for some people life outside the spotlight is death.

I hoped to win a medal and hoped it would be gold. I knew I was good but didn't know I would be the one to score something that had never been done before.

I have had a few turning points, the first day I entered a gymnastics school at age 6.

We are not coaching on a daily basis because we often travel with our charity and commercial interests.

I know how to smile, I know how to laugh, I know how to play. But I know how to do these things only after I have fulfilled my mission.

I ended up in the US for a month or so, before moving to Montreal with some Romanian friends.

Of course, I grew up in Communist Romania, but I am happy to say that now our country is democratic, and prospering, since the revolution in 1989.