Gymnastics is the type of sport where you can't take something that gives you more energy. Something may be great for the vault, but then you have the bars after it and you have to be more sedate for that.
Only recently have I been introduced to the gym and heavy weightlifting and things like that. Before that, when I grew up, I just did a lot of gymnastics and dance. I had more of an athletic background, but nothing where I was in the gym or using any kind of weights.
Every year I just kept going back to gymnastics, but I didn't start out training 10 hours a day. When I turned 10 or 11, I got more serious and I focused a lot on making it to the elite level, and from there I just kept going.
Gymnastics was my calling. I think it chose me in a lot of ways.
What I've always loved about gymnastics and one of the many reasons I love watching it now is the combination of skill and freedom it has - the discipline and expression - letting you dance.
I started from zero and went back to the basics in gymnastics.
It hurts my head, but it's fine because it's something I do every day. You can't avoid the gymnastics questions.
In Romania, of course, gymnastics is among the most popular sports, and my parents had a dream of escaping the Ceausescu regime and giving their child a better life. So they came to the United States and put me in gymnastics.
Gymnastics should be popular everywhere; you just need the right person to start the right programme.
What's endlessly complicated in thinking about women's gymnastics is the way that vulnerability and power are threaded through the sport.
I loved gymnastics, and my gymnastics teacher said ballet was essential to help my dance routines in competitions. I only really went because my friends were going as well. It wasn't this kind of hidden love. Then, slowly, my friends stopped going and I thought, 'I like this. I am going to stay.'
I am learning aerobics and gymnastics, so I would love to do an action film.
I don't see myself coaching gymnastics. I see myself involved in the sport in the future but involved in other things as well.
When I look back, I am happy that my mum took me to the gymnastics club. I didn't join gymnastics to become a famous athlete or celebrity; it just happened - I did more than I expected, of course.
I don't like messing up. I think that's just a part of my personality. I don't like to mess up or do anything wrong. When I'm in gymnastics, I like to see my hit percent as high as possible.
Gymnastics, for me, gave me a lot of self-pride: that drive to want to be great at something for myself. But it also gave me a sense of appreciation toward God. Now that I'm getting older, I really appreciate the talents God gave me. Not just physically, but mentally and emotionally.
Discipline is the quality that carries over from gymnastics to acting.
I loved gymnastics. I was eager to compete. I was hungry to go out there and be the best in the world, and I had that determination.
My entire adolescence was geared toward one thing: gymnastics.
I love my height because when I'm doing gymnastics, it really benefits the sport - and also, I think being short is kind of cute.
As I grew up, I started practising gymnastics. I love dancing as well. So that keeps me fit.
If I thought of gymnastics as a job, it would put too much stress on me.
I think gymnastics was associated with the 10. I thought that belonged to the sport, and somehow we gave it way.
It is fine to be all focused on gymnastics if that is what you want to do, but once you are finished with gymnastics, what are you going to do?
When I was 3 my parents put me in gymnastics because I was a bundle of energy and they just didn't know what to do with me! They put me in a Tots class and I just fell in love with it.
My first experience with gymnastics was when I was in daycare. We took a field trip to a gym, and I was hooked.
Romania doesn't have a big tradition of gymnastics as a fun activity. We were a little behind in this aspect.
There is always tension in women's gymnastics between athleticism, grace, performance, and eros.