Lavinia Milosovici interview

(photo from Romania Libera)

This is the translation of an interview with the title "Lavinia Milosovici, the tragedy of a great champion" published by Romania Libera on October 1st:

Lavinia, you have withdrawn from the public eye lately. You felt the need to isolate yourself?

I did not isolate myself from anyone. I am referring to friends, acquaintances, family. Let's say I do not want to appear in the press. I am not obliged to share my personal problems with anybody. Especially since I said some things and they were written or came out completely different.

What are you doing now? Did you think to start coaching again?

For now I am not doing anything special. Maybe I will be a coach again but so far I didn't think about doing anything in that direction.

Still, you loved being a coach...

Indeed, I loved working with children. I also coached at the national team in 2000- 2001 for about eight months. I thought then that I should leave others, more experienced do it. So I came to Timisoara and I started working with children. This lasted until 2004 when I gave birth and then I had those problems (her daughter was born prematurely, through c-section, having a weight of 1.1 Kilos. The baby had not developed enough and was born with neurological problems; Lavinia desperately fought to heal her, in 2007 taking her to China for a surgery).

If they offered a coaching position now, would you go back to the national team?

A while back I had some attempts of doing something, but I was mocked. I don't want to comment on this subject.

Did the 2002 scandal, with the pictures that were published in the Japanese magazines, affected your career as a coach?

I didn't have anything to do with elite gymnastics at that moment. The scandal affected me as a human being because I saw the way people reacted and I'm not referring to family and friends.

We could say that you are one of our more long-lasting gymnasts, considering that you retired at 21. How can you explain the fact that now our gymnasts retire a while before turning 20?

I would rather not comment on other's decisions because every person acts in her/ his best interest. Since I retired, many things have changed in gymnastics. First of all we were seniors at 14, while now they become seniors the year they turn 16 so they are fretted for two years in the junior's competitions. On the other hand now you can focus on one apparatus while we had to compete on four apparatuses first in order to make it to the finals and only then we could choose our favorite event where we could compete for the title. It seems to be easier now but I repeat, each person acts in their best interest.

Some say that gymnastics cripple the children, so the parents really stopped allowing their children to do this harmful sport. What do you think about such rumours?

I would say that gymnastics is a beautiful complex sport and we can find elements of gymnastics in other sports as well. It is indeed as difficult as any other sport such as football or tennis at the elite level because it involves the same sacrifices: lots of work, endless training camps, stress.

You are one of the gymnasts that had many problems with the spine, since you were competing. If you could turn back time, would you still choose gymnastics?

Indeed I was always in pain when I competed and I always had contractures. I usually had a bandage under the leotard. At 18 I found out that I had serious problems and although I shouldn't have been allowed to do gymnastics, I continued. I knew my routines very well and I wanted to go to the Olympics. Last year I found out that I actually had a fracture and I could have been paralysed. If I could turn back time, I would still do gymnastics but not if someone told me I could remain in a wheelchair. In the end, your health is more important than anything.

Do people still recognize you on the street?

Yes and this makes me happy. Very often, people stop me on the street to tell me that I look like someone they know - that being me.