Dominique Moceanu
Encyclopedia
Dominique "Domi" Helena Moceanu (born September 30, 1981 in Hollywood, California) is an American gymnast
who was a member of the Olympic
Gold medal winning 1996 U.S. Women's Gymnastics team in Atlanta
(the "Magnificent Seven
").
The hallmarks of Moceanu's gymnastics, in the early stage of her elite career, were daring tricks on balance beam and spunky, inspired presentations on the floor exercise. In the latter part of her elite career, under the direction of new coaches, she developed a more elegant, mature style. Although she was never considered to be an overwhelmingly innovative gymnast, she did display a high level of difficulty in her gymnastics, particularly on beam and floor.
Moceanu trained under coaches Marta
and Béla Károlyi
, and later, Luminiţa Miscenco and Mary Lee Tracy. She earned her first National Team berth at the age of 10 and went on to represent the United States in various major international competitions at the junior level. She was the all-around silver medalist at the 1992 Junior Pan Am Games and the 1994 junior U.S. National Champion. In 1995, at the age of 13½, Moceanu became the youngest gymnast ever to win the senior all-around title at the U.S. National Championships. She was the youngest member of both the 1995 World Championships team and the gold medal-winning 1996 Olympic squad, the Magnificent 7
, and was popular with both the public and with gymnastics fans.
Moceanu's last major success in gymnastics was the 1998 Goodwill Games
, where she became the only American ever to win the all-around gold medal. Family issues, coaching changes and injuries derailed her efforts to participate in the Sydney Olympics, and she retired in 2000.
Since retirement, Moceanu has continued to participate in gymnastics exhibitions, work as a coach, and pursue her post-secondary studies. She is currently married and a mother of two.
by her devout mother. Her faith figured prominently in her career as a gymnast. Whether it was psychological or not, Moceanu said, "...it defintely helped me as an athlete to have [rosaries and prayer booklets] in my bag and feel safe."
Moceanu began gymnastics classes in Illinois
at the age of 3½ and later trained at LaFleur's club in Florida
. In 1991, at the age of 10, she moved to Houston, Texas
, where she became one of the last gymnasts to be trained by the legendary Romanian coaches Marta
and Béla Károlyi
. She began competing internationally at a young age, earning her first U.S. National Team berth in 1992. At the age of 10½, in the spring of 1992, she earned five medals—gold in the team event, uneven bars, vault and floor exercise; silver in the all-around—at that year's Junior Pan Am Games.
Under Károlyi's tutelage, Moceanu became the U.S. Junior National Champion in 1994. In 1995 she repeated her success as a senior, becoming the youngest gymnast ever to win the U.S. National Championships
. She was also the youngest member of the American team at the 1995 World Championships in Sabae, Japan. Moceanu did not disappoint, earning the highest American placement in the all-around competition and becoming the only American gymnast to win an individual medal, a silver on the balance beam.
Moceanu's national and international successes, combined with her plucky, bubbly attitude, earned her attention and a wide fan base both in and out of the gymnastics community. In the months leading up to the Atlanta Olympics, she was one of the most recognizable faces of USA Gymnastics, eclipsing more decorated teammates such as Shannon Miller
and Dominique Dawes
. Before the Olympics, Moceanu was featured in Vanity Fair
and wrote an autobiography, Dominique Moceanu: An American Champion. The book was highly successful and ranked number seven on the New York Times' Best Sellers List.
Moceanu was expected by many to be a major medal threat at the 1996 Olympics. However, following the 1996 U.S. Nationals, where she placed third in the all-around, she was diagnosed with a four-centimeter stress fracture in her right tibia. Her injury forced her to sit out the Olympic Trials, but she was petitioned onto the team on the strength of her Nationals scores.
