Dominique Moceanu
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Dominique Helena Moceanu (, ; ; born September 30, 1981) is an American former
artistic gymnast Artistic gymnastics is a discipline of gymnastics in which athletes perform short routines on different types of apparatus. The sport is governed by the Fédération Internationale de Gymnastique (FIG), which assigns the '' Code of Points'' used ...
. She was a member of the gold medal-winning United States women's gymnastics team, the " Magnificent Seven", at the
1996 Summer Olympics The 1996 Summer Olympics (officially the Games of the XXVI Olympiad, also known as Atlanta 1996 and commonly referred to as the Centennial Olympic Games) were an international multi-sport event held from July 19 to August 4, 1996, in Atlanta, ...
in
Atlanta Atlanta ( ) is the List of capitals in the United States, capital and List of municipalities in Georgia (U.S. state), most populous city in the U.S. state of Georgia (U.S. state), Georgia. It is the county seat, seat of Fulton County, Georg ...
. She won two medals at the 1995 World Championships and the all-around title at the
1998 Goodwill Games The 1998 Goodwill Games was the fourth edition of the international sports competition the Goodwill Games, which were created by Ted Turner in reaction to the political troubles surrounding the Olympic Games of the 1980s. The competition was held ...
. Moceanu trained under
Marta Marta may refer to: People * Marta (given name), a feminine given name * Märta, a feminine given name * Marta (surname) * Marta (footballer) (born 1986), Brazilian professional footballer Places * Marta (river), an Italian river that flow ...
and Béla Károlyi, and later Luminița Miscenco and Mary Lee Tracy. She earned her first national team berth at age 10 and represented the United States in various international competitions at the junior level. She was the all-around silver medalist at the 1992 Junior Pan American Championships and the 1994 junior national all-around champion. In 1995, at the age of 13, she became the youngest gymnast to win the senior all-around title at the U.S. Championships. She was the youngest member of both the 1995 World Championships and the 1996 Olympic teams. Moceanu's last major success in gymnastics was at the
1998 Goodwill Games The 1998 Goodwill Games was the fourth edition of the international sports competition the Goodwill Games, which were created by Ted Turner in reaction to the political troubles surrounding the Olympic Games of the 1980s. The competition was held ...
, where she became the first American to win the all-around gold medal. Family problems, coaching changes, and injuries derailed her efforts to make the
2000 Olympics The 2000 Summer Olympics, officially the Games of the XXVII Olympiad, officially branded as Sydney 2000, and also known as the Games of the New Millennium, were an international multi-sport event held from 15 September to 1 October ...
in
Sydney Sydney is the capital city of the States and territories of Australia, state of New South Wales and the List of cities in Australia by population, most populous city in Australia. Located on Australia's east coast, the metropolis surrounds Syd ...
, and she retired from the sport in 2000. Since then, she has worked as a coach, studied business management, and written a memoir, ''Off Balance''.


