Dominique Moceanu

Dominique Helena Moceanu (, ; ; born September 30, 1981) is a retired American gymnast.

Moceanu was born in the Hollywood neighborhood of Los Angeles, California, on September 30, 1981, to Romanian Americans Dumitru Moceanu (1954–2008) and Camelia Moceanu (née Staicu; b. 1961), both gymnasts.

Dumitru was an ethnic Aromanian born in Greece, while Camelia is an ethnic Aromanian born in Romania.

Having thus been born in an Aromanian family, Dominique speaks Aromanian fluently.

Dominique 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, and at the age of ten, the family relocated to Houston, Texas in order for her to train with Béla Károlyi and Márta Károlyi.

She was the all-around silver medalist at the 1992 Junior Pan American Games and the 1994 junior national champion.

Under the Károlyis' guidance, Moceanu won her first U.S. National Team berth in 1992, followed by five medals, four gold and one silver, later that year, at the 1992 Junior Pan American Artistic Gymnastics Championships.

She became the junior national champion in 1994, and, the following year, in 1995, she became the youngest gymnast ever to win the USA Gymnastics National Championships.

In 1995, at the age of 13, she became the youngest gymnast 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 Olympics team, and was the last gymnast to compete legally in the Olympics at the age of 14.

She was also the youngest member of the U. S. team at the 1995 World Championships, and earned a silver medal.

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.

She was a member of the gold-medal-winning United States women's gymnastics team (the "Magnificent Seven") at the 1996 Summer Olympics in Atlanta.

Moceanu trained under Marta 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.

In the months leading up to the 1996 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, she was featured in Vanity Fair and wrote an autobiography, Dominique Moceanu: An American Champion, with Steve Woodward.

The book reached No. 7 on The New York Times Best Seller list.

Moceanu was expected to be a major medal contender at the Olympics.

However, after the 1996 U.S. Nationals, where she placed third in the all-around, she was diagnosed with a 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 to the team gold medal with performances good enough to qualify her for the event finals on balance beam and floor exercise.

However, she faltered in the last rotation of team optionals, falling on both vaults.

Her teammate Kerri Strug vaulted next and clinched the gold for the U.S., but injured her ankle in the process.

Moceanu took Strug's place in the all-around finals, but made a mistake on the balance beam and placed ninth.

In the beam final, she fell 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.

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.

Out of peak form, Moceanu placed ninth at the 1997 U.S. Nationals.

She then led a mostly inexperienced U.S. team at the 1997 World Championships in Lausanne, Switzerland, where she qualified for the all-around final but did not medal.

Moceanu's last major success in gymnastics was at the 1998 Goodwill Games, where she became the first American to win the all-around gold medal.

In 1998, however, she returned to top form.

Under her new coach, Luminiţa Miscenco, she adjusted to a significant growth spurt and developed a more mature style.

She was selected to compete at the 1998 Goodwill Games, where she became the only American 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 and Yelena Produnova.

She outscored the second-place finisher, Maria Olaru—who would become the 1999 world all-around champion—by 0.687 points.

Family problems, coaching changes, and injuries derailed her efforts to make the 2000 Olympics in Sydney, 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.