As Fast As She Can

By Susan Fee

Akron Life and Leisure, March 2004

“We love you Dominique!” scream hundreds of young gymnasts gathered around a huge mat, eyes glued on their idol. 

Dominique Moceanu, former Olympian, is dressed in a silver metallic body suit.  She flashes her thousand-watt smile, and silently mouths, “I love you too!” With a split second shift of concentration, she begins her run:  round off, back handspring, double back.  Even without the twists and layouts of her gold medal days, the crowd collectively inhales then releases wild applause.  And this is just the warm up.

At 22 years old, Moceanu is now a University of Akron student, and starring in an independent film shooting in the area this month.  She hasn’t performed in two years.  Injuries kept her out of the 2000 Olympics, and recent surgeries limit what she’s willing to risk.  She spent three months in the gym getting in shape so she could surprise the 800 attendees of her first gymnastics invitational held in Cincinnati earlier this year. 

The event’s announcer (boyfriend of two years, Michael Canales) begins the introduction with Moceanu’s impressive list of accomplishments:  1994 Junior National Champion, 1995 U.S. Senior National Champion (at 13, the youngest ever to hold the title), 1995 World Championships 5^th all-around, 1996 Olympic gold medalist, 1997 World Championship team member, and 1998 Goodwill Games AA Champion.   

“And please welcome,” he continues, “all the way from Houston, Dominique’s compassionate parents:  the lovely Camelia and the ever-resolute Dimitry!”  Adults in the crowd laugh at the reference, a nod to the past, and Dimitry’s image as a tough dictator.  The fact that Dominique’s parents are standing by her side today may surprise some who recall a much publicized dispute between father and daughter, that resulted in Dominique’s legal emancipation at age 17. 

“The biggest misperception about me is that I have a bad relationship with my parents.  Yes, we had our disagreements, but I never abandoned them.  Family is number one,” Moceanu said.  Still, the events of the past are painful enough that her family avoids the topic, “My dad says that time was like living with a bullet in his heart,” she said.       

In 1996, 14-year old Moceanu was the youngest member of the first women’s US gymnastics team to win an Olympic gold medal.  Due to new age requirements, she will always hold that distinction.  They became known as the Magnificent Seven, and Moceanu’s image began showing up on boxes of Wheaties cereal, Kodak TV commercials, and the cover of Vanity Fair.  Under the tutelage of Romanian coach Bela Karolyi, Moceanu was often compared to Karoyli’s other star students Nadia Comaneci and Mary Lou Retton.  

Moceanu’s parents, Romanian immigrants and former gymnasts themselves, recognized their daughter’s talent.  They moved from Florida to Houston so she could train with the famed Karoyli.   

“Ever since I was ten-years-old, I trained seven hours a day, six days a week,” Moceanu said.  “I love performing; I love the crowd going crazy.  I was a competitor.   It’s something you can never replace.”

The tradeoff was lack of a normal childhood.  “I was never around kids my own age,” she said. 

Her parents agree that Dominique weathered enormous pressure.  “People don’t realize the level of perfection necessary.  One wobble, one little move, and that’s it,” said Camelia, snapping her fingers. 

“I hear these professional basketball players complain about pressure,” Dimitry adds.  “They’re 25-year-old-men – try being a ten year old girl.  They have no idea.” 

By 1998, Moceanu had a string of successes behind her.  Various published reports stated she had earned upwards of $2 million since turning pro.  She started asking her dad, who managed her money, about finances.  “He told me not to worry, that I was too young,” she said. 

After the Olympics and the retirement of Karoyli, Dimitry built Moceanu Gymnastics, a 70,000 square foot gym, near their home.  Stocked with the newest equipment, the facility banked on Dominique’s fame to attract customers.  He also had a 900-square-foot addition built for Dominique’s bedroom, including a private bath, sauna, and balcony overlooking a new Olympic-size pool.  But, what Dimitry was not willing to do was discuss with Dominique the finances.  The two began a struggle of wills that culminated in a disagreement over hiring a coach.

“I grew up with everyone telling me what to do,” Dominique said.  “I always had an adult trapped in me.  I was older beyond my years.  My dad felt intimidated by that,” she said.  “There’s no handbook on how to raise an Olympic champion.”  

Family friend Janice Ward of Pasadena, TX said the spending of Dominique’s trust fund may have seemed lavish or inappropriate by American standards, but not according to Romanian culture, where the entire family shares an athlete’s earnings.  “Dimitry did everything for her.  She wanted a bigger bedroom, and he built it.  She wanted a pool, and he built it.  The gym was a tribute to her, with her own private workout space,” Ward said. 

Dominique didn’t see it that way.  Encouraged by her new coach and Brian Huggins, a man hoping to manage Moceanu, she sued her parents for mismanagement of funds and her independence.  Two weeks after filing, Dominique and her parents reached a legal settlement by which she was recognized as an adult, and the suit was withdrawn. 

It would have ended there, but a few weeks later, Houston police contacted Dominique and informed her that allegedly, Dimitry had tried to hire someone to murder her coach and Huggins. 

Ward said none of it was true.  “Dimitry may be a lot of things, but he’s no killer.  Besides, if he wanted to hurt someone, he would’ve done it himself.  It’s not like he didn’t know where Brian lived.  If any of that were true, with all the lawyers in Texas, they would have arrested Dimitry.  Nothing happened,” she said. 

Yet, the reports shook Dominique.  A judge issued a one-year restraining order against Dimitry, and she fled to the Cayman Islands with Huggins.  The bad publicity helped to shut down Moceanu Gymnastics, one year after its opening. 

Looking back, Dominique admits she might have handled things differently, and that she mistakenly put her trust in “bad people who did not have my best interests in mind.”  She describes the intense public scrutiny as hurtful:  “At first the media loved me, and then all they wanted was dirt.  The paparazzi were everywhere.  Helicopters were flying over our house.  My mom couldn’t leave.  It was awful.”  But, her biggest complaint is that they never finished the story. 

“I didn’t talk to my dad for six months.  My mom acted as the liaison; we sent messages back and forth through her.  She told him I wasn’t a kid anymore.  She helped smooth things over.”  In the spring of 1999, Dominique was back home again.  “The public doesn’t get to see this part.  They don’t know that our family is closer than ever, and getting more so everyday.” 

Moceanu doesn’t pretend things are perfect, and there can still be tension.  Ward summed up the father-daughter relationship:  “The problem is she’s just like Dimitry.  They’re both strong headed.” 

Observing Moceanu interact with her parents, and 14-year-old sister Christina, one would never guess there had been a rift.  During a holiday visit (one of four visits last year) the family came to watch Dominique train at Gymnastics World in Broadview Heights, where she also coaches.  Around her parents, she unconsciously drops into Romanian, “I didn’t learn English until kindergarten,” she said. 

Moceanu introduces practically every person who passes by, “Have you met my parents?  Dad, Mom, this is Meghan’s mother.  Remember I was telling you about my student, Meghan?”    

Dimitry, wearing dark sunglasses to protect an eye infection, is always introduced first.  He stands and politely shakes hands, “It is very nice to meet you.”   

Camelia offers a warm hug, “Dominique has told us so much about you!” 

If Moceanu is guilty of poor character judgments in the past, she seems to have rectified that with boyfriend Michael Canales, the reason she moved to Ohio two years ago. 

Canales, 26, is a former Ohio State University gymnast and in his final year at Ohio College of Podiatric Medicine.  