The secrets of a gymnast

[Amber]

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 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.

 

[Amber]

Deva Fortress

 

[Amber]

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 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.

 

[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 that the Romanian team had never competed that badly. At the end of one of the training session, the girl prepared to leave after another tough verification and many repetitions. Corina Muresanu was still working on the beam. She fell a lot and so the coaches kept asking her to repeat the Rufolva skill. After a while Penu started to get involved and screamed and cussed at her. He grabbed her and started beating her, he was hitting her everywhere, as if she were an animal. Corina tried to get away from Penu and he send her back onto the beam to repeat the skill. When she failed Penu again came down on her and started beating her again. Alexandra felt very sorry for Corina and started crying. She witnessed Corina failing time and time again. Penu did not care about her suffering, he only knew one thing: the skill had to be perfect, anything else did not matter. At one of the repetitions Corina got so hurt that she started bleeding. The gymnasts who were still in the gym looked at the scene with tears in their eyes, none of them had the courage to tell Penu to stop hitting her. Marilena Bismark eventually stopped Penu when she saw Corina was bleeding, she interfered and send Corina to the bathroom to clean herself after which she and Penu left the gym.

"I will never forget that day"

• "When the coaches left the gym we all went to Corina. We didn't know what we could do for her and kept asking how we could help her. Alexandra remembered that she had a towel in her bag and brought it to Corina. While Corina cleaned up Alexandra waited for her so they could walk back to the hostel together. While walking back, Corina told Alex that she would never forget this horrible day. There are many voices saying that gymnastics is a sport which is done voluntarily. The gymnasts or their parents are not forced to participate. The question is however, are the sufferings worth it for a few medals? If the parents knew what their children would go through, would parents still take them to gymnastics?

Lausanne 1997

• Finally came the time to leave for the world championships. It was an extremely important competition where the coaches were hoping to take revenge for the meager results in Atlanta. To add to the pressure Penu stated to the press that this competition was going to be very difficult as Romania was represented by the weakest team he had ever coached. Alexandra did not pay attention to the coaches, she had goals and was very positive. She came from a very hard period and she felt her back was still vulnerable. The main reason was her landing for the beam dismount which was very hard on her back. She had told Marilena Bismark that he back was really hurting her and that her beam dismount aggravated it, but as usual she did not believe her and told her to continue. "I never understand why she kept me training the full in dismount. Even with a double back dismount my start value was still 10" Alexandra stated. From the first training in Lausanne Alexandra had sharp pains in her back and also in her ankle. At first she did not pay attention to the pain, figuring it was extra painful because she was tired, but the pain got worse. Alexandra did not feel the effect of the painkillers she took so she asked the doctor of the team to find other solutions to help with the pain. The doctor started massage and acupuncture therapy, which just like the painkillers, did not have much effect.

The miracle happened: gold with the team!

• On the day of the competition, Alexandra rubbed on all the numbing creams she had and took a handful of painkillers and tied her body up with bandages. She was determined to prove that she was not part of a "Second hand team". The sports palace in Lausanne is not a large venue and even on the first day of competition, the stands were packed. "Please God, make all the painkillers have effect for once" Alexandra prayed. She ignored the pain and competed very well, all her four scores counted towards the team total. In the team finals, the gymnasts were determined to prove Penu wrong, that he was not right to judge them so harshly. The competition started well for the Romanians, Alexandra had forgotten about the pain and was enjoying the attention of the crowd and the journalist who called her "the new Nadia". At the beginning of her floor routine the audience cheers for her and Alexandra relaxes but on her last tumbling pass her body reminds her that something is wrong and a sharp pain shoots through her leg, the pain makes her hesitate the landing, taking an additional step and losing her balance. Penu takes his hands to his head and explodes:" You fucking moron!" As she walks away from him she hears him utter many additional curses at her. Alexandra's low score on floor did not influence the results and Romania won the gold medal. When the results became official, the gymnasts and the coaches jumped in joy and celebrated the win. They all forgot about troubles, nerves and pains.

Injections

• The way back to the hotel was chaotic. There were celebration activities, interviews and a press conference. It had been a long time since Alexandra took her painkillers and the effect had disappeared completely. When she finally sat down in the bus that would bring them to the hotel, Alexandra felt the sharp stings in her back and ankle reappear. Because of her good qualifying competition, Alexandra qualified to the AA final. Alexandra felt that this was the chance of a lifetime and that she was able to become the World Champion. The only problem was the immense pain. "I told the doctor that I would do anything to compete, I would have given up everything to just compete in the AA finals. The doctor offered to give me injections with sedatives and I accepted that". Alexandra recalls. Every few hours Alexandra was injected with painkillers. She still lay awake at night as she knew that the choice to compete was not up to her. She worried that, like in Atlanta, the chance to compete would be taken away from her.

Farewell title

• As usual Alexandra woke up early on the day of the AA finals. She gets up quickly and moves around to see if the pain is still there, it was there but she felt a little better which put her in a positive mindset, she feels ready to compete. She goes to the bathroom to do her hair and make-up. There are still a few hours until the competition but she wants to be ready. She also starts to mentally prepare for her big moment. When she is applying her make-up there is a knock on the door. Alexandra wonders who it will be, not the coaches, they never knock but just walk right in. When she opens the door she sees Penu standing in the hallway. He walks into her room and starts talking to her very calmly "Alexandra, you will not compete today. You are not feeling too well and the federation decided to replace you with Simona Aurar. You are younger and you have all the time in the world to compete in another Worlds final. Don't be sad, your time will come". Penu ends in a joking tone. Alexandra feels like the whole earth is shaking. She sits down on the bed and hardly has the strength to answer "I feel good, I can compete without any problems" Alexandra tries. Penu repeats that the decision is not his, the federation decided and the change is already made, there is nothing he can do. Penu leaves the room and Alexandra starts crying. "I never imagined that they could be so cruel. They had made the decision a long time ago but up until the last moment they let me think that I would compete. I was devastated and could not even leave the room" Alexandra remembers. As in Atlanta, she watched the AA finals from the stands, tears in her eyes, knowing it should have been her on the competition floor. After the competition, Simone came to her to apologize but there was no need, it was not Simona's decision, she just did what she was ordered to do.

 

[Livi]

Reading this makes me realise Amanar has quite a few AA medals with an asterisk.
1996 Olympics
1997 Worlds
2000 Olympics (though a different story)

Not to take away anything from her achievements, all of these were beyond her control, but those gold, silver and bronze medals could've easily been just a silver (2000) if other decisions were made.

 

[ArnoldRimmer]

I dont know that 96 or 97 are asterisks. The rules allowed for substitutions and Marinescu was underage.

2000 yes, is the asterisk to end all asterisks!

@Amber I missed the message about your health last month- hope you're now recovered.