Cool article I found: The other pages: Tnd the cover of the magazine: I hope to see a lot of her on the show and that she doesn't have trouble fitting in with kids who maybe didnt grow up much like her. I think her story could inspire and take the Real World back to its roots.

I guess we will figure it out in time, but things like dropping out of college a few months from graduation to start a singing career and being played up as the youngest/first to do this that and the other make me think she may be a prima donna in not the good way. People like that can be inspirational for sure, but they can also be abrasive and arrogant with normal people as well. Just speculation/apprehension. Good find on the articles though, folks.

RW561015;279185 wrote:
When I saw her name, it seemed sort of familiar. Once I came into the thread and saw her picture and learned she was from Zimbabwe, I knew she was a gymnast.

Maybe the magazine/news made a mistake about her age, it is my experience that the media prints all sorts of incorrect info. It could be the federation tried to hide her real age, like the Chinese did with their 9-year-old gymnasts. I think the minimum age to compete was 12, but she was actually much younger.

FishHooks;279266 wrote:
I guess we will figure it out in time, but things like dropping out of college a few months from graduation to start a singing career and being played up as the youngest/first to do this that and the other make me think she may be a prima donna in not the good way. People like that can be inspirational for sure, but they can also be abrasive and arrogant with normal people as well. Just speculation/apprehension. Good find on the articles though, folks.

You should not speculate on things like that because some people may think it is true, when it may not be. People's actions speak for themselves, so lets see how she acts.

Chris S;279307 wrote:
Maybe the magazine/news made a mistake about her age, it is my experience that the media prints all sorts of incorrect info. It could be the federation tried to hide her real age, like the Chinese did with their 9-year-old gymnasts. I think the minimum age to compete was 12, but she was actually much younger.

I did consider the possibility of her age being falsified so she could compete earlier. I also considered her age possibly being falsified for her music career (it does happen in the entertainment industry sometimes). If she is 21, the story about her being inspired by U.S. gymnast Betty Okino (who is African - Ugandan - and Romanian) while watching the 1992 Olympics must be false, too. Or at least, embellished some - she could have seen tapes of the competition when she was older. Also, it has been said she didn't graduate college, yet there is also information out there stating she graduated from Stanford with a civil engineering degree (like in the article emmafalling posted). So that is confusing as well. Regardless of those two confusing factors, I may actually watch an episode or two of this season because of her. It would be neat to see someone like her on the show. Seems like at least one of the guys has an interesting background as well, being an engineer degree seeker/graduate (I skimmed like one or two of the other threads for the rest of the cast).

RW561015;279393 wrote:
I did consider the possibility of her age being falsified so she could compete earlier. I also considered her age possibly being falsified for her music career (it does happen in the entertainment industry sometimes). If she is 21, the story about her being inspired by U.S. gymnast Betty Okino (who is African - Ugandan - and Romanian) while watching the 1992 Olympics must be false, too. Or at least, embellished some - she could have seen tapes of the competition when she was older.

I actually know a gymnast (read: her mother) who falsified her age so should could compete earlier, so that's totally a possibility...but it's also dishonest. Her parents were the ones behind it, though, so you can't really fault the child. And I wouldn't be surprised if she watched tapes of Betty, as opposed to watching her compete live. I can def understand her fascination with her as she is absolutely beautiful, talented, and half African/White, just like Alexandra.

RW561015;279393 wrote:
Also, it has been said she didn't graduate college, yet there is also information out there stating she graduated from Stanford with a civil engineering degree (like in the article emmafalling posted). So that is confusing as well.

I think the writer of that article made a mistake. That's the only article I have read thus far that mentions her a "graduate" of Stanford. On MTV's website, it says she left "eight weeks shy of graduation" to pursue music and I'm pretty sure that's the most accurate information (does MTV conduct background checks?). If you read the article emmafalling posted, it does say she was called by some guy named "Krucial" while she was at Stanford and I'd be willing to bet she got that call "eight weeks shy of graduation." Would I have left Stanford eight weeks prior to graduation? Probably not. But I think for her it was fairly easy to leave since she was obviously younger than everyone else and self-described as someone who has never been a part of the "in" crowd. I wonder if she regrets it, or if it will at least be discussed in an episode.

