COEUR d’ALENE — Watching muscle-bound girls twist and heave over parallel bars today, Daniela Silivas recalled her initiation into gymnastics in Deva, Romania.

She had been just six years old, when representatives of the national academy toured local schools, in search of children with flexibility, energy.

Silivas was among the girls plucked for training.

"I always had so much energy, I was doing cartwheels everywhere," said Silivas, her words lilting in the thick Romanian accent. 

That was the beginning of a youth framed by a rigorous training schedule. She lived in a dormitory, training 40 hours a week. 

It paid off, landing Silivas in the 1988 Olympics in Korea, where the 16-year-old nabbed three gold medals.

"I didn't look back at the sacrifices I made," said Silivas, who eventually moved to the states to coach, which she now does in Atlanta. "The other kids all had the same life as me. My friends were all doing the same thing. I didn't know what I was missing."

Dedication is a message Silivas intends to impress upon young competitors this weekend at The Coeur d’Alene Resort, where the 12th annual Great West Gym Fest gymnastics competition was well under way today.

Silivas is one of eight Olympians recruited to offer guidance to the roughly 1,000 compact competitors at this year's event, which wraps up on Sunday.

Sweating, resin-flecked girls were caught up in competition this afternoon. Girls were pumping their legs toward the vault, sprinting into back flips on the floor, undulating their limbs on the bar.

Silivas has found the fierce training level for Olympic gymnastics is the same in the U.S. as in Romania, she said.

"I like gymnastics here, because everybody gets a chance to learn. It doesn't matter if it's for one hour a day or eight," she said. "In Romania, there is no recreation gymnastics. If you do it, you do it to be the best in the world."

Her bottomline advice to budding gymnasts is to enjoy what they're toiling for, she added.

"There are a lot of hard days. If you love the sport, that's what keeps you going," she said.

Hannah Wolf of Coeur d’Alene is already well on that track.

Involved in gymnastics since she was 1 year old, and encouraged by a gymnastics-driven family, Wolf was scheduled for the level 10 competition  tonight.

Fighting nerves, Wolf said she just reminds herself to have fun when she steps on the mat.

"It's the challenge," the 15-year-old said of what appeals about her sport. "I like how it teaches you life characteristics and strengths you need to stay committed." 

Home schooled at her gym, Wolf trains between 4 and a half to seven hours a day, she said.

"The coaches are very focused on school as well as gymnastics," Wolf said, adding that she's aiming for a college scholarship and then a coaching career. "I couldn't do it without them."

Competitors will hob nob with the visiting Olympians at an ice cream social on Saturday.

Competitions will also continue on Saturday, with event finals that night. Boys will compete on Sunday morning in the Resort's Plaza Shops. 

Tickets for Great West Gym Fest are available at greatwestgymfest.com. Day passes for today and Sunday are $14 for adults, $9 for children. Saturday’s finals are sold out.

Organizer David Adlard said this year's event has been one of the biggest.

"It's a good to have this kind of economic impact," Adlard said.

Yet another star at the event was Linda Mulvihill, serving as the event's head judge after a career as an Olympic gymnast and then coach.

Mulvihill, who competed under her maiden name Metheny, had to convince her grandmother to fund her passion at first, she said. Her parents deemed gymnastics classes a waste of money.

Apparently not, since those classes carried her to the Olympic games in '64, '68 and '72.

"Not to get frustrated. There are a lot of ups and downs," Mulvihill said of her advice to the girls she was judging. "I had my best practices when I woke and thought, 'Ugh, I don't want to go to the gym today,' and made myself go. You keep trying, and you don't give up."