At the Olympics, still struggling with her injury and sporting a heavily bandaged leg, Moceanu contributed heavily to the team gold medal, turning in such strong performances that she qualified for the event finals on balance beam and floor exercise. However, she faltered in the last rotation of team finals, falling on both of her vaults. She only advanced to the all-around finals as a replacement for injured teammate Kerri Strug. Small mistakes cost her a medal, but she still placed a respectable ninth. In the balance beam event final, Moceanu suffered a horrifying fall when she missed a foot on a layout and crashed into the balance beam on her head. She finished the exercise and went on to a strong performance in the floor finals later that day, finishing fourth and just missing a medal.
Out of peak form, Moceanu placed ninth at the 1997 US Nationals. She participated in the 1997 World Artistic Gymnastics Championships
in Lausanne, Switzerland, leading a new and mostly inexperienced US team. She was elected team captain, and qualified for the all-around final, but the competition was not a positive experience for her.
By 1998 however, Moceanu returned to top form. Under the tutelage of her new coach, Lumereanita Miscenco, she adjusted to a significant growth spurt and developed a clean, elegant style. She was selected for the American team at the 1998 Goodwill Games
, where she became the only American to ever win the all-around title. In doing so, she defeated reigning World all-around champion Svetlana Khorkina
, as well as the World silver and bronze medalists, Simona Amânar
and Elena Produnova. She not only won the competition, she dominated the rest of the field. Outscoring the second place finisher and future 1999 World All Around Champion Maria Olaru
by .687 points. Many consider this competition to be the highlight of Moceanu's career.
Training with Mary Lee Tracy at the Cincinnati Gymnastics Academy (CGA), Moceanu placed 8th at the 2000 U.S. Nationals. She qualified for the Olympic Trials, but was forced to withdraw with a knee injury.
In the fall of 2000, Moceanu participated in a post-Olympics national exhibition tour. She also participated in one of the post-Athens Olympics gymnastics tours in 2006, the "Rock N' Roll Gymnastics Championships".
After a five-year hiatus from elite gymnastics, Moceanu announced a return to competition in 2005. However, injury kept her from competing in the 2005 Nationals. She remained committed to her comeback efforts, training on floor and vault.
In the summer of 2006, Moceanu was invited to attend the USA Gymnastics national training camp. She also competed at the 2006 US Classic, where she performed decently on vault, successfully executing a full twisting Tsukahara vault. On floor, she went out of bounds on her tucked full-in pass and fell on her double pike, posting one of the lowest FX scores of the meet.
In a decision that proved to be somewhat controversial, Moceanu was not able to qualify to the 2006 U.S. National Championships. Moceanu stated that she had been informed that she would advance to Nationals by attending the National Training Camp and competing at least two events at the Classic. Despite meeting these requirements, she was not able to qualify to Nationals based on her Classic performances. Moceanu appealed this decision with USA Gymnastics, but the ruling was not overturned.
from her parents in order to regain control of the money she had earned as a gymnastics professional. In the resulting court case and television interviews, Moceanu stated that her father had squandered her sizable earnings and had an abusive, controlling nature. The court approved her petition for emancipation and control of her finances. However, Moceanu did eventually reconcile with both of her parents.
Moceanu graduated in May 2009 with a business management degree from John Carroll University
in Cleveland, Ohio
. She also coaches part-time at Gymnastics World in the Cleveland suburb of Broadview Heights and conducts clinics and private lessons around the country.
On November 4, 2006 in Houston, Texas, Moceanu married long-time boyfriend, podiatrist Dr. Michael Canales, a former Ohio State gymnast. On December 25, 2007, Moceanu gave birth to a daughter, Carmen Noel Canales. The couple's second child, a son named Vincent Michael Canales, was born on March 13, 2009.
Gymnast
Gymnasts are people who participate in the sports of either artistic gymnastics, trampolining, or rhythmic gymnastics.See gymnasium for the origin of the word gymnast from gymnastikos.-Female artistic:Australia...
who was a member of the Olympic
Olympic Games
The Olympic Games is a major international event featuring summer and winter sports, in which thousands of athletes participate in a variety of competitions. The Olympic Games have come to be regarded as the world’s foremost sports competition where more than 200 nations participate...
