Young gymnast suffers career ending injury during Junior Nationals

The little girl looks around to the capacity crowd thinking everything will burst and people will flood the arena, suffocating her. She’s had this weird sensation ever since the start of the competition, the National junior championships which are held in Ploiesti this year. She takes a deep breath and throws herself on the uneven bars. She can’t feel her broken finger anymore, but her back hurts more than ever. She finishes her routine and falls to her knees, as she hears what she later described as a thud coming from her back. She’s convinced her back broke in two. Curled on the floor, 12-year old Ioana Petcu doesn’t know she just said goodbye to competitive gymnastics. “At that time, I simply didn’t want to compete anymore. Clementa, one of my coaches, shook me and told me I’m a dimwit who won’t get any more food unless I keep competing,” recalls Ioana. After being pushed onto the beam by her coach, she fell off and got back up only to fall again, this time to her knees. Despite getting the highest score on floor, competition was over for her. Her mother found her in the hotel room later on that night. “Curled up in bed, she was yelling like an animal due to the pain. I immediately took her over to the emergency room of the local hospital”, says Liliana Pricop, the gymnast’s mother.

Once home, Ioana was in so much pain, she was unable to leave her bed. Pediatrician Andrei Radu from the Constanta County Hospital said that “we couldn’t do anything for her. We noticed she had a few lesions to two-three of her vertebrae discs and we sent her to Bucharest.” The girl would have pain spasms every 20 minutes and they could only be controlled by strong sedatives. “She could only receive IV feeding; she developed an allergic rash from the antibiotics and she was only washed once a day, despite being unable to go to the restroom,” said her mother.

The story that ended with endless hospital stays started 8 years ago, when Ioana was just 4 years old. She was admitted to the competitive group at CSS Farul Constanta, to be coached by Nicoleta Profir and Clementa Garabet. “She was a good kid, showing potential, especially after being selected to a national elite group established by the Romanian Federation. She was a promising gymnast and we were preparing her for the 2004 Olympics,” says Clementa Garabet. October 27, 2000 was the first time Ioana complained of serious back pains. “We took X-rays, and Dr. Dimitriu who runs a private practice, said she shouldn’t be allowed to exert any physical effort for one month. I went to Clementa and told her it was her decision to make,” claims the girl’s mother. Despite the fact that Ioana had a broken finger on one of her hands, and ignoring doctors’ advice, the coaches decided to send Ioana to the upcoming Nationals, after getting the okay from another doctor, Petre Ionascu. “I examined her one week before the competition. It was a routine physical, not one like the detailed exam she had at the Sport Medicine Institute in Bucharest. I didn’t notice anything amiss,” says Ionascu.
Training sessions intensified and on October 29th, the girl complained about back pains again and refused to practice. “Miss Profir told me I’m lazy; got me dressed and threw me out of the gym. In any case, I had to be back the next day. Competition was next,” explained Ioana.

ProSport’s interest in “the Petcu case”, led to an atmosphere of unrest in the gymnastics community from Constanta. Reporters were brought to a press conference that turned into a make-shit courtroom, with County Sports and Youth director Elena Francu, director of the Constanta gymnastics program, Matei Stănei and Simona Amânar's former coach, Nicolae Forminte acting as judges. Liliana Pricop was also invited. Sparks flew and screaming offenses were the order of the day. Clementa Garabet and Ioana’s mother narrowly missed getting into a cat fight. Calmed down by Formite, who pulled her back into her seat at key moments, Clementa Garabet –who is married to the rugby federation general secretary and former president of CSS Farul- yelled every time she got a chance. So did Liliana Pricop “You destroyed my daughter! I don’t have your money, but I’ll take this as far as I can!”

Holding her head in her hands, Elena Francu broke the chain of threats. “There were two mistakes made: that the parents were allowed to become too involved in the training process, and that after the girl was injured, the club didn’t do anything to help her. She was injured while competing and we should have returned her to her mother only after she was healthy again. This does not mean we should throw dirt on the Constanta gymnastics program.” Matei Stanei caught the idea on the fly and rushed to add “in any case, it’s unbearable pain, not a nice smile that leads to good results.” Nicolae Formite confirmed Ioana’s mother was too involved in her daughter’s practices, saying that if the parents of any gymnast he trained would have gotten that involved, he would have stopped training her.

Aftermath
Her face distorted by pain, Ioana tries to scratch underneath the cast that covers her from her neck to the her waist. Unable to do that she turns around and sadly looks away. “The doctors from Bucharest put her in a cast, after diagnosing her with vertebral osceodiscitis. She had to spend Christmas and New Year lying in bed. Only after taking the cast off, on January 20th will we know whether she needs to have surgery or not,” explains her mother. Wide-eyed, her daughter gives her a thoughtful look. “I’m not mad at anyone; I don’t hate anyone. I just never want to do gymnastics again,” she whispers. Little does she know coach Nicoleta Profir handed a memo to the club gymnastics director, asking to kick Ioana out of gymnastics for disciplinary reasons. With or without the memo, Ioana’s gymnastics career is over.

Liliana Pricop interview
PS: What do you feel the coaches did wrong?
LP: I raised my daughter all by myself. Ioana was my dream and they destroyed her. The doctors from Bucharest told me she’ll never be able to have children because her spine is too weak and it would not be able to handle the extra load. I told the coaches not to let her compete, even though at one point, I might have been too insistent. They claim to be professionals and it was their responsibility. Of course there’s also their violence.
PS: What violence?
LP: They beat my daughter at practice. I found bruises on her back quite a few times. Once, I even found slipper traces [from being hit with them].
PS: What will you do?
LP: For now, I want to heal my daughter. Then, I’ll make Clementa pay for everything, up to the last cent. I’ll take this to court. I already had several local lawyers who offered to represent me.

Clementa Garabet interview
PS: Why did you let Ioana Petcu compete?
CG: I gave in to her mother’s persistence, who was very ambitious. We already had an approval from a sports doctor and the girl was hitting her routines.
PS: Is it true you beat her?
CG: It’s best not bring forth the secrets of competitive success.
PS: Do you regret anything?
CG: Yes, that I accepted Ioana as a student. She was a gymnast with potential, but her mother would have liked to clap her hands and magically turn her into the second coming of Simona Amânar. She was mad because her daughter didn’t win the competition, took her out of the official hotel without letting us know, and exaggerated her injury.
PS: What do you think she’s after?
CG: To drive all of us crazy. She wants money, attention; I don’t know.

Dr. Sorin Exercian, form the neurosurgery Hospital in Bucharest is one of the most respected neurosurgeons in the country. He’s the one who handled the cases of two Brasov gymnasts, Andreea Chelaru and Bogdan Cretu, who were paralyzed from the neck down as a results of gymnastics injuries. “I cannot tell you anything about Ioana Petcu. She came here a few moths ago and I put her in a cast. I expect her to come back for a few tests and only then will I know exactly what I need to do. I’ll give my diagnosis to the parents and they are the ones who will decide whether to make it public or not,” concluded the doctor.

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