RW561015;279393 wrote:
Regardless of those two confusing factors, I may actually watch an episode or two of this season because of her. It would be neat to see someone like her on the show. Seems like at least one of the guys has an interesting background as well, being an engineer degree seeker/graduate (I skimmed like one or two of the other threads for the rest of the cast).

She's the only person I find remotely interesting this season, so I'm def going to tune in to see her on the show. And I absolutely LOVE her voice (not sure if you've listened to her music, but it's really good, imo).

Wow I love you guys for posting these new finds. I know its still early but I already can tell Alexandra will be my favorite. I think that's so cool shes was once a gymnast.

GetReal;279439 wrote:
I actually know a gymnast (read: her mother) who falsified her age so should could compete earlier, so that's totally a possibility...but it's also dishonest. Her parents were the ones behind it, though, so you can't really fault the child. And I wouldn't be surprised if she watched tapes of Betty, as opposed to watching her compete live. I can def understand her fascination with her as she is absolutely beautiful, talented, and half African/White, just like Alexandra. I think the writer of that article made a mistake. That's the only article I have read thus far that mentions her a "graduate" of Stanford. On MTV's website, it says she left "eight weeks shy of graduation" to pursue music and I'm pretty sure that's the most accurate information (does MTV conduct background checks?). If you read the article emmafalling posted, it does say she was called by some guy named "Krucial" while she was at Stanford and I'd be willing to bet she got that call "eight weeks shy of graduation." Would I have left Stanford eight weeks prior to graduation? Probably not. But I think for her it was fairly easy to leave since she was obviously younger than everyone else and self-described as someone who has never been a part of the "in" crowd. I wonder if she regrets it, or if it will at least be discussed in an episode. She's the only person I find remotely interesting this season, so I'm def going to tune in to see her on the show. And I absolutely LOVE her voice (not sure if you've listened to her music, but it's really good, imo).

I am with you on this I thin she shouldn't have left so early as a fan of the show I think she should've waited for another season/graduated first but you know stuff happens.

Nostalgic;279440 wrote:
Wow I love you guys for posting these new finds. I know its still early but I already can tell Alexandra will be my favorite. I think that's so cool shes was once a gymnast.

I agree! Aside from that she also seems fascinating and well rounded! I haven't been too excited for the season until I read her bio!!!! I'm wondering what people think of her Challenge potential? Could she do well? Gymnasts are very impressive athletes, it's probably been a while since she has done it but still.

She seems fairly interesting and accomplished from the information gathered, but I'm not sure I believe she's as young as she claims. There are a few articles linked to her Wikipedia page, and she is referred to as being fifteen in 2002 and sixteen in 2003. There are photos in two of the articles, and she was either an incredibly old-looking eleven-year-old or she is lying about her age. Maybe I'm just being too skeptical for no reason. It's not that big of a deal, but it is curious.

Chris S;279309 wrote:
You should not speculate on things like that because some people may think it is true, when it may not be. People's actions speak for themselves, so lets see how she acts.

Raising a question isn't begging an answer. As for her age, it may just be a variation based on her birthday. I have certainly known females who for various reasons including genetics and style/make-up, looked way older than they were.

FishHooks;279594 wrote:
As for her age, it may just be a variation based on her birthday. I have certainly known females who for various reasons including genetics and style/make-up, looked way older than they were.

I agree with this assessment. I seriously doubt they would cast her after/if she lied about her age. Now unless they intentionally decided to cast older peope.

Zereaux;279591 wrote:
She seems fairly interesting and accomplished from the information gathered, but I'm not sure I believe she's as young as she claims. There are a few articles linked to her Wikipedia page, and she is referred to as being fifteen in 2002 and sixteen in 2003. There are photos in two of the articles, and she was either an incredibly old-looking eleven-year-old or she is lying about her age. Maybe I'm just being too skeptical for no reason. It's not that big of a deal, but it is curious.

Its not only you, I may sound hypocritical posting this but I figured her age was her age until this skepticism came up over the past few weeks. Not to mention if she was really 15 in 2002 and so on she'd be around my age.

Used to think age shouldn't matter until I saw how pathetic the Jersey Shore crowd acts for their age. as for this girl, articles may have been written before her birthday or printed months after they were written, etc. I don't know how birth certificates work where she is from, but if there is deception, I suspect it is due to her parents not her.

