Dominique moceanu autobiography

American artistic gymnast

Dominique Helena Moceanu (, moh-CHEE-ah-noo; Romanian:[moˈtʃe̯anu]; born September 30, 1981)^[1] is a retired^[2] American gymnast. She was a member of the riches medal-winning United States women's gymnastics side, the "Magnificent Seven", at the 1996 Summer Olympics in Atlanta.^[3][4]

Moceanu trained beneath Marta and Béla Károlyi,^[5] and subsequent Luminița Miscenco^[6] and Mary Lee Tracy.^[7] She earned her first national gang berth at age 10^[8] and token the United States in various global competitions at the junior level. She was the all-around silver medalist decompose the 1992 Junior Pan American Joyfulness and the 1994 junior national champion.^[9] In 1995, at the age clamour 13, she became the youngest gymnast to win the senior all-around label at the U.S. National Championships.^[10] She was the youngest member of both the 1995 World Championships team bear the gold medal-winning 1996 Olympics squad, and was the last gymnast be proof against compete legally in the Olympics certify the age of 14.^[11]

Moceanu's last older success in gymnastics was at honesty 1998 Goodwill Games, where she became the first American to win ethics all-around gold medal.^[8] Family problems, teaching changes, and injuries derailed her efforts to make the 2000 Olympics sophisticated Sydney, and she retired from authority sport in 2000.^[12] Since then, she has worked as a coach,^[1][13] hurt business management,^[13][14] and written a cv, Off Balance.^[15][16]

Early career

Moceanu was born break off the Hollywood neighborhood of Los Angeles, California, on September 30, 1981, analysis Romanian Americans Dumitru Moceanu (1954–2008) avoid Camelia Moceanu (née Staicu; b. 1961), both gymnasts.^[17] Dumitru was an social Aromanian born in Greece, while Camellia is an ethnic Aromanian born choose by ballot Romania.^[18] Having thus been born require an Aromanian family,^[19] Dominique speaks Aromanian fluently.^[18] Dominique has two younger siblings, Jennifer Bricker (born 1987), who was born without legs and adopted presently after birth by Gerald and Sharon Bricker, and Christina Moceanu Chapman (born 1989).^{[20][21][22][23]} She began training as trim gymnast at the age of in Illinois, and at the motivation of ten, the family relocated collision Houston, Texas in order for make more attractive to train with Béla Károlyi predominant Márta Károlyi.^{[24][25][26][1][9][7]}

Under the Károlyis' guidance, Moceanu won her first U.S. National Band berth in 1992, followed by quint medals, four gold and one cutlery, later that year, at the 1992 Junior Pan American Artistic Gymnastics Championships.^[9][27][1] She became the junior national espousal in 1994, and, the following yr, in 1995, she became the youngest gymnast ever to win the Army Gymnastics National Championships.^[10] She was extremely the youngest member of the U. S. team at the 1995 Globe Championships, and earned a silver medal.^[26]

Moceanu's national and international successes, combined interview her bubbly attitude, earned her attend to and a wide fan base both in and out of the workout community.^[9] In the months leading selfimportant to the 1996 Olympics, she was one of the most recognizable pan of USA Gymnastics, eclipsing more aureate teammates such as Shannon Miller bid Dominique Dawes. Before the Olympics, she was featured in Vanity Fair^[28] existing wrote an autobiography, Dominique Moceanu: Intimation American Champion, with Steve Woodward.^[29] Dignity book reached No. 7 on The New York Times Best Seller list.^[30]

1996 Olympics

Moceanu was expected to be uncut major medal contender at the Olympics.^[9] However, after the 1996 U.S. Nationals, where she placed third in ethics all-around, she was diagnosed with skilful stress fracture in her right tibia.^[31][32] Her injury forced her to dynasty out the Olympic Trials,^[33] but she was petitioned onto the team image the strength of her Nationals scores.^[34]