Early life

Moceanu was born in the
Hollywood Hollywood usually refers to: * Hollywood, Los Angeles, a neighborhood in California * Hollywood, a metonym for the cinema of the United States Hollywood may also refer to: Places United States * Hollywood District (disambiguation) * Hollywood ...
neighborhood of
Los Angeles Los Angeles, often referred to by its initials L.A., is the List of municipalities in California, most populous city in the U.S. state of California, and the commercial, Financial District, Los Angeles, financial, and Culture of Los Angeles, ...
, California, on September 30, 1981, to
Romanian Americans Romanian Americans () are Americans who have Romanian ancestry. According to the 2023 American Community Survey, 425,738 Americans indicated Romanian as their first or second ancestry, however other sources provide higher estimates, which a ...
Dumitru Moceanu (1954–2008) and Camelia Moceanu (
née The birth name is the name of the person given upon their birth. The term may be applied to the surname, the given name or to the entire name. Where births are required to be officially registered, the entire name entered onto a births registe ...
Staicu; b. 1961). Both of her parents were gymnasts in
Romania Romania is a country located at the crossroads of Central Europe, Central, Eastern Europe, Eastern and Southeast Europe. It borders Ukraine to the north and east, Hungary to the west, Serbia to the southwest, Bulgaria to the south, Moldova to ...
. Both of her parents were ethnic
Aromanians The Aromanians () are an Ethnic groups in Europe, ethnic group native to the southern Balkans who speak Aromanian language, Aromanian, an Eastern Romance language. They traditionally live in central and southern Albania, south-western Bulgari ...
, and Dominique speaks the
Aromanian language The Aromanian language (, , , , , or , , ), also known as Vlach or Macedo-Romanian, is an Eastern Romance languages, Eastern Romance language, similar to Megleno-Romanian language, Megleno-Romanian, Istro-Romanian language, Istro-Romanian an ...
fluently. Her parents emigrated from Romania to the United States in 1980. She has two younger siblings, Jennifer Bricker (born 1987), who was born without legs and adopted shortly after birth by Gerald and Sharon Bricker; and Christina Moceanu Chapman (born 1989). She began training as a gymnast at the age of three in
Illinois Illinois ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern United States. It borders on Lake Michigan to its northeast, the Mississippi River to its west, and the Wabash River, Wabash and Ohio River, Ohio rivers to its ...
, and at the age of ten, the family relocated to
Houston, Texas Houston ( ) is the List of cities in Texas by population, most populous city in the U.S. state of Texas and in the Southern United States. Located in Southeast Texas near Galveston Bay and the Gulf of Mexico, it is the county seat, seat of ...
, in order for her to train with Béla Károlyi and Márta Károlyi.


Gymnastics career


Early career

Less than a year after beginning to train with the Károlyis, Moceanu finished fifth in the all-around at the 1992 U.S. Championships. She was then selected for the junior national team at 10 years old. She won five medals, four gold and one silver, at the 1992 Junior Pan American Games as the youngest competitor of the event. She finished fourth in the floor exercise final at the 1993 U.S. Olympic Festival after the crowd booed her score, leading the judges to increase it from 9.600 to 9.650. She became the junior national all-around champion in 1994. In 1995, Moceanu became the youngest gymnast ever to win the all-around title at the U.S. Championships at the age of 13. She was also the youngest member of the U.S. team at the 1995 World Championships, helping the team win the bronze medal. She finished fifth in the all-around and was the highest-placing American. She won a silver medal in the
balance beam The balance beam is a rectangular artistic gymnastics apparatus and an event performed using the apparatus. The apparatus and the event are sometimes simply called "beam". The English abbreviation for the event in gymnastics scoring is BB. The bal ...
final, tying with Ukraine's
Lilia Podkopayeva Lilia Oleksandrivna Podkopayeva (; born 15 August 1978) is a Ukrainian former artistic gymnast. She is the 1995 world all-around champion, and the 1996 Olympic all-around and floor exercise champion. Often thought of as a complete athlete, Pod ...
with a score of 9.837. Moceanu's national and international successes, combined with her bubbly attitude, earned her attention and a wide fan base both in and out of the gymnastics community in the lead up to the
1996 Summer Olympics The 1996 Summer Olympics (officially the Games of the XXVI Olympiad, also known as Atlanta 1996 and commonly referred to as the Centennial Olympic Games) were an international multi-sport event held from July 19 to August 4, 1996, in Atlanta, ...
. Before the Olympics, she was featured in '' Vanity Fair'', and she wrote an autobiography, ''Dominique Moceanu: An American Champion'', with Steve Woodward. The book reached number seven on ''The New York Times'' Best Seller list.