Gold medal winning 1996 U.S. Women's Gymnastics team in Atlanta
Atlanta, Georgia
Atlanta is the capital and most populous city in the U.S. state of Georgia. According to the 2010 census, Atlanta's population is 420,003. Atlanta is the cultural and economic center of the Atlanta metropolitan area, which is home to 5,268,860 people and is the ninth largest metropolitan area in...
(the "Magnificent Seven
Magnificent Seven (Gymnastics)
The Magnificent Seven is the name given to the 1996 United States Olympic Women's Gymnastics Team that won the first ever Gold Medal for the United States in the Women's Team Competition at the 1996 Atlanta Olympics...
").
The hallmarks of Moceanu's gymnastics, in the early stage of her elite career, were daring tricks on balance beam and spunky, inspired presentations on the floor exercise. In the latter part of her elite career, under the direction of new coaches, she developed a more elegant, mature style. Although she was never considered to be an overwhelmingly innovative gymnast, she did display a high level of difficulty in her gymnastics, particularly on beam and floor.
Moceanu trained under coaches Marta
Marta Károlyi
Márta Károlyi , is an American gymnastics coach and the National Team Coordinator for USA Gymnastics. Károlyi is originally from Romania, she and her husband, Béla, are ethnic Hungarians, and trained athletes there as well, but defected to the United States in 1981...
and Béla Károlyi
Béla Károlyi
Béla Károlyi is a Romanian gymnastics coach. He was born in what was then Kolozsvár, Hungary, a region restored to Romanian administration after 1944. Károlyi and his wife, Márta, also of Hungarian origin, emigrated to the United States in 1981 and both have dual citizenships for Romania and the...
, and later, Luminiţa Miscenco and Mary Lee Tracy. She earned her first National Team berth at the age of 10 and went on to represent the United States in various major international competitions at the junior level. She was the all-around silver medalist at the 1992 Junior Pan Am Games and the 1994 junior U.S. National Champion. In 1995, at the age of 13½, Moceanu became the youngest gymnast ever to win the senior all-around title at the U.S. National Championships. She was the youngest member of both the 1995 World Championships team and the gold medal-winning 1996 Olympic squad, the Magnificent 7
Magnificent Seven (Gymnastics)
The Magnificent Seven is the name given to the 1996 United States Olympic Women's Gymnastics Team that won the first ever Gold Medal for the United States in the Women's Team Competition at the 1996 Atlanta Olympics...
, and was popular with both the public and with gymnastics fans.
Moceanu's last major success in gymnastics was the 1998 Goodwill Games
Goodwill Games
The Goodwill Games was an international sports competition, created by Ted Turner in reaction to the political troubles surrounding the Olympic Games of the 1980s...
, where she became the only American ever to win the all-around gold medal. Family issues, coaching changes and injuries derailed her efforts to participate in the Sydney Olympics, and she retired in 2000.
Since retirement, Moceanu has continued to participate in gymnastics exhibitions, work as a coach, and pursue her post-secondary studies. She is currently married and a mother of two.
Early career and the Magnificent Seven
Moceanu was born on September 30, 1981 in Hollywood, Florida to Romanian parents Dumitru (1954–2008), and Camelia Staicu (b. 1961). She also has a younger sister, Christina, born on August 24, 1989. Moceanu's parents, who had both been gymnasts in their native Romania, had early aspirations for her gymnastics career: while she was still a young toddler, they tested her strength by allowing her to hang from a clothesline. Moceanu was raised Romanian OrthodoxRomanian Orthodox Church
The Romanian Orthodox Church is an autocephalous Eastern Orthodox church. It is in full communion with other Eastern Orthodox churches, and is ranked seventh in order of precedence. The Primate of the church has the title of Patriarch...
by her devout mother. Her faith figured prominently in her career as a gymnast. Whether it was psychological or not, Moceanu said, "...it defintely helped me as an athlete to have [rosaries and prayer booklets] in my bag and feel safe."
