POPA Roxana

General
RETURN FROM INJURY
From the start of 2015 she missed around four years of competition in total, including the 2016 Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro, due to a series of injuries to and multiple operations on her right knee. She eventually returned in 2019 and went on to compete at the world championships in Stuttgart, Germany. "I would not have been able to totally retire from gymnastics. I did well psychologically to heal myself. For me, every day is a challenge facing fears, anguish, and the anxiety of my imperfect knee. But I still keep going. I know that there are elements that I cannot do as a precaution in order to keep the knee in place, but if I have to take that risk, I will do it without hesitation. I learnt a lot from the injuries. As an experience I can now say what is going on with my body. Now I understand what it's trying to tell me." (marca.com, 10 Sep 2019; ueg.org, 19 Dec 2016; Facebook profile, 31 Mar 2016; gymnovosti.com, 24 Jan 2019; gimnasialatina.com, 10 Feb 2019; Instagram profile, 22 Jan 2019; elperiodico.com, 11 Oct 2019; antena3.com, 24 Jan 2020)

DANCING
Alongside her gymnastics career she has been involved in dancing since she was age seven. She became interested in breakdancing through her older brother, and later got into hip hop and urban dancing. She has competed in national level competitions, and taught dance at a school in Madrid, Spain, while recovering from her knee injuries. She plans to stay involved in dancing once her gymnastics career is over. (marca.com, 10 Sep 2019; salsabachata.es, 28 Jan 2019; antena3.com, 24 Jan 2020; flogymnastics.com, 13 Nov 2019)

COACHING
She has coached gymnastics for young girls at her club, Los Cantos Alcorcon in Spain, after taking a course in coaching in 2018. (lavanguardia.com, 10 Sep 2019; marca.com, 10 Sep 2019; Instagram profile, 22 Jan 2019)

FROM ROMANIA TO SPAIN
Born in Romania, at age six she and her mother moved to Spain. She received Spanish citizenship in 2008. (madridiario.es, 16 Jun 2008)