My public apology to Alexandra: I have been resisting posting this for a while - out of shame - but have been losing sleep lately thinking about it. I don't know where else to do this and am hoping that Alexandra or somebody who knows Alexandra reads this forum. If any of you know how to privately reach her, I would much appreciate it. For the past few weeks, I have been posting articles/information I've found online about Alexandra. I clearly think very highly of her...Unfortunately, I haven't always, and am very ashamed by some of the things I've done. I actually grew up with Alexandra - I was one of her teammates - and part of the group that made life very difficult for her as a child. Zimbabwe was a very racist place when I lived there (still is!), and many kids of my generation learned racist beliefs/behaviors from the generations before them. Growing up, my parents always told me that Black Zimbabweans were less intelligent/capable/worthy than White Zimbabweans. I never questioned them - they were my parents - and I was like a sponge when it came to absorbing racist beliefs and behaviors from them. Unfortunately, the person who was on the receiving end of a lot that was Alexandra. She was the only black person at the gym, and many of the other kids and I took our own and our parents' racist anger out on her. We repeated the things our parents said to us to her, and said many horrible things of our own. Almost every day during our breaks, we would chase her behind the gym and hit her until she bled or it was time to go back inside. She never hit us back...just prayed while we hit her. We would spit on her as she ran towards the vault, and yell mean things to distract her on the beam. Once, during an away meet, we told her scary stories right before bed so that she wouldn't be able to sleep and would be tired the day of competition. She was the youngest and very afraid of the dark. There was nothing she or the coaches could do about us, because not only did our parents encourage it, but they were the ones who supported the gym financially. At the same time, they didn't want to kick Alexandra out of the gym because she was our best competitor. What amazed me was that she kept coming back, and beat us often in competition despite the horrible things we did to break her down. When asked about a bruise we gave her, I once overheard her telling her mother she just fell off the beam. She didn't want her mother to take her out of gymnastics, and even as a kid she knew how important it was to persevere and represent for her people. She was the first female of color to compete on the Zimbabwean artistic gymnastics team. It wasn't until after she competed at the All Africa Games (like the Olympics for Africa) that many doors were opened to other Zimbabwean gymnasts of color. I am very ashamed of myself, my teammates, and my parents. My parents never came around, but I eventually moved out of Zimbabwe and formed my own non-racist beliefs. Today, I look at my newborn (she is biracial!), and pray that there are no kids out there who will hurt her the way I hurt Alexandra. I have followed her career for years now, and am very proud of everything she has accomplished in spite of the hardships she faced. I am glad that the things my teammates and I did didn't stop her. Still, I need to apologize. I am so very sorry for everything I did to Alexandra, and am haunted by it to this day. I expect you all to have plenty of negative things to say to me, and can't say I don't deserve it. And for those of you wondering, Alexandra should be 21 or 22 now. She was actually nine or ten when she joined the Zimbabwean team, but the coaches said she was 12 so that she could meet the minimum age requirement. Although she was young, she was one of the best gymnasts on the team, and they didn't want to go to any major competition without her. After the All African Games and all of the publicity surrounding them (and the good that came from her competing: people of color finally being allowed into all-white gyms), I doubt she went back to saying she was ten, as her awards would have been revoked and the she/the team/the country would have gotten into a lot of trouble for falsifying her information. If anybody who reads this forum knows Alexandra, could you please pass this on? I have been losing sleep over this lately, and it would mean the world to me if she could know how sorry I am.

emmafalling;281284 wrote:
She was the only black person at the gym, and many of the other kids and I took our own and our parents' racist anger out on her. We repeated the things our parents said to us to her, and said many horrible things of our own. Almost every day during our breaks, we would chase her behind the gym and hit her until she bled or it was time to go back inside. She never hit us back...just prayed while we hit her. We would spit on her as she ran towards the vault, and yell mean things to distract her on the beam. Once, during an away meet, we told her scary stories right before bed so that she wouldn't be able to sleep and would be tired the day of competition. She was the youngest and very afraid of the dark. There was nothing she or the coaches could do about us, because not only did our parents encourage it, but they were the ones who supported the gym financially. At the same time, they didn't want to kick Alexandra out of the gym because she was our best competitor. What amazed me was that she kept coming back, and beat us often in competition despite the horrible things we did to break her down. When asked about a bruise we gave her, I once overheard her telling her mother she just fell off the beam.