Moceanu began gymnastics classes in Illinois
Illinois
Illinois is the fifth-most populous state of the United States of America, and is often noted for being a microcosm of the entire country. With Chicago in the northeast, small industrial cities and great agricultural productivity in central and northern Illinois, and natural resources like coal,...
at the age of 3½ and later trained at LaFleur's club in Florida
Florida
Florida is a state in the southeastern United States, located on the nation's Atlantic and Gulf coasts. It is bordered to the west by the Gulf of Mexico, to the north by Alabama and Georgia and to the east by the Atlantic Ocean. With a population of 18,801,310 as measured by the 2010 census, it...
. In 1991, at the age of 10, she moved to Houston, Texas
Texas
Texas is the second largest U.S. state by both area and population, and the largest state by area in the contiguous United States.The name, based on the Caddo word "Tejas" meaning "friends" or "allies", was applied by the Spanish to the Caddo themselves and to the region of their settlement in...
, where she became one of the last gymnasts to be trained by the legendary Romanian coaches Marta
Marta Károlyi
Márta Károlyi , is an American gymnastics coach and the National Team Coordinator for USA Gymnastics. Károlyi is originally from Romania, she and her husband, Béla, are ethnic Hungarians, and trained athletes there as well, but defected to the United States in 1981...
and Béla Károlyi
Béla Károlyi
Béla Károlyi is a Romanian gymnastics coach. He was born in what was then Kolozsvár, Hungary, a region restored to Romanian administration after 1944. Károlyi and his wife, Márta, also of Hungarian origin, emigrated to the United States in 1981 and both have dual citizenships for Romania and the...
. She began competing internationally at a young age, earning her first U.S. National Team berth in 1992. At the age of 10½, in the spring of 1992, she earned five medals—gold in the team event, uneven bars, vault and floor exercise; silver in the all-around—at that year's Junior Pan Am Games.
Under Károlyi's tutelage, Moceanu became the U.S. Junior National Champion in 1994. In 1995 she repeated her success as a senior, becoming the youngest gymnast ever to win the U.S. National Championships
U.S. National Championships
U.S. National Championships may refer to:* United States national amateur boxing championships* United States Figure Skating Championships* U.S. National Championships , before 1968, the tennis tournament now called the U.S. Open...
. She was also the youngest member of the American team at the 1995 World Championships in Sabae, Japan. Moceanu did not disappoint, earning the highest American placement in the all-around competition and becoming the only American gymnast to win an individual medal, a silver on the balance beam.
Moceanu's national and international successes, combined with her plucky, bubbly attitude, earned her attention and a wide fan base both in and out of the gymnastics community. In the months leading up to the Atlanta Olympics, she was one of the most recognizable faces of USA Gymnastics, eclipsing more decorated teammates such as Shannon Miller
Shannon Miller
Shannon Lee Miller is a former artistic gymnast from Edmond, Oklahoma. She is the most decorated gymnast in U.S. History, and considered one of the greatest gymnasts the United States has ever produced...
and Dominique Dawes
Dominique Dawes
Dominique Margaux Dawes is a retired United States artistic gymnast. She was 10-year member of the U.S. national gymnastics team, the 1994 U.S. all-around senior National Champion, a three-time Olympian, a World Championships silver medalist and a member of the gold-medal winning "Magnificent...
. Before the Olympics, Moceanu was featured in Vanity Fair
Vanity Fair (magazine)
Vanity Fair is a magazine of pop culture, fashion, and current affairs published by Condé Nast. The present Vanity Fair has been published since 1983 and there have been editions for four European countries as well as the U.S. edition. This revived the title which had ceased publication in 1935...
and wrote an autobiography, Dominique Moceanu: An American Champion. The book was highly successful and ranked number seven on the New York Times' Best Sellers List.
