Back in Romania, always I was struggling to compete with Vladislav Rastorotsky, the great Russian coach of Lyudmila Turishcheva. He was a powerful coach, internationally. I took him like the major challenge of my life, and pretty soon I'm beating him and we are pushing each other so hard, so fierce. But out of the arena, we are friends.

Success depends on how much you are willing to sacrifice, how much you are willing to alter your everyday life for a particular goal.

The Olympics shows the community what gymnastics is all about.

No competition, no progress.

I am very familiar with Hungary, because I grew up in Romania, which borders it.

The crowd sometimes plays a tremendous role to give you wings and carry you to victory.

In gymnastics, smaller will always be better in many ways. The stress in the head, that will be the same for all. But the stress on the body and the concussions it must endure, that will always be easier for the little ones.