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29 December 2008

Steliana talks about life without gymnastics

It's been a while since we heard about Steliana, who retired after the Olympics. People
wondered how she was doing in her new life without gymnastics. To Prosport, Stela talked
about her life, how she was going to spend her first Christmas with her family but also about
the operations that she is facing.

About life without gymnastics, Stela says that it's very different, she has more free time in the sense that she doesn't have a strict program and she has to learn how to manage time and your life on your own.

She's in the first year of University of Physical Education and Sport and she thinks that the courses are interesting, she tries to go to every course and the atmosphere is good. She also does gymnastics there but at a completely different level but it suits her.
The colleagues at University have welcomed her with open arms and she has learnt a lot from them. She goes out with them but Stela says it was strange at first as she didn't know how to behave or what to say but now it's ok.

Stela says that when she competed and was in the team, everybody is interested in you but after you retire, nobody seems to care. In the first few months after she retired, people rang
her, they were still interested in her but after that, absolutely nothing, people seem to forget about you.

Steliana retired due to health problems and unfortunately she is still in as much pain as when
she was doing gymnastics and it seems that she has also developed a problem in the joint of
her hand that is filled with fluid. Sometimes she can't even lift a jug with water.
At the moment she is waiting for a response of Mariana Bitang who has helped Stela an awful
lot as she has supported her and told Stela she will help her. The first operation will be on her hand, next year, and after that they will decide what to do with her back.

Stela misses gymnastics a lot, she would love to be there but she can't. She really misses the atmosphere there, everything really.
She watches competitions on tv and her heart breaks because she thinks that she could be
there too but even though she wants to be there so badly, she knows she can't continue, the pain is just too much.

She still talks to her coaches, she keeps in touch with them because she knows that they have helped her, without them she wouldn't have got anywhere. She respects them a lot and she is very grateful to them. That's why she finds it normal to let them know how she is doing.

The best thing that has happened to her is that she has been reunited with her family, that
she's close to the people she loves and making up for all the years that she was apart from
them.
Her apartment is ready now and she moved in on the 20th of December. Together with her mother, they have decorated and furnished it and she loves how it came out.
She does find it a little bit difficult living on her own but she likes it as there are responsibilities that she didn't have before. She loves absolutely everything that is happening to her now.

Stela has celebrated Christmas in her new apartment together with her family but she doesn't know what she is going to do for New Year yet.

Cerasela Patrascu, Gabriel Dragoi and Ana Porgras travelled to Milan to see a specialist. The
diagnoses are the same as the ones they got in Romania but they wanted advice on the treatment and rehabilitation. They want to avoid working with girls who aren't completely recovered as their injuries will worsen.

Patrascu, who's undergone 2 meniscus surgeries on her right knee, heard that she can't start training yet and has to wait for another 2 months because it isn't certain if the cartilage where she had the arthroscopy, will fully recover.

(click on thumnail for the larger version)
Ana Porgras is not even 15 years old yet (she'll be 15 on the 18th of December) but she made a name for herself during the European Championships in Clermont Ferrand this year where she won gold on beam with superiority.
She competed with a lot of pain, having a severe knee injury, a detached ligament, which kept her out of training. For Prosport Ana said: 'I grit my teeth and competed. I knew I was risking a lot but I felt that nobody could beat me.'
Ana started gymnastics at the age of 4. Guided by coaches Nina and Paul Galea, she joined the team in Onesti and after 10 months, she was selected for the junior team who train in Deva.
Ana: 'You need a lot of hard work and seriousness. I love beam, I am confident on this
apparatus and I support it well.'
Things haven't always been sunshine. Ana: 'There have been a lot of times when I wanted to retire. When I came to Deva, it was really difficult for me. I sat on the bench in front of the
gym, with my bags packed and I thought of going home. Steliana Nistor told me that if I have fought up until now, I shouldn't give up and should continue.'
Ana is struggling though as she's injured and can't compete on all 4 apparatus and has only
been able to do bars.
Unfortunately she will need an operation. For Prosport, Nicolae Forminte explains: 'Ana needs an operation on her left knee, where she has a detached ligament. At this time, the officials of the Federation are talking to her family about this operation. The family has the last word on
whether the operation will take place and in which city or country she will be operated on.'

Gabriela Dragoi is at the end of her rehab period and can start intensifying her training in a
couple of days.