Little Girls Dream Big

When I was eleven-years-old, I was in fifth grade, and my boobs were growing at what I deemed an alarming rate. I was moving from reading the Baby-Sitters Club to Goosebumps, Michael Crichton, and sneaking my mom’s trashy romance novels. I rode my bike to school, and my favorite game at recess was kickball. I liked it when my mom made tacos for dinner, and every Saturday morning, my dad took me and my siblings to our grandparents’ house for piano lessons. I had the bounciest trampoline in the world, and I pretended to be an Olympian as I flew through the routines I created. I attended tap, jazz, ballet, acrobatics, and gymnastics classes obsessively, fought with my two brothers, and looked forward to Friday night TV-TGIF. I still played with dolls, but I also thought about boys, and I escaped into books as often as possible.

When I was eleven-years-old, I was a normal kid. What were you doing when you were eleven-years-old? What was your dream? What were you afraid of?

I was eleven-years-old in 1992-1993. So was Adriana Giurca.

Adriana Giurca

Adriana Giurca had bigger dreams than I did, and more pressure as well. Adriana was a Romanian gymnast training at the famed Dinamo Club in Bucharest. She had talent, but in one moment of anger, her promise and her life were brutally ended.

Florin Gheorghe was her coach. He was in a bad mood the day Adriana died. He asked her to complete a dismount from the beam that had always been problematic for her. She miscued. And instead of responding with encouragement or even a dressing down, Gheorghe began slapping and violently kicking the girl. Another coach tried to calm him, but he demanded she mind her own business. Then Gheorghe grabbed Adriana’s head and banged it five or six times against the balance beam.

Bravely, Adriana tried to move to the floor exercise. She was asked to complete a difficult routine, but injured and fearful, she fell. She was punched and kicked by a grown man, and when she screamed, she was told not to cry and to shut up. She fell to the floor.

She never got up.

Adriana was taken to the hospital, where she fell into a coma and later died. Gheorghe told the doctors she fell off the uneven bars, but they knew that could not be true, not given the extent of her injuries. The truth came out eventually. It almost always does.

Romanian officials condemned Gheorghe’s actions and stated that violent and abusive behavior was not common in their gymnastics clubs. However, Adriana would often come home bruised, and though she tried to cover, her parents did not believe that her injuries were caused by training, and they complained to the school, demanding that she be transferred to another coach. That was scheduled to happen two weeks after she died. After Adriana’s death, other gymnasts came forward and testified that they were often subjected to corporal punishment as part of their training.

Adriana (far left) with Coach Gheorghe (back)

Adriana was beaten to death in November 1993, and on January 31, 1995, her coach was convicted of manslaughter and sentenced to eight years in jail and ordered to pay restitution to the gymnast’s family, the equivalent of $5,600, but what price could be adequate to indemnify parents after the death of a child? Gheorghe only spent three and a half years in jail before he was released for good behavior.

I was inspired to write “Little Girls Dream Big” during the 2008 Beijing Olympics. I was a gymnast myself as a child and a teenager- not a very good one, but I’ve always loved the sport nonetheless. I didn't know exactly what the focus of the book would be, just that I wanted to write a good gymnastics fiction novel. In my research, I came across Adriana’s story, and it sunk its teeth into me and wouldn't let go. This was a story that went largely unreported in America, so there is not a ton of information to be found, but what I did uncover was shocking and heartbreaking. I wondered if a murder like this had happened before. Will it happen again?

“Little Girls Dream Big” is inspired by Adriana’s story. It is NOT a true recounting of her tale, not by a long shot, nor is it meant to be semi-biographical. It is simply an homage, and since Adriana’s story is so obscure and unknown even in the large majority of the gymnastics community, I wanted to let readers know that this is not a far-fetched work of fiction. Something dreadfully similar not only could happen, but did happen. When you read this book and feel pain and horror over the death of Ileana Dalca, I hope you will take a moment to remember Adriana.

Why bring this up after so much time? Why pick the scabs on such old wounds? Personally, I do not think there should be a statute of limitations on mourning the death of a child, but more than that, America is a culture obsessed with perfection and accomplishment. Our young athletes are not only encouraged but obligated to train themselves as adults do, pushing themselves to the very limits physically and mentally, in the pursuit of greatness. There’s nothing wrong with reaching for a goal and wanting to be the best. I just would like for everyone to take a pause, think about Adriana, and ask yourself how far is too far? We need to ask ourselves if we are sacrificing our young athletes on the altar of achievement. They’re just kids, after all.

What were you doing when you were eleven-years-old? Some of you might be eleven now. I was riding my bike around the neighborhood, swimming over the summer and sledding over the winter, bickering with my brothers, trying to get good grades, and doing my best to make friends. I wasn't worried that my softball coach was going to hit me with a baseball bat because I struck out or living in fear that my jazz teacher would toss me off the balcony if I missed my mark. Adriana Giurca probably wasn’t so different from me, and she shouldn’t have paid a price so high. Just one death like this is one too many. Go online and read Adriana’s story, and as you move forward in your life, remember that child abuse in any form needs to be eradicated. It’s our responsibility as a society as a whole, and Adriana’s story reminds us of that.

-Nicole Angeleen

If you want to read “Little Girls Dream Big,” visit Nicole’s website at www.nicoleangeleen.com or search for “Nicole Angeleen” on Amazon or Smashwords.