Moceanu was expected by many to be a major medal threat at the 1996 Olympics. However, following the 1996 U.S. Nationals, where she placed third in the all-around, she was diagnosed with a four-centimeter stress fracture in her right tibia. Her injury forced her to sit out the Olympic Trials, but she was petitioned onto the team on the strength of her Nationals scores.
At the Olympics, still struggling with her injury and sporting a heavily bandaged leg, Moceanu contributed heavily to the team gold medal, turning in such strong performances that she qualified for the event finals on balance beam and floor exercise. However, she faltered in the last rotation of team finals, falling on both of her vaults. She only advanced to the all-around finals as a replacement for injured teammate Kerri Strug. Small mistakes cost her a medal, but she still placed a respectable ninth. In the balance beam event final, Moceanu suffered a horrifying fall when she missed a foot on a layout and crashed into the balance beam on her head. She finished the exercise and went on to a strong performance in the floor finals later that day, finishing fourth and just missing a medal.
Post-Atlanta career
Following the Atlanta Olympics, Moceanu participated in numerous events and professional gymnastics exhibitions, including a 100-city tour, before returning to competition. With the retirement of the Károlyis, she began training with other coaches at Moceanu Gymnastics, a gym constructed and run by her family.Out of peak form, Moceanu placed ninth at the 1997 US Nationals. She participated in the 1997 World Artistic Gymnastics Championships
1997 World Artistic Gymnastics Championships
The 33rd Artistic Gymnastics World Championships were held in Lausanne, Switzerland, in 1997.The 1997 Worlds were notable because they were the first major contest to be held after the elimination of compulsory exercises.-All-round:-Apparatus:...
in Lausanne, Switzerland, leading a new and mostly inexperienced US team. She was elected team captain, and qualified for the all-around final, but the competition was not a positive experience for her.
By 1998 however, Moceanu returned to top form. Under the tutelage of her new coach, Lumereanita Miscenco, she adjusted to a significant growth spurt and developed a clean, elegant style. She was selected for the American team at the 1998 Goodwill Games
Goodwill Games
The Goodwill Games was an international sports competition, created by Ted Turner in reaction to the political troubles surrounding the Olympic Games of the 1980s...
, where she became the only American to ever win the all-around title. In doing so, she defeated reigning World all-around champion Svetlana Khorkina
Svetlana Khorkina
Svetlana Vasilyevna Khorkina is a popular Russian gymnast and seven-time Olympic medalist, who is now a deputy at the Russian State Duma. With an unprecedented nine gold, eight silver, and three bronze World Championships medals, she is one of the most successful female gymnasts of her era and has...
, as well as the World silver and bronze medalists, Simona Amânar
Simona Amânar
Simona Amânar is a Romanian gymnast. She is a seven-time Olympic medalist and a ten-time world medalist. Amânar helped Romania to win four consecutive world team titles as well as the 2000 Olympic team title. She has a vault named after her, the Amanar...
and Elena Produnova. She not only won the competition, she dominated the rest of the field. Outscoring the second place finisher and future 1999 World All Around Champion Maria Olaru
Maria Olaru
Maria Ludovica Olaru is a retired Olympic artistic gymnast from Romania. She is an Olympic, world, and European gold medalist with the team. Individually, she is the 1999 all around world champion and the 2000 Olympic all around silver medalist. Her best event was the vault on which she medaled at...
by .687 points. Many consider this competition to be the highlight of Moceanu's career.
Training with Mary Lee Tracy at the Cincinnati Gymnastics Academy (CGA), Moceanu placed 8th at the 2000 U.S. Nationals. She qualified for the Olympic Trials, but was forced to withdraw with a knee injury.
In the fall of 2000, Moceanu participated in a post-Olympics national exhibition tour. She also participated in one of the post-Athens Olympics gymnastics tours in 2006, the "Rock N' Roll Gymnastics Championships".
