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The head of Romania's sports body Octavian Bellu predicts the country's athletes will bring back no more than five medals from the Beijing Olympics.

Romania grabbed 11 golds at the 2000 Olympics in Sydney and eight golds four years later in Athens, but Bellu said the country's current ills would make matching those totals impossible in 2008.

"Romanian sport is falling down because of its already chronic lack of infrastructure, money shortage and short selection for the Olympic sports," Bellu told Reuters.

Bellu, a former gymnastics coach who led the Romania women's team to more than 200 Olympic and world medals over 22 years, said the best hope for medals in China would again come from gymnastics.

"(Marian) Dragulescu and young (Sandra) Izbasa are able to get medals in Beijing," Bellu said.

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