Free Time for Carmen Ionescu & Silvia Stroescu

The gym is equipped with balance beams and there’s a vaulting horse set aside. If you were to squint and ignore the old carpeting, you could almost believe you’re at the Olympic training center at Deva. The little girls jumping around in the middle of the gym ruin that effect. They’re just starting to tumble, at a level far below that of the national team members. “I look at them and I can almost see myself a few years ago,” confessed Carmen Ionescu. Going back to Steaua was almost like traveling back in time for Carmen and her teammates Silvia Stroescu and Loredana Boboc. "I was here for 6 years. Then, I made it to Deva. Now we’re back here…,” said Carmen.

Since they’ve returned home, the gymnasts have had time for things they couldn’t normally do while at Deva. “I started reading. It took me more than a month to finish a book when I was at Deva,” recalls Silvia Stroescu. "If we had a lot of competitions, it could even take me 3 months to get to the last page. I started the book Ion. It’s the first book written by Rebreanu (Romanian writer best know for his psychological novels about the effects of WW I on daily life) that I got my hands on,” she said. “I tried going for walks. I even went to a store, but I didn’t buy anything,” said Carmen Ionescu.

None of the them has gotten used to the idea of leaving Deva. “Sometimes when I’m at home watching TV, I get the impression I’m still on the national team. I still can’t believe this is real, even when I go into Steaua’s gym,” added Silvia. "I miss my teammates the most. I have a neighbor who is my age and I spend most of the day with her. It’s not the same, though. Back there, we were a family,” said Carmen. "It’s a shame. I did gymnastics for so long, only to compete at one European Junior Championship and one World Championship….”, she added

Just like Silvia, she is determined to wait for one month after the European Championships in Patras. She goes to the gym every day at 9 am. She’s the only one who trains properly. Stroescu and Boboc are still rehabbing. Silvia will only be allowed to work on stretching exercises for the next 3 months due to her back problems. While watching Carmen’s beam dismount Silvia adds quietly "I keep thinking. Is it worth it to go back to Deva? With all these scandals…On one hand, the coaches told me I have done nothing wrong, but on the other hand they stick me in the same category with those who are ‘destroying gymnastics’, as they said.”

Back to Articles Page