After a five-year hiatus from elite gymnastics, Moceanu announced a return to competition in 2005. However, injury kept her from competing in the 2005 Nationals. She remained committed to her comeback efforts, training on floor and vault.
In the summer of 2006, Moceanu was invited to attend the USA Gymnastics national training camp. She also competed at the 2006 US Classic, where she performed decently on vault, successfully executing a full twisting Tsukahara vault. On floor, she went out of bounds on her tucked full-in pass and fell on her double pike, posting one of the lowest FX scores of the meet.
In a decision that proved to be somewhat controversial, Moceanu was not able to qualify to the 2006 U.S. National Championships. Moceanu stated that she had been informed that she would advance to Nationals by attending the National Training Camp and competing at least two events at the Classic. Despite meeting these requirements, she was not able to qualify to Nationals based on her Classic performances. Moceanu appealed this decision with USA Gymnastics, but the ruling was not overturned.
Personal life
In late 1998, Moceanu left home and sued for legal emancipationEmancipation of minors
An emancipated minor is a minor who is allowed to conduct a business or any other occupation on their own behalf or for their own account outside the influence of a parent or guardian. The minor will then have full contractual capacity to conclude contract with regard to the business. Whether...
from her parents in order to regain control of the money she had earned as a gymnastics professional. In the resulting court case and television interviews, Moceanu stated that her father had squandered her sizable earnings and had an abusive, controlling nature. The court approved her petition for emancipation and control of her finances. However, Moceanu did eventually reconcile with both of her parents.
Moceanu graduated in May 2009 with a business management degree from John Carroll University
John Carroll University
John Carroll University is a private, co-educational Jesuit Catholic university in University Heights, Ohio, United States, a suburb of Cleveland. The university was founded in 1886 by the Society of Jesus as Saint Ignatius College.The university was founded in 1886 by the Society of Jesus, as...
in Cleveland, Ohio
Ohio
Ohio is a Midwestern state in the United States. The 34th largest state by area in the U.S.,it is the 7th‑most populous with over 11.5 million residents, containing several major American cities and seven metropolitan areas with populations of 500,000 or more.The state's capital is Columbus...
. She also coaches part-time at Gymnastics World in the Cleveland suburb of Broadview Heights and conducts clinics and private lessons around the country.
On November 4, 2006 in Houston, Texas, Moceanu married long-time boyfriend, podiatrist Dr. Michael Canales, a former Ohio State gymnast. On December 25, 2007, Moceanu gave birth to a daughter, Carmen Noel Canales. The couple's second child, a son named Vincent Michael Canales, was born on March 13, 2009.
Major results
- 2000 US Championships: 8th AA
- 2000 US Classic: 6th AA
- 1998 Goodwill Games: 1st AA
- 1998 US Championships: 3rd AA; 1st BB; 1st VT; 3rd FX
- 1997 World Championships: 6th Team; 14th AA
- 1997 US Championships: 9th AA; 2nd FX
- 1997 International Team Championships: 2nd Team; 17th (two events only)
- 1996 Olympic Games, Atlanta USA: 1st Team; 9th AA; 4th FX; 6th BB
- 1996 US Championships: 3rd AA
- 1995 World Championships, Sabae JPN: 3rd Team; 5th AA; 2nd BB; 7th FX
- 1995 US Championships: 1st AA; 2nd FX; 3rd VT; 5th BB; 6th UB
- 1995 US Classic: 2nd AA
- 1994 US Championships: 1st AA (junior)
- 1993 US Championships: 7th AA (junior)
- 1993 US Classic: 8th AA (junior)
- 1993 US Olympic Festival: 12th AA
- 1992 Pan American Games: 1st Team, VT, UB, FX; 2nd AA
- 1992 US Championships: 5th AA (junior)
- 1992 US Classic: 10th AA (junior)
- 1991 US Classic: 7th AA (junior)