At the age of 19, the gymnast puts an end to her career because of health problems
‘Steliana, do you miss gymnastics?’
‘No, I don’t!’
It is a harsh answer, given from the Bridge of Lies in Sibiu. The inhabitants of the city avoid telling lies when passing the iron construction, because they are afraid the bridge might collapse under the weight of lies. Steliana has come back to Sibiu for three weeks.
Steliana Nistor, a bronze medalist at the Olympic Games in Beijing, is the first to say ‘No’ to returning to gymnastics.
PAINS
“I have problems with my back, elbow, ankle, knees”, says Steliana, who is 19 years this month. Everything seems to be against the continuation of the fairy tale. ‘It’s not a problem coming out of my imagination. Physically I cannot continue anymore. When I jump, everything hurts, when I am on the balance beam I feel pain in my legs and spine, when I try parallel bars – back hurts, and when it comes to the floor everything hurts. There is no point in going on!”, Steliana added.
“If I haven’t taken exercise, I wouldn’t have even graduated from the secondary school!”
When she was 15, her career started giving signs of regress. After winning the European title in the individual competition for juniors in 2004, with a score that was exceeding that of seniors, a spinal injury and a knee operation followed. Then almost one year of interruption followed. What did this year mean to her? ‘It meant a great sorrow in my soul’. She was a girl who had just turned 15 years old. ‘I was smaller, and I let the whole control in the hands of my trainers. They did everything they wanted to. I lost a lot of time. I did not pay attention to the injury, and it got worse’ the former gymnast remembers.
‘I do not feel as if gymnastics stole my childhood”
Apart from worries in the sports