aw, that is actually very sad. I'm reading it again and I want to cry for her :( It is incredible to see that she's remained a good and positive person, no matter how much hate and ignorance she received growing up simply for being herself. And I think it's good that not only have you realized how wrong it was and that it's been haunting you, but that you felt you needed to post this out there to everyone in hopes that Alexandra might read it. That right there shows that you do regret it, and I am SO sure that if/when Alexandra reads this, she will forgive you. She seems like the better person, imo.

emmafalling;281284 wrote:
My public apology to Alexandra:

And Alexandra got this message and was moved by it as she posted on twitter. As a biracial girl myself, I was very moved by it as well. It's wonderful that you would send this message after so many years. I get such a good spirit from Alexandra. A great vibe. And I'm not surprised to read that she would sit and pray while being beaten and picked on. What an incredible spirit that girl has.

emmafalling;281284 wrote:
If anybody who reads this forum knows Alexandra, could you please pass this on? I have been losing sleep over this lately, and it would mean the world to me if she could know how sorry I am.

Looks like you got you wish. She just tweeted that she read it, and started crying. Frank retweeted.

I don't see tweets from either of them regarding reading that post and being moved or crying over it. Care to post a screenshot of it? I only saw this:

I was gonna post it but got distracted and saw someone else beat me to it. I wonder why she deleted it.

yankeegurl93;281393 wrote:
. I was gonna post it but got distracted and saw someone else beat me to it. I wonder why she deleted it.

Thanks for the backup ( i just got a macbook and have no idea how to get a screenshot or anything like that.) When I first saw that she was moved by something, I thought it was going to be a song or something from Byron . I was actually surprised to see someone actually sent it to her.

Favorite so far <3 I think she would do good in a challenge.

If you go to this site http://www.youtube.com/officialandra , You can hear a lot of her other songs. She has songs w/ Kid Cudi, Lupe Fiasco and Drake. She goes by the name of Andra on youtube though. Alex-andra makes sense though! Her "cry me a river" song is pretty ******. She is very talented and is one of the most interesting dynamic people that they have ever put on the Real World, by far!

lvking05;281415 wrote:
If you go to this site http://www.youtube.com/officialandra , You can hear a lot of her other songs. She has songs w/ Kid Cudi, Lupe Fiasco and Drake. She goes by the name of Andra on youtube though. Alex-andra makes sense though! Her "cry me a river" song is pretty ******. She is very talented and is one of the most interesting dynamic people that they have ever put on the Real World, by far!

Yeah I established this a long time ago. If you look back in earlier pages, we talked about how she just sampled the verses from their songs. good music though

I absolutely love her - cannot remember any cast member from the recent seasons I adored that much, the last one probably being Danny Roberts.

OrangeStar;281472 wrote:
I absolutely love her - cannot remember any cast member from the recent seasons I adored that much, the last one probably being Danny Roberts.

I absolutely agree,she is so refreshing and Danny Roberts is one of the best males to be on this show.

After only two episodes, she is definitely one of my most favorite people from RW/Challenges ever. She has an incredible spirit about her!

emmafalling, I think it is a very positive thing that you apologized to Alexandra for your and your teammates' rather harsh and unfair treatment of her. It is better to apologize than to not say anything at all, even though it has been many years (and of course, now she's seen this and forgiven you!). I think it took a lot of guts for you to tell your story, knowing that it would show a negative side of your former self. I'm really glad you've learned and become a more enlightened person. And this situation gives me a greater deal of admiration for Alexandra. I don't think I would have been strong enough to go on, no matter how much I loved gymnastics. I still haven't watched an episode of this season yet, but I do remain curious about her. Thank you for clearing up the age situation as well.

not sure if you talked about this already, but it seems that Alexandra and Byron are no longer together. If you knew... great! If you want reasons to support it, google is your friend.

I cannot condone her deception about her age just to compete. While some might say that it just proved how good she was, it also undermines the very nature of competition. Rules exist for a reason.