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 to the Fortress of Deva which was located on a high hill.
"They made us run the route up the hill and we had to do it in a specific time. If we did not made it fast enough we had to do it again until we made the set time. Sometimes we ran this route 10 times per day. It was exhausting and we almost cried from tiredness but no one had the courage to give up out of fear of the coaches harsh punishment" says Alexandra. After a few weeks of this torture they finally went back to the gym and started working on the apparatus.
In competition again
Alexandra first competition after the Olympic Games was the Cottbus grand prix in Germany. To her surprise the coaches Octavian Penu and Marilena Bismark decided not to go with her and left her with assistant coach Benone Slavuteanu. Alexandra was in a good but not great shape but felt more relaxed with Penu and Bismark there. The competition went fairly well except for vault, her most challenging event. In Bucharest, the president of the Romanian Gymnastics Federation, Nicolae Dulgheru, watched the competition on TC and immediately called the coach reproaching him for his gymnasts poor representation. Alexandra was determined to do better the next day. During training however Alexandra fell from the beam on her head. The whole gym went silent as paramedics rushed to her and immobilized her neck and took her to a separate room to assess her. "I could not feel anything and I could not move my head at all. I was really scared but gradually the immobility disappeared and I recovered and I was able to compete on the second day" Alexandra remembers.
Christmas in the mountains
The gymnasts spent the winter holidays in a training camp in Poiana Brasov. They were not allowed to go home during Christmas, or new Years and their parents were not allowed to visit. Poiana Brasov is a mountain resort at more than 1000 meter altitude and there was a lot of snow in that period. The coaches made the gymnasts run many miles in the snow to improve their stamina. In the mornings they would run in the snow, and in the afternoon they spent time in the gym for conditioning and strength exercises. On Saturday afternoon they had a free afternoon and Alexandra decided she wanted to ski. She had never tried it before but she was not scared. She hired skies but had no idea how to use them. She found someone to help her and just started skiing down the mountain. She felt so free. "When I was catching speed I did not know how to stop so I just let myself fall in the snow" she remembers. The next Saturday a young office worker she had met taught her how to ski. The new year's eve party was pretty sad but the gymnasts were allowed to stay up and eat what they wanted. They did not really feel like partying though the coaches tried to cheer them up. It was maybe the only time in the year they tried to do this.
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 the qualification competitions. In the spring of 1997 Alexandra, together with team mate Ionela left for a tour in France. Again the main coaches decided to stay at home with the rest of the team, so they send Nicolae Berinde. The tour contained five demonstrations in five different cities. "It was extremely exhausting, one day we were performing, the next day we were on the road, we travelled by bus from one city to another, and they were not close together. The demonstration itself was not exhausting, it was not a competition and it felt good, relaxed". The good thing about the tour was the money. Every demonstration was awarded with $2000, plus the allowance for the whole week, another $2000, which means after the week was over, Alexandra had earned $12.000. The downside was that the gymnasts did not get to keep all of the money. There was an oral agreement, enforced by the coaches, that the gymnasts had to give them 30% of their earnings. The gymnasts and their parents did not agree, but what could they do? When she returned from France Alexandra honored the agreement and gave the coaches $3000. "The coaches were upset that I only gave them 30% of the earnings, without taking the allowance into consideration. They were very angry and I don't even want to think about what they said about me" Alexandra remembers. "I think the percentage was meant to make us feel small in front of the coaches. To create the impression that it was an honor for us to be coached by them, to believe that they were the real hero's and they were not compensated enough" Alexandra adds. The agreement did not seem fair to the gymnasts but they had to obey or they would not be send to demonstrations, competitions or tours that earned money.
The fatal accident
Alexandra only knew about Forth Worth Texas because of the popular television series "Dallas". Her first impressions of the real city was amazing, it looked just like on television. She wondered if they would even meet J.R Ewing too. Alexandra travelled to Forth Worth for a competition together with teammate Dan. The atmosphere was relaxed as they were only accompanied by Slaveteanu. The competition went well though Alexandra was not yet in top shape. When she arrived home she learned that she had to travel to America again soon for a team competition between the USA, China and Romania. Training for the competition was going well, Alexandra was fit and ready to compete. Shortly before they left however, Alexandra injured herself on floor. While doing a tumbling run she felt a sharp sting in her back, close to her spinal column. She completed the pass then fell to the floor, unable to move. "I was in a lot of pain, I felt paralyzed and could hardly breath" she remembers. The coaches did not believe her and told her to go to her next event, vault. When it was her turn Alexandra felt like she could not do it and went to tell Penu that it seemed to be serious. He started shouting and he sent her to physical therapy immediately. The next day at training Penu had not calmed down at all. "He came into the gym and said my attitude was unacceptable, he was shouting and said I was not interested in the team's fate, that I only cared about myself and that I was doing that because I had taken a lot of money in France" says Alexandra. Penu did not believe that Alexandra injured her back, he kept insisting her to continue training and send her to the bars. Alexandra truly could not do it. "He just couldn't understand that I could barely walk, let alone do any kind of routine on any event. I was terrified that he would force me to go to America and compete there", Finally Alexandra was allowed to stay home and instead of going to America, she was send to get a medical check.
Superficial control
Alexandra went to Bucharest to the Sportive medicine institute. The doctor's attitude was unsatisfactory leaving the impression that most of them had an agreement with the coaches and the officials to not look as close and give the gymnast permission to train. In fear of finding anything that might prevent her to train, the doctors hardly looked at her. "It was a routine control, very superficial after which the doctor told me that there was nothing wrong with my back and that I could go back to Deva and resume training. I was very surprised but at the time I did not suspect what was hiding behind this system. How could I have known the gymnasts had to compete by all means? Our main objective was to bring glory to the country, the rest did not matter. No matter what the risks the gymnasts were taking, the objective of medals had to be accomplished" says Alexandra.
Shanghai chicken
After the Romanian team got back from America, Alexandra re-joined her teammates and slowly got back into the rhythm of training. Her back was still hurting a lot and the only thing she could do was swallow a handful of painkillers before every training session and wear a tight wrap around her back at all times. In July 1997, just a few weeks before the start of the World championships, Alexandra, together with three other gymnasts, and Octavian Penu, travelled to China for a competition in Shanghai. The first impression of China was shocking. "We did not like it at all, there was misery and poverty everywhere. We travelled by bus and only saw people on bikes, like cars just did not exist. People seemed miserable, just like Romanians were and the food was almost impossible to eat, the only food we like was Shanghai chicken and I remember that is what we ordered the whole week" Alexandra says. The same thing could be said about the training gym. The apparatus were very old and broken and they could hardly train their routines. Even though the conditions were poor, the Romanians competed well. Alexandra won the Balance Beam and Floor finals and Octavia Penu even praised her.
