See, when I went to the Olympics in '76, the gymnastics people knew that I was good, but everybody else, after I won, everybody was like, 'Where's she coming from? Who is she? What is Romania?'
Sentiment: NEGATIVE
Romania doesn't have a big tradition of gymnastics as a fun activity. We were a little behind in this aspect.
It's like someone important is missing from a party because you can't imagine an Olympic gymnastics competition without Romania.
We developed a system in Romania that was very successfully continued for a number of years, but I don't know if it was because of some conflict in the organisation or whether there was government interference... but somehow, they have forgotten the importance of raising gymnasts to be ready for every Olympics.
The Olympics shows the community what gymnastics is all about.
When I look back, I am happy that my mum took me to the gymnastics club. I didn't join gymnastics to become a famous athlete or celebrity; it just happened - I did more than I expected, of course.
I was a gymnast for years.
Gymnastics was my way to travelling the world.
I'm really good at gymnastics, and that's about it.
It sounds funny, but the 2008 Olympics were something that just kind of happened, and I was lucky they came at a point when I was uninjured and well prepared. As a gymnast, you can't ask for much more.
People assume a lot of things about gymnasts - that the girls work too hard, it's way too much for them, they are too young to work so hard.
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