Dominique has lived in California. Illinois. Florida and now Texas. She speaks fluid Romanian. "Bela and Martha speak Hungarian in front of me since they know I speak Romanian." said Moceanu.
She sparkles. She bounces. She smiles. She bursts with personality. She also resembles 1976 l1Iympic Gold Medalist Nadia Comaneci ... who else but Dominique Moceanu! Moceanu, 13, trains at Karolyi's Gymnastics in Houston, Texas, with Bela and Martha Karolyi and Alexander Alexandrov. She came to the Karolyi's when she was nine-and-a-halfyears old and has trained hard ever since. There's an interesting story behind how Dominique got into the sport of gymnastics. Her parents, who were from Romania, were both gymnasts. In fact, her father, Dumitru, was on the Romanian Junior National Team when he was younger. When the couple married they made a commitment to each other that their first child would be a gymnast!
"If he or she didn't like gymnastics then of course we would have changed sports," said Dumitru. From the look on Dominique's face at the Visa Challenge, where she won the all-around competition in her first international event as a senior, there's no doubt that her mother and father made the right decision by pulling their first child in gymnastics. "I've been doing gymnastics since I was 3years old, and it's a lot of fun," said Moceanu. "I enjoy doing il. Ilike to compete." Coach Bela Karolyi said, "She's going to be one of the great ones. She's an outgoing kid, like Mary Lou Rellon." Speaking of Mary Lou Rellon, Moceanu said that she has two idols in the sport-Mary Lou Rellon and Nadia Comaneci. "I like how Mary Lou always smiles. I like her personality," said Moceanu. "Nadia made history, and I think that's great too."
Already Moceanu has a long list of accomplishments in the sport. At age 10, she was the youngest athlete to qualify for the 1991 U.S. Junior National Team by placing fifth all-around. She won the Junior National Championships in 1994.ln 1995 she moved up to the senior ranks and tied for second allaround with Amanda Borden in the American Classic. Although she was selected to compete in the McDonald's American Cup and qualified to compete in the Pan American Games, Moceanu had to sit out due to a slight injury. It seems the rest time off because in April she won the Challenge, a triangular competition tween the USA, Belarus and China.
Dominique's training partners in the gym include 1989 World Champion Svetlana Boguinskaia and 1991 World Champion Kim Zmeskal-both are making a comeback into the sport. "It's nice to work out with them," said Moceanu. "I look up to them. They both have different styles. Kim's very powerful, and Svetlana is very sharp. We work together and help each other in the gym." Dominique trains six to seven hours per day, six days a week. When she's not doing gymnastics, she enjoys playing on the computer, reading, swimming, biking, and listening to music.