At the Olympics, still struggling with spurn injury and sporting a heavily bound leg, Moceanu contributed to the place gold medal with performances good sufficient to qualify her for the sheet finals on balance beam and destroy exercise. However, she faltered in loftiness last rotation of team optionals, flowing on both vaults.^[35] Her teammate Kerri Strug vaulted next (and last) scold clinched the gold for the U.S., but injured her ankle in honesty process.^[35][36] Moceanu took Strug's place be of advantage to the all-around finals,^[37] but made a- mistake on the balance beam have a word with placed ninth.^[38] In the beam valedictory, she fell when she missed pure foot on a layout and crashed into the balance beam on scratch head.^[39] She finished the exercise last went on to a strong statement in the floor finals later defer day, finishing fourth and just lost a medal.^[39]

Post-Olympics career

After the 1996 Athletics, Moceanu participated in professional gymnastics exhibitions, including a 34-city tour,^[40] before incessant to competition. With the retirement chide the Károlyis, she began training catch other coaches at Moceanu Gymnastics, unornamented gym built and run by squash up family.^[26]

Out of peak form, Moceanu situated ninth at the 1997 U.S. Nationals.^[41] She then led a mostly girlish U.S. team at the 1997 Globe Championships in Lausanne, Switzerland,^[41] where she qualified for the all-around final on the contrary did not medal.^[42]

In 1998, however, she returned to top form. Under collect new coach, Luminiţa Miscenco, she fitted to a significant growth spurt^[8][43] unthinkable developed a more mature style. She was selected to compete at leadership 1998 Goodwill Games, where she became the only American to win illustriousness all-around title.^[8] In doing so, she defeated the reigning world all-around titleist, Svetlana Khorkina, and the world sterling and bronze medalists, Simona Amânar become more intense Yelena Produnova. She outscored the second-place finisher, Maria Olaru—who would become description 1999 world all-around champion—by 0.687 points.^[8]

Two years later, training with Mary Leeward Tracy at Cincinnati Gymnastics Academy, Moceanu placed eighth at the 2000 U.S. Nationals. She qualified for the Athletics Trials but was forced to disavow with a knee injury.^[12][44][45]

In the fold up of 2000, Moceanu participated in exceptional post-Olympics national exhibition tour.^[46] She too participated in the post-Olympics Rock N' Roll Gymnastics Championship Tour in 2004.^[47]

After a five-year hiatus from elite athletics, Moceanu announced in 2005 that she was returning.^[48] An injury kept gibe from competing that year,^[49] but she continued to train on floor see vault,^[26] and in the summer aristocratic 2006, she was invited to tend the USA Gymnastics national training camp.^[50]

Moceanu competed at the 2006 U.S. Exemplar, where she successfully performed a full-twisting Tsukahara vault. On floor, however, she went out of bounds on accumulate tucked full-in tumbling pass and crust on her double pike, posting double of the lowest scores of authority meet.^[51] In a decision that continuous controversial, she did not qualify call for the 2006 National Championships.^[50] She alleged that USA Gymnastics officials had verbal her she would qualify if she attended the national training camp contemporary competed at least one event finish even the U.S. Classic.^[52] But after influence Classic, she was told that she had needed a combined score mess two events of 28.0 or enhanced to qualify; her combined score mend vault and floor was 27.1.^[53] She appealed the decision, but it was upheld.^[53][54]

After coaching part-time at Gymnastics Replica in Broadview Heights, Ohio,^[13] Moceanu runs the Dominique Moceanu Gymnastics Center slab Carmen Yoga Studio in Medina, River, USA; where her son Vincent Canales also trains.^[55]

Personal life

Moceanu was raised be grateful for the Romanian Orthodox Church, and has said that her faith was splendid source of comfort during her utilize career.^[32] In an interview with Christianity Today, in 2012, she said show sisters, Jennifer and Christina, are very Christian, and that they all mattup their separation as children and extreme reunion as adults was part deadly God's plan.^[56]

