In 1987, she dominated the European Championships held in Moscow, being medalled on every single event: 4 gold (individual AA, bars, beam and floor) and silver on vault.

At the 1984 Junior Friendship Tournament (Druzhba), she won gold medals in the all-around and uneven bars over a strong field that included future Olympic and World medalists Svetlana Boguinskaya, Aurelia Dobre, and Dagmar Kersten.

[5][6] In 1985, the Romanian Gymnastics Federation changed Silivaș's birth year from 1972 to 1970 to make her age eligible for the World Championships in Montreal.

She stated that she was never consulted about the matter: officials simply gave her a new passport, called her attention to the birth date, and informed her that she was now 15.

[7][8][9][10] Although she was only 13 at the 1985 Worlds, Silivaș scored a perfect 10 en route to capturing the balance beam title, defeating the reigning Olympic champion, her teammate Ecaterina Szabo, in the process.

She finished behind reigning co-world champion Yelena Shushunova in the individual all-around at the 1986 World Cup and quickly established herself as the leader of the Romanian gymnastics team.

[9][11] Silivaș's greatest triumph took place at the 1987 European Gymnastics Championships in Moscow, where she won the individual all-around, uneven bars, balance beam and floor exercise titles in addition to taking a silver medal on the vault.

She was a favorite for the all-around title, but—hampered by low scores carried over from the team optionals, where she had fallen on the balance beam on a split leap, as well as a shaky uneven bars routine in the all-around—she still managed to win the bronze medal behind teammate Aurelia Dobre and Shushunova, especially due to her strong scores, including two perfect 10.00s, during the team compulsory round.

Silivaș was visibly upset after Shushunova's scores were posted and at the medal ceremony; according to a report in International Gymnast, she said, "After my last vault, I thought maybe I should be the champion.

"[14] In spite of the controversy, no score protests were ever filed by Silivaș, her coaches, or her federation, and no disciplinary measures were taken against any of the judges.

Also, in spite of her vault score, Silivaș's all-around total was higher than that of Shushunova: if the competition had been held under the New Life rule, she would have won.

[16] Despite a serious knee injury in 1989, Silivaș successfully defended her floor exercise title at the European Championships and won three additional medals.

[18] Silivaș works full-time as a gymnastics coach at Jump Start Gymnasium in Sandy Springs, Georgia.