1996 Summer Olympics

Moceanu was expected to be a major medal contender at the
1996 Summer Olympics The 1996 Summer Olympics (officially the Games of the XXVI Olympiad, also known as Atlanta 1996 and commonly referred to as the Centennial Olympic Games) were an international multi-sport event held from July 19 to August 4, 1996, in Atlanta, ...
, held in
Atlanta, Georgia Atlanta ( ) is the List of capitals in the United States, capital and List of municipalities in Georgia (U.S. state), most populous city in the U.S. state of Georgia (U.S. state), Georgia. It is the county seat, seat of Fulton County, Georg ...
. However, after the 1996 U.S. Championships, where she placed third in the all-around, she was diagnosed with a
stress fracture A stress fracture is a fatigue-induced bone fracture caused by repeated stress over time. Instead of resulting from a single severe impact, stress fractures are the result of accumulated injury from repeated submaximal loading, such as running ...
in her right
tibia The tibia (; : tibiae or tibias), also known as the shinbone or shankbone, is the larger, stronger, and anterior (frontal) of the two Leg bones, bones in the leg below the knee in vertebrates (the other being the fibula, behind and to the outsi ...
. Her injury forced her to sit out the Olympic Trials, but she was petitioned onto the team on the strength of her U.S. Championship scores. At the Olympic Games, still struggling with her injury and sporting a heavily bandaged leg, Moceanu contributed to the team gold medal with performances good enough to qualify her for the event finals on the balance beam and floor exercise. However, she faltered in the last rotation of team optionals, falling on both vaults. Her teammate Kerri Strug vaulted after her to clinch the gold for the United States, but injured her ankle in the process. Moceanu took Strug's place in the all-around finals, but she made a mistake on the balance beam and placed ninth. In the balance beam final, she fell when she missed a foot on a layout and hit her head on the balance beam. She finished the routine and went on to have a strong performance in the floor exercise finals later that day, finishing fourth.


Post-Olympics

After the 1996 Olympics, Moceanu participated in professional gymnastics exhibitions, including a 34-city tour, before returning to competition. With the retirement of the Károlyis, she began training with other coaches at Moceanu Gymnastics, a gym built and run by her family. She placed ninth in the all-around at the 1997 U.S. Championships. Because of new age eligibily rules that prevented gymnasts younger than 16 from competing at international competitions, Moceanu was named to the six-person team for the 1997 World Championships. There, she led the mostly inexperienced U.S. team to a sixth-place finish. She also qualified for the individual all-around final, finishing 14th. In 1998, she began working with a new coach, Luminiţa Miscenco, and she adjusted to a significant growth spurt. At the
1998 Goodwill Games The 1998 Goodwill Games was the fourth edition of the international sports competition the Goodwill Games, which were created by Ted Turner in reaction to the political troubles surrounding the Olympic Games of the 1980s. The competition was held ...
, she became the first non-Russian to win the all-around title. In doing so, she defeated the reigning World all-around champion, Svetlana Khorkina, and the World silver and bronze medalists,
Simona Amânar Simona Amânar (; born 7 October 1979) is a Romanian former artistic gymnast. She is the 2000 Olympic all-around champion, and a seven-time Olympic and ten-time World Championship medalist. Amânar helped Romania win four consecutive world te ...
and
Yelena Produnova Yelena Sergeyevna Produnova, also known as Elena (; born 15 February 1980), is a Russian former competitive gymnast. Her senior international career lasted from 1995 to 2000 and earned her multiple world and Olympic medals. One of the most diff ...
. She outscored the second-place finisher, Maria Olaru, by 0.687 points. Later that year, she won the bronze medal in the all-around at the U.S. Championships. Two years later, training with Mary Lee Tracy at Cincinnati Gymnastics Academy, Moceanu placed eighth in the all-around at the 2000 U.S. Championships. She qualified for the Olympic Trials, but she withdrew due to knee injury. In the fall of 2000, Moceanu participated in a post-Olympics national exhibition tour. She also participated in the post-Olympics Rock N' Roll Gymnastics Championship Tour in 2004. After a five-year hiatus from elite gymnastics, Moceanu announced in 2005 that she was returning. An injury kept her from competing that year, but she continued to train on the floor exercise and the vault, and in the summer of 2006, she was invited to attend the
USA Gymnastics United States of America Gymnastics (USA Gymnastics or USAG) is the national governing body for gymnastics in the United States. It sets the domestic rules and policies that govern the sport, promotes and develops gymnastics on the grassroots ...
national team training camp. Moceanu competed at the 2006 U.S. Classic, where she successfully performed a full-twisting Tsukahara vault. On the floor exercise, however, she went out of bounds on one tumbling pass and fell on another, posting one of the lowest scores of the meet. As a result, she did not qualify to the 2006 U.S. Championships. She stated that USA Gymnastics officials had told her she would qualify if she attended the national training camp and competed at least one event at the U.S. Classic. But after the U.S. Classic, she was told that she had needed a combined score on two events of 28.0 or higher to qualify, and her combined score on vault and floor was 27.1. She appealed the decision, but it was upheld.