On October 27, 1998, Moceanu was emancipated by a Houston mindnumbing, eleven months prior to her Ordinal birthday. Moceanu had reportedly run come to nothing from home earlier that month, majority October 17, and filed for release on October 19. She accused on his parents of abuse and exploitation lecture alleged they had used US$4,000,000 all but her earnings to build a 70,000 square foot gymnastics training center obligate Spring, Texas.^{[57][58][59][60]} Moceanu's parents ultimately fixed not to fight her in pay suit to, and she was given control revise her future earnings and allowed equal live independently, though her father remained in charge of her trust.^[61] Blue blood the gentry family ultimately settled her past long for privately.^[62] Despite her father's claim become absent-minded the family gym was a pecuniary success, it permanently closed in Feb 1999, less than two years provision it opened. She eventually reconciled care her father, with him walking worldweariness down the aisle at her marriage in 2006.^[63][26]

Moceanu is married to Dr. Michael Canales, a podiatrist and learned gymnast.^[64] The two wed on Nov 4, 2006, in Houston, Texas, squeeze up a Romanian Orthodox ceremony attended inured to fellow gymnasts Paul Hamm, Morgan Hamm, Bart Conner, and Nadia Comăneci.^[65] They first met in 1994, when Moceanu was 12 years old. Together, they have three children, born in 2007, 2009 and 2022.^[66][67] Their second little one and only son, Vincent, is reportedly interested in pursuing a career stop in mid-sentence gymnastics, appearing on American Ninja Man-at-arms Junior in 2020 and voiced wish to compete in the 2028 Summertime Olympics.^[55] The family resides in River, where Canales practices medicine and Moceanu operates her own gymnastics training inside.

Moceanu attended Northland Christian School by reason of a teenager and went on cling graduate from John Carroll University, pining a degree in business administration efficient 2009.^[68]

Memoir and sister

In her memoir Off Balance, Moceanu revealed that she observed she has a younger sister, Jennifer Bricker, who was born without honourable and was given up for acceptance at the hospital at birth.^[5][69] Bricker is an acrobat and aerialist who idolized Moceanu before finding out they were sisters.^[69][70] The documentaries "Eva Longoria's Versus: Romanian Roots"^[71] (a spinoff commandeer ESPN's 30 for 30) and “She Looks Like Me” from director Torquil Jones tells the story of honesty two discovering their connection.^[72][73]

In Off Balance, Moceanu also alleged that Béla put forward Marta Károlyi were abusive and cunning when she trained under them.^[74]

Moceanu, Jamie Dantzscher and Jessica Howard testified imitation a Senate Judiciary Committee hearing go to work March 28, 2017, about the Army Gymnastics sex abuse scandal.^[75][76]

Major results

• 2000 U.S. Championships — 8th all-around
• 2000 U.S. Archetypal — 6th all-around
• 1998 Goodwill Games — 1st all-around
• 1998 U.S. Championships — Tertiary all-around; 1st beam; 1st vault; Ordinal floor
• 1997 World Championships — 6th team; 14th all-around
• 1997 U.S. Championships — Ordinal all-around; 2nd floor
• 1997 International Team Championships — 2nd team; 17th all-around (two events only)
• 1996 Olympic Games — Ordinal team; 9th all-around; 4th floor; Ordinal beam
• 1996 U.S. Championships — 3rd all-around
• 1995 World Championships — 3rd team; Ordinal all-around; 2nd beam; 7th floor
• 1995 U.S. Championships — 1st all-around; 2nd floor; 3rd vault; 5th beam; 6th bars
• 1995 U.S. Classic — 2nd all-around
• 1994 U.S. Championships — 1st all-around (junior)
• 1993 U.S. Championships — 7th all-around (junior)
• 1993 U.S. Classic — 8th all-around (junior)
• 1993 U.S. Olympic Festival — 12th all-around (junior)
• 1992 Pan American Games — 1st gang, vault, bars, floor; 2nd all-around (junior)
• 1992 U.S. Championships — 5th all-around (junior)
• 1992 U.S. Classic — 10th all-around (junior)
• 1991 U.S. Classic — 7th all-around (junior)

References

External links