people attended the seminar was otherwise unclear.

After the fair closed at 5 p.m., people got ready for Friday’s closing event: the awards ceremony for all Olympiad categories and the World Best Pigeon competition. Because Covid came through, all awards from 2019 had yet to be handed out. That became quite a sit. But that didn’t spoil the fun because this ceremony took place in the central square in Oradea. Beautiful weather, wonderful seats (reserved in advance), free drinks and nice people. But above all in a very beautiful place in the city among the historic buildings. As the evening progressed and it began to dusk, all the buildings were beautifully lit and the outdoors was very pleasant. Which is also a first. Never before has the Olympiad been organized outdoors, and it probably won’t be again.

As mentioned, the presence of foreign pigeon fanciers was disappointing. This meant that the various prizes won were received by their country representative. Consequently, Ben Geerink and Hans van Dijk had to transport a cartload of cups to the Netherlands. Afterwards, you heard from several people that they did not know that this ceremony was there, but would have definitely come to Romania otherwise. Perhaps a missed opportunity in terms of promotion but what is done is done.

Closing out the evening was a smashing performance by the singer Andra. An absolute star in Romania. People who had nothing to do with pigeons could also enjoy this. As a thank you to the residents of the city of Oradea. And this was only day 1!

The next day the venue was open to the public again at 10 a.m. Although it was Saturday (and the flights in Romania had also been canceled) the hall was not packed. At 11 a.m., the presentation of the international one-horse competition organized by the FCI took place. For many fans a far-off show, but immensely popular in Romania (and far beyond). Very little I can say about this because at that time we were invited to a live interview that aired on the Olympiad’s Facebook page. In terms of news coverage, the Romanians had it right. A seminar was also held in the morning with Etienne Meirlaen as guest speaker. One of the Belgian founding icons of our time. Again, I must be guilty of answering what all was said. The seminars were not listed in the program booklet, so not known where and what time.

In the evening, the “Friendship Banquet” took place at 7 p.m. Again, you could order a limited number of tickets for this in advance. At first we hadn’t, but at the invitation of the organization we were able to join anyway. This was a beautiful white hall in Oradea. Mainly intended for parties and (wedding) celebrations. During dinner there was live music and performances by a folklore dance group with traditional clothing and dances. The official part was mainly a thanksgiving to the participating countries. 30 in all including representatives of Iraq and Jordan, for example. Each representative received a unique hand-painted painting and an Olympiad medal. To conclude, the Olympic flag was handed over by President Marius Tunduc to the next organizing country. And that country is: the Netherlands! To loud applause, Chairman Ben Geerink was allowed to receive the flag. Maastricht 2024. Here we come! This was our personal impression of Olympiad 2022.

Our personal experience was simply WOW! That our pigeon ‘Olympic Blueliner’ was sent out on behalf of the Netherlands to the Olympiad and ended up 14th in the world is a dream come true! 1,700 km we drove for it and it was well worth it. We thoroughly enjoyed the exhibition, the celebration in the historic city center and the “Friendship Banquet” and the nice Romanian people we met. It was also equal opportunity to do this visit during a camping tour through no less than 8 countries. With an old caravan belonging to Marit’s parents we were allowed to enjoy the surroundings of Dresden, Bratislava, the countryside of Hungary, the city of Oradea in Romania, Lake Balaton in Hungary, the Plitivice Lakes in Croatia and finally the wonderful Lake Bled in Slovenia. Unforgettable to experience as a family. Enjoy with us with the photo gallery below!

Special thanks to Calin Razvan, whom we met via Facebook several years ago. He is an avid fancier in Romania, specializing in youngsters, among other things. He got to take the top podium and receive a silver Olympiad medal. We sought each other out after the awards ceremony in the square in Oradea. Calin flies with a partner, Florin Gatejescu. In addition to their formidable performances together, Florin is also active as a director at Romanian Union. He is the second-in-command behind President Marius Tunduc, and had a major role in organizing the Olympiad. Martijn was invited for an interview with the so-called “Olympiad TV,” a very nice experience. In which the interview was conducted by Cosmin Pretorian. And at the invitation of Florin, Calin and mr. Marius Tunduc allowed us to attend the “Friendships Banquet. Next door, we met Calin’s clubmate Gelu Vochin and his friend Cehan Marian. Gelu is the proud owner of no less than 3 Olympiad pigeons, specializing in Marathon. Gelu is a walking encyclopedia in the field of pigeon racing, a connoisseur of the Dutch competition, has the compuclub under the speed dial and reads the results as we do. He knew the famous Marathon pigeon “Joe Frazier” from father Fred Kramer and Cees Ouwehand, knew of the co-breeding with Jellema and the Romee. Indeed, he had the prive number of father Fred…. And had visited Jellema even before all the craziness around him erupted. And all this sitting at a table in Oradea, Romania! Thank you for your hospitality.

Martijn and Marit Kramer