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EXCLUSIVE!-EXCLUSIVE!-EXCLUSIVE!
Silvia Stroescu,
first interview-at-large
 Q:
Ready for going to University?...
Silvia
Stroescu: yes, tomorrow (sept 29) will go at
both Universities to check my schedule.
Q: both?..
Silvia
Stroescu: yes, I am a student at National Sport
Academy and also at "Spiru Haret" University (the largest
Romanian private university), where I will study psychology.
Q: And, you want to become a...?
Silvia
Stroescu: haven't decided yet, will see after
I will graduate. maybe a coach or a specialist in sport psychology.
Q: last one is cool, definitely we may use such a trained
person, the "good old times" with crying and yelling are (hope)
now passed.A specialist which may help coaches to motivate
girls and to help them surpass their problems will be really
useful.
Q: Do you still speak with girls from the team?
 Silvia
Stroescu: especially
with Oana Ban, now that she is retired, too.
Q: you have some nice evening chats like the ones in a retired
house, between "girls?"
Silvia
Stroescu: no, we are not so old (yet), ha-ha!
Q: tell us about your hobbies.
Silvia
Stroescu: music, travel-I would like to be
, for a second time, in Hawaii.
Q: Have you been before?
Silvia
Stroescu: Yes, two years ago, with the team,
and liked a lot.Now I want to go again one day and explore
those places in my own peace.
 Q:
aren't you afraid of volcanoes? Each time I go there, want
to keep a packed bag near door, just in case the volcanoes
will change his minds...
Silvia
Stroescu:didn't know about volcanoes thing.
Q: well, can't say more about geography at some sport schools...Surprising
that you didn't get many info on spot, they have plenty of
good guides there.
Q: what food you like? Now that you try to keep up with the
lost kitchen times...
Silvia
Stroescu: Yes (ha-ha), those days I liked to
eat a little bit more, but not so much you may think. I like
Romanian traditional food, like "ciorba de burta" (beef soup)
and "sarmale" (traditional Romanian meat balls rolled inside
a leaf of cabbage or sauerkraut), cakes... Q: house-made?
Silvia
Stroescu: no, I just buy them we have a nice
place with good stuff close to us.
Q: well, if you go there few times a day, this may be a good
exercise, too?...
Silvia
Stroescu: no (laughing), I don't go so often,
ha-ha!
Q: you like music?
Silvia
Stroescu: dance, R &B, Britney Spears, Andra
Q: What about actors?
Silvia
Stroescu: Antonio Banderas, Bruce Willis
Q: You like movies, which ones?
Silvia
Stroescu: don't ask me more about this, at
Deva we have had to go to bed at 10,30 in the evening, we
don't see many movies back there. But I just saw now "The
5th element" and liked a lot.
Q: Favorite apparatus?
Silvia
Stroescu: balance beam
Q: Your best friend when you was in the team, at Deva?
Silvia
Stroescu: Catalina Ponor
 Q:
what pets you have?
Silvia: three dogs, Bella (a common name for a beauty female
Italian-origin), Lisy, Brindusa (a little flower in Romanian)...
Q: three?!...
Silvia
Stroescu: yes, each one have his one story:
the little one I have found it during the winter, it was so
cold outside and I bring him home;  another
one was injured by a car and I found him in the middle of
the street-I had to take him, could not leave it there; the
third one was living near our block we used to live. When
we moved into this new house, two years ago, I have had to
take him with me, otherwise he was a sure target for flayers
and could be put into sleep easy.
Q: and the little kitten?
 Silvia
Stroescu: is just a nice kitten I have found
on the street, she is so nice and looks like the one from
our TV commercial with Whiskas...
Q: it sounds like a good reason to be a star herself in future....Now
that you have more time, any special plans?
Silvia
Stroescu: I wanted to have a holiday and go
somewhere like Italy or France but with all those receptions
and ceremonies time passed and now have to go to school.