Personal life

On October 27, 1998, Moceanu was emancipated by a
Houston Houston ( ) is the List of cities in Texas by population, most populous city in the U.S. state of Texas and in the Southern United States. Located in Southeast Texas near Galveston Bay and the Gulf of Mexico, it is the county seat, seat of ...
court, eleven months prior to her 18th birthday. Moceanu had reportedly run away from home earlier that month, on October 17, and filed for emancipation on October 19. She accused her parents of abuse and exploitation, and alleged they had used US$4,000,000 of her earnings to build a 70,000 square foot gymnastic training center in
Spring, Texas Spring is a census-designated place (CDP) within the extraterritorial jurisdiction of Houston in Harris County, Texas, Harris County, Texas, United States, part of the metropolitan area. The population was 62,559 at the 2020 United States cens ...
. Moceanu's parents ultimately decided not to fight her in court and she was given control over her future earnings and allowed to live independently, though her father remained in charge of her trust. The family ultimately settled her past earning privately. Despite her father's claim that the family gym was a financial success, it permanently closed in February 1999, less than two years after it opened. She eventually reconciled with her father, with him walking her down the aisle at her wedding in 2006. Moceanu is married to Dr. Michael Canales, a
podiatrist A podiatrist ( ) is a medical professional devoted to the treatment of disorders of the foot, ankle, and related structures of the leg. The term originated in North America but has now become the accepted term in the English-speaking world for ...
and collegiate gymnast. The two wed on November 4, 2006, in
Houston, Texas Houston ( ) is the List of cities in Texas by population, most populous city in the U.S. state of Texas and in the Southern United States. Located in Southeast Texas near Galveston Bay and the Gulf of Mexico, it is the county seat, seat of ...
, in a Romanian Orthodox ceremony attended by fellow gymnasts Paul Hamm, Morgan Hamm,
Bart Conner Barthold Wayne Conner (born March 28, 1958) is a retired American Olympic gymnastics, gymnast. He was a member of the United States men's national artistic gymnastics team and won two gold medals at the 1984 Summer Olympics. He owns and operates ...
, and
Nadia Comăneci Nadia Elena Comăneci Conner (; born November 12, 1961) is a Romanian retired gymnast. She is a five-time Olympic gold medalist, all in individual events. In 1976, at the age of 14, Comăneci was the first gymnast to be awarded a perfect score ...
. They first met in 1994, when Moceanu was 12 years old. Together, they have three children, born in 2007, 2009 and 2022. Their second child and only son, Vincent, is reportedly interested in pursuing a career in gymnastics, appearing on '' American Ninja Warrior Junior'' in 2020, and voiced hope to compete at the
2028 Summer Olympics The 2028 Summer Olympics, officially the Games of the XXXIV Olympiad and commonly known as Los Angeles 2028 or LA 28, is an upcoming international multi-sport event scheduled to take place July 14–30, 2028, in the United States. Los Angeles ...
. Moceanu attended Northland Christian School and graduated from
John Carroll University John Carroll University (JCU) is a Private university, private Jesuit university in University Heights, Ohio, United States. Located in a suburb of Cleveland, it is primarily an undergraduate, liberal arts college, liberal arts institution compo ...
, earning a degree in business management in 2009. After coaching part-time at Gymnastics World in
Broadview Heights, Ohio Broadview Heights is a city in southern Cuyahoga County, Ohio, United States. The city's population was 19,936 at the 2020 United States census, 2020 census. A suburb of Cleveland, it is part of the Greater Cleveland, Cleveland metropolitan area. ...
, she runs the Dominique Moceanu Gymnastics Center in
Medina, Ohio Medina ( ) is a city in Medina County, Ohio, United States, and its county seat. The population was 26,094 at the 2020 United States census, 2020 census. It lies about south of Cleveland and west of Akron, Ohio, Akron within the Cleveland met ...
, where her son Vincent Canales also trains.


