Just for those who don’t know, Romanian is a Romance language, a Latin language, as a result of the Roman invasion in 106 CE. So, I’ve always had a facility with other Romance languages, as well as the Germanic languages (German and English). My home pronunciation, however, has remained very Romanian; I think that was a strength during the negotiations.
That was a huge, irresistibly unconscious way of connecting. And then, from a practical standpoint, I could always understand everything they said amongst themselves.
But I think the first factor of knowing that they’re in good hands, of trusting that I’m there to help them, and that I will advocate and make things easy, was decisive. And later, at the Games, I lived with the delegation at the village, and the bonding continued.
Bill
Did they ever look into your own background in Romania? Did they check on you? Did they know a bit about who you were and about your parents or anything?
Agnes
Do you think that anyone could make it into the country without being thoroughly checked by the Securitate? Of course, they knew all about me.
Bill
Were they, therefore, at all suspicious of you?
Agnes
You know, there is a hierarchy of interests. Their number one interest, no doubt, was how to utilize my presence to get what they needed in order to come to the Games. And they were very grateful that there was somebody there to help them navigate this negotiation.
At a personal level, I never noticed and never heard anything that would put me back in a fear mode from the Olympic officials. Now, my main concern was not this group with whom I was negotiating. My main concern was about my departure. Will they let me out of the country? That’s the moment of fear.
