Recent content by Amber

Corina's beating As worlds in Lausanne were getting closer, the coaches became more strict and nervous. They had frequent verifications which was exhausting and stressful. Penu certainly added to the stress by telling them every day that they were the worst generation he had even coached and...

Money for the coaches The year 1997 was the year of the World championships in Lausanne. It was a very difficult year because the coaches wanted to show International supremacy and take revenge for the meager results at the 1996 Olympics. The training for the 1997 worlds started early, as did...

Deva Fortress

Athletics, not gymnastics The gymnast coming back to Deva was extremely hard on them. The long break, the lack of training meant losing muscle and coordination so the coaches focused on physical preparation building muscle and condition without touching the apparatus. They held several races...

Tears and Macarena Almost 40.000 spectators bought tickets to witness the goodbye to the gymnastics stars of the 1996 Olympic games in Atlanta. It was a demonstrative show with gymnastics, dance, music and fun where all the medalist could show themselves to the audience one more time...

The hero of America The second day of competition was the optional competition. Both the Romanian and Russian teams do not make big mistakes but they are not brilliant either. It seems to be the right moment for the American team to win the team title. In front of their own supporters and...

False promises The Olympic games in Atlanta seemed fatal for Alexandra before even leaving. At the press conference before leaving for America, fashion designers dressed the team in nice clothes before appearing for the press in a hotel near the training center. Sponsors were also at hand to...

I hope next season they give DiCello a leo that fits, tired of seeing her butt hang out. Though she is certainly not the only one who needs a size bigger leo

Florida

Bummed that UCLA did not make it but they can only blame themselves, they just made too many little and bigger mistakes and Minnesota did great so well deserved placement in finals. I hope Florida has a great finals and finally wins one, the are due and it would be great for Blakely and DiCello

The Caribbean Paradise Alexandra recovered pretty slowly, being weak and very tired. She tried to call home to tell her parents what had happened but she couldn't do it. The gymnasts did not have access to the public phone and the phone in the hostel was connected to Marilena Bismark's room...

Deva, the epicenter of gymnastics Elizabeta Stoiciu had been shocked by the decision of Alexandra to move to Deva. She had tried to convince every gymnasts and did not anticipate one of them not obeying her. Alexandra however once again showed her strong character and did what she wanted to...

Would love that job

The little Olympiad. The Romanian gymnasts were very privileged to be allowed to travel all over the world for competitions. Especially America was the dream location for every Romanian. The land of freedom, opportunities and welfare. The first chance for Alexandra to cross the ocean and...

Sabae, 1995, the first world championships Alexandra felt very nervous for the world championships in Japan, it offered the young Romanians a first look at a very different world: strange, unknown and sometimes annoying. Everything went on a tight schedule. Buses did not leave until it was...