|
Alexandra
Marinescu's secrets book for sale now
Hello!
I want to know where I can find the book "Alexandra Marinescu's
secrets" or something.
Also, if you read it, what is your opinion on it?
Katy, USA
 [Jan
28] "The
Secrets of a Gymnast" - the English edition- on Sale!
 "The
Secrets of a Gymnast" (the English edition) by Andrei
Nourescu, is on sale now at CafePress
(click to see).
"The
secrets of a Gymnast" (the Romanian language edition)
was voted "The Book of The Year" by the Romanian
Sport Press Association (2003).
read
the book review, excerpt and chapter list, click here
Book
of the Year in 2006 -see our Awards
"The
secrets of the gymnast" was the best sold book last
year on ebay; I saw an auction which has ended at $67 ! Not
bad, for a book originally sold for $1.5 !
I would suggest to the author to have a full translation of
the book and use an online partner like www.cafepress.com
to sell directly the English version of the book (the paid
membership offer the options of making and sell your own books
or CD's ; an electronic book may be another good option).
As I said before, during the Silvia
Stroescu interview , I have the book, but didn't read
it (yet), only few pages. In fact, I bought a lot of copies,
for former gymnasts living abroad which asked our help to
get it (it wasn't available for online shopping until recently;
trying to get a photo of the cover I have discovered today
that it's now available worldwide).
Instead of my opinion on this book,
let's see some facts:
a) The Romanian
Sport Press Association has awarded the author, Andrei
Nourescu , with the special prize "Victor Banciulescu
for sport books"-he got 101 votes, the second journalist
got only 78 votes. (Details
here). I think you all agree with me that the (respected)
members of the professional organization of sport writers
in Romania knows better than anybody else to whom (author)
and what (book) they give their most important prize. It's
like the best professional guarantee from true specialists
that this book deserve a reading.
b) One of the most respected TV sport journalists in Romania,
Cristian
Topescu (he is now the director of Prosport) has his own
website
"dedicated to the young journalists which promote the
fair play as a life style".
The author of the book "The secrets of the gymnast"
have a special
page (very, very positive one) on this website dedicated
to fair-play. They also mention that many other journalist
took their eyes to other directions (meaning they didn't have
the guts to write even about the book, not to mention they
didn't bother or have the guts to write about those facts).
The book "The
secrets of the gymnast" by Andrei Nourescu was
written (in late stages), during the 2002 faking ages scandal;
looks like this event gave the author an encouragement to
go even deeper as he initially planned. Once the dam is broken,
a lot of water will go down...To protect himself and the gymnast
from a lawsuit (in a country which still struggle to get a
fair justice system, once controlled by the neo-communists
which dictates or influence the verdicts), the author has
decided to introduce the book like a fiction book, with names
slightly changed; this gave Belu an excuse to say, each time
asked by the press "the book is fiction, as the author
have indicated". You may consider this a small price
to pay to have the book published at all.
To my best knowledge, including direct reports from (many)
former gymnasts, all the basic facts from that book (physical
and mental abuses, children starvation instead of diets with
medical supervision, faking the ages of the gymnasts to gain
unfair advantages over competitors-and by this causing serious
medical problems for the gymnasts) are true. This was, in
fact, the "Secret Basic Recipe" of those who pretend
to be "The Gods" of Romanian Gymnastics. After reading
few pages from this book, you may think like me: My God, how
this could happen?
We have to know the past, to prevent such things happening
in the future. My (step) grandfather was a WW2 survivor from
Auschwitz. His first hand experiences & stories which
he told to me, made me read tons of books about the subject.
"Doctor" Mengele made some medical "tests"
at Auschwitz, including leaving prisoners without any water
for days (to test on prisoners how long a Nazi pilot dropped
in the sea would survive with no drinking water). Very bad
what he did, but he used at least the excuse that they could
save lives if they get more knowledge on this subject.
When I first read about a gymnast (Marinescu) being locked
by Octavian Belu for 3 days, in a room with no water (to "prevent"
her getting weight), my first thought went directly to the
..."Dr."Mengele. He did the same.
He (Mengele) could do this also because nobody have had the
guts to reveal the truth on time and stop him. Because the
Nazi regime had used a huge Propaganda machine to stop the
real inside info and spread only the lies they want.
The former Romanian neo-communist regime of Iliescu &comp
was the ONLY one in the World, after WW2, to have a "Ministry
of Information" -the same propaganda machine-alike as
Hitler has used to get & keep his power. Of course, kiss-in-the
ass journalists were used by both regimes, Nazi and neo-communists;
dictators (in politics or in sport) also likes them, they
make (their asses) feel soo good!
Using 60 millions Euros (like $ 70 millions dollars) from
State funds to pay "advertising" on TV and newspapers,
former Romanian neo-communists regime had managed to control
almost all the press (the dis-obenient ones didn't get funds
to survive in the poorest European country). This is why Romania
was left behind by all former communist countries in Eastern
Europe.
Some Romanian Gymnastics fans opinions:
I loved watching Alexandra Marinescu. I remember that Belu
didn't seem to like her very much, and he felt she was "lazy."
She had trained at a different gym than the others on the
Romanin team, and had a different style. She was very talented
and had beautiful style. She replaced Lavinia Milosovici on
beam at EF at the 96 Olympic games. She did not do well and
had two falls. After the routine she walked over to Belu,
and I remember he scowled at her then turned his back and
walked away. She looked so tiny and helpless at that moment.
I felt Belu could have been a bit more compassionate with
such a young athlete. I heard she wrote a book about her life
as a gymnast, and she had some unflattering statments about
the Romanian system. She may have the first Romanian gymnasts
to speak out against Belu.....
Jesonni
-----------------
Well, I admire her, it certainly takes a lot of gutts to
speak up and say what she said about Belu's coaching.
mexgymgrly
------------------
I (have) read a little portion they have of Alexandra's
book and it is not for the faint hearted. My own personal
assumptions were right. She was under age when she competed
at the OG and WC. But the level of abuse gave me upset stomach.
ottley
----------------------
It's so sad what goes on behind closed doors. You've got
to wonder how could they do such a thing! Belu sounds like
a monster and Bitang sounds like a half decent person in that
article.
SuperFantasticGymnasticsChick
--------------
There have been several reports of abuse from former Romanian
gymnasts. I'm not saying that it never happened, but reports
from a gymnast who was obviously out of favour with Belu (probably
because she trained at a different gym) would likely be worse
than those from gymnasts who were his favourites. Maybe that's
because he treated his favourites better, or it could just
be that those gymnasts who weren't given the chances are more
bitter about their experiences. I think that Belu made a mistake
with Alexandra. She really stood out, and would have been
great for the Romanian team.
Philippa
-----------------------
I had trouble sleeping last night after reading a portion
of Alexandra
Marenescu's book, Alexandra's Secrets. I am devastated
and my heart is broken. I believe Marenesu is disappointed
that she did not live up to the hype surrounding her. Similar
to Zmeskal at the 92 OG. But this account is not about belly
aching. Warning! This is not for the faint hearted.
ottley
---------------
I heard things were very bad under Karolyi but I had no
idea that Belu was supposed to be as bad. What's astonishing
is that these allegations of abuse happened after the
fall of Communism.
WhatKatyDidNext
Romanian Gymnastics News Archive.
|