 Q:
will you buy your own apartment from the cash prizes you have
received? (note: because she has retired early, she was the
first one to take her money from the State Reserve Bank in
Bucharest, followed by Oana Ban, earlier this week).
Silvia
Stroescu: No, I don't need an apartment, I
have my own (first) floor-see photo, on our family villa (we
moved two years ago  here),
including my own separate entrance, too.But I have ordered
the new Logan car for me. (Logan is a French Renault car,
build in Romania, which made sensation at her launching earlier
this month; considered as a national car due to her previous
version which have lasted as national car since 70's.)
Q: [Silvia, we have some questions for you, from our site
visitors, posted in our forum.]
Q/ Kilroy, USA: You are one of the few girls who doesn’t
want to stay involved in gymnastics (i.e. coach) after your
career. Why is that?
Silvia
Stroescu: I may be involved in gymnastics,
as a coach, after I compete my studies. It was hard for me
in gymnastics, especially past two years, and I don't want
to do this sooner anyway.
Kilroy, USA: Would you allow your children to do gymnastics?
Silvia: Only for their own pleasure, not as high performers;
if you want to be on top, there are too many sacrifices.
Kilroy, USA: What would you say is the best thing you’ve
gotten out of your gymnastics career besides winning competitions
or being famous for being on the national team?
Silvia
Stroescu: I went up to maturity very early,
to be a top gymnast is very hard, but is a lesson for life:
you need to make sacrifices to obtain performance and what
you may dream about.And definitely, you need luck, too.
Kilroy, USA: what kept you going when you went through
that horrible back injury that almost jeopardized your career?
Silvia
Stroescu: I wanted so much a medal from Athens
Olympics....
Q: and the money involved?...
 Silvia
Stroescu: no, for me it was more important
to prove that I can get a medal. Nine months after I get my
injury, doctors said I have to quit, I said no, I sign for
this-will do on my own risk, I want to have a chance to compete
in Olympics! I was sure I can get a medal and was ready to
do anything for it.
Kilroy, USA: many of the girls said that Sunday is
the day when they had the most free time. Could you tell us
what a regular Sunday was like?
Silvia
Stroescu:Free time?... On Sunday, we do have
had a training session, from 10,00 to 12,30 or even 13,00.
We use to go in town for a ride in the afternoon, but one
year before Olympics no more walks out of campus on Sundays.
Kilroy, USA: how do you see the future of Romanian
gymnastics with talents, like Steliana
Nistor coming through?
Silvia
Stroescu: We have to wait to see what coaches
may be at Deva, if our former coaches will decide to leave.
How many actual juniors will remain long enough to become
seniors is another story, a lot of girl quite early these
days.
Kilroy, USA:what would you say makes the Romanian team
so consistent in competitions?
Silvia
Stroescu: We don't have much emotions in the
contests...
Q: ... here we go, again, this will "feed up" again those
idiots who refer to our team as "rombots"...
Silvia
Stroescu:...I mean, they teach us how to focus
to our evolutions only, nothing around us can distract (much)
our attention and concentration. We have manages not to think
anything else, but at our exercises only.
Kilroy: will you study psychology at university or
do you want to become a veterinarian?
Silvia
Stroescu: I wanted to become a veterinary but
finally decided it may be a little too hard for me and choused
sports and psychology. Kilroy:when looking back ,would you
say you have any regrets about anything?
Silvia: I regret I have had to suffer that one year pause
outside gym hall, otherwise, I definitely could do much more,
compete with better chances for more medals in Athens.
Floorking: How did it feel when you
were on the podium and had the gold medal around your neck?
Silvia
Stroescu: I was happy to see that I have ended
well, I was grateful to God for this.
Floorking: Where you nervous when you did your bars
routine in the prelims?
Silvia
Stroescu: I was not so sure about the bar,
didn't have enough time to check it because the referees put
the green light so fast, earlier than I have expected.
 Floorking:
I have heard that the girls at Deva are into Fashion if so
who is your favorite designer?
Silvia
Stroescu (laughing):no, this is not true. We
weren't into fashion . When I buy clothes, I don't pay much
attention on who made it, just check to see how it looks on
me, if I like that piece.
Floorking: How did it feel when you found out you
were going to Athens after you had left Deva? (webmaster note:
the team was in Bucharest during past four months before Athens,
and Silvia also live in Bucharest with her family).
Silvia
Stroescu: I was happy, it was one of my happiest
day in may life, maybe even the happiest one.I didn't expect
to come back. I am happy that I could compete, to prove myself
I can do it (get a medal) and I was useful for the team, too.
 Beamcoach:
When you thought you would not go to Athens and you quit gymnastics
for that short time (a few days?), what did you do? Did you
go home to your family? What did you do with your newly found
free time? (although it didn't last long!)
Silvia
Stroescu: I went back home, I live in Bucharest,
the team was in Bucharest, too.I was very nervous, cleaning
the house, eating, trying to think about anything else but
not to gymnastics.
Q: when you start thinking (seriously, because girls at Deva
usually speak about this every few weeks during hard times)about
retire, by the way?
Silvia
Stroescu: Back in 2002 I was sure I have to
retire after Athens Olympics, anyway. (webmaster-due to her
back problems).
R.G: Because you was afraid of your back problems and another
situation Marinescu-alike?
Silvia
Stroescu: yes, I was afraid of that.
Q: at least, you was enough lucky to have in time all the
RMN and x-ray scans made in time and have the time-off (doctors
required) respected, unlike Marinescu (unfortunately).I have
that new book and moved on my desk from one place to another,
than to the "need-to-read" corner of my library. I know the
(real) whole story, just read some paragraphs from the book
and made me feel (again) bad about gym. Did you know that
book?
Silvia
Stroescu: Yes, I know it.
Q: What do you recommend to me, to read it, will it make me
feel bad again about that sad story?
Silvia
Stroescu: Yes, it will; better don't read,
it now if you already have had those bad feelings, if you
still want to enjoy gymnastics...
Q: Well, that book review have to be done one day and believe
me, I am not to anxious to do it.
Victorsasleep: has your relationship with the girls
on the team changed because you left Deva? were they accepting
of you when you went to Athens with them?
Silvia
Stroescu: With the girls, no.
Q: ...this mean, with the coaches it has changed, maybe?...
Silvia
Stroescu: Maybe was just my impression that
they were upset.I have left the team-but come back anyway
when they asked me to do, anyway.I still speak with girls
from time to time.
Q: You said before that your best friend back at team was
Catalina Ponor? What about the other girls?
Silvia
Stroescu: Catalina was my best friend back
then, also Dana (Sofronie) was a good friend for me.Not so
close with other girls.
Deirdre, Galway, Ireland: The leotard you wore during
the team event was one of the nicest I have seen in a long
time, do you all have input or a choice of what design or
leotard you will wear in competitions?
Silvia
Stroescu: They bring us few models and Mrs.
Maria Bitang (the secondary coach) choose between different
models. The designer is Christian Moureau.
Sarmis, Bucharest: Which period do you think it is
the most important for the performance of a gymnast (the first
years? the years in Deva? the period before a major competition?
Silvia
Stroescu: The years in Deva, definitely; first
years in your local Club you don't really think about high
performances, just hope one day will be selected. When you
came to Deva at National team, you start thinking that it
really became serious and work harder.
Sarmis, Bucharest:The sports psychology is sometimes considered
a key issue for consistency; do you agree with that?; would
you like to specialize in the future in this field?
Silvia
Stroescu: Yes, this is what I'm doing now.
Sarmis, Bucharest:Why are the uneven bars so weak for
the Romanians compared with the beam, vault or floor?
Silvia
Stroescu: we can't say that any more, there
are some major steps into improving this point. Back at last
W.C., our scores were very low at this apparatus, comparing
with the ones we have had in Athens.There is still room for
future improvement, of course.
Romanian Gymnastics News Archive.
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