Memoir and sister

In her memoir ''Off Balance'', Moceanu revealed that she discovered she has a younger sister, Jennifer Bricker, who was born without legs and was given up for adoption at the hospital at birth. Bricker is an
acrobat Acrobatics () is the performance of human feats of balance, agility, and motor coordination. Acrobatic skills are used in performing arts, sporting events, and martial arts. Extensive use of acrobatic skills are most often performed in acro d ...
and
aerialist Acrobatics () is the performance of human feats of balance, agility, and motor coordination. Acrobatic skills are used in performing arts, sporting events, and martial arts. Extensive use of acrobatic skills are most often performed in acro d ...
who idolized Moceanu before finding out they were sisters. The documentaries "Eva Longoria's Versus: Romanian Roots" (a spinoff of ESPN's 30 for 30) and “She Looks Like Me” from director Torquil Jones tells the story of the two discovering their connection. In ''Off Balance'', Moceanu also alleged that Béla and Marta Károlyi were abusive and manipulative when she trained under them. Moceanu,
Jamie Dantzscher Jamie Annette Dantzscher (born May 2, 1982) is an American former Artistic gymnastics, artistic gymnast. She was a member of the bronze medal-winning American team at the 2000 Olympics in Sydney. Early life Dantzscher was born in Canoga Park, C ...
and Jessica Howard testified at a
Senate Judiciary Committee The United States Senate Committee on the Judiciary, informally known as the Senate Judiciary Committee, is a Standing committee (United States Congress), standing committee of 22 U.S. senators whose role is to oversee the United States Departm ...
hearing on March 28, 2017, about the
USA Gymnastics sex abuse scandal The USA Gymnastics sex abuse scandal relates to the sexual abuse of hundreds of gymnasts—primarily Minor (law), minors—over two decades in the United States, starting in the 1990s. It is considered the largest sexual abuse scandal in sports ...
.


Competitive history


References


External links

*
Dominique Moceanu
at
USA Gymnastics United States of America Gymnastics (USA Gymnastics or USAG) is the national governing body for gymnastics in the United States. It sets the domestic rules and policies that govern the sport, promotes and develops gymnastics on the grassroots ...
* *
Off Balance: A Memoir
- Dominique Moceanu with Paul & Teri Williams, 2012, Simon & Schuster, New York, NY, * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Moceanu, Dominique 1981 births Gymnasts from Los Angeles Living people American female artistic gymnasts American people of Aromanian descent American people of Romanian descent Aromanian sportspeople Cuyahoga Community College alumni Gymnasts at the 1996 Summer Olympics John Carroll University alumni Medalists at the World Artistic Gymnastics Championships Olympic gold medalists for the United States in gymnastics People from Hollywood, Los Angeles Medalists at the 1996 Summer Olympics U.S. women's national team gymnasts Goodwill Games medalists in gymnastics Competitors at the 1998 Goodwill Games 20th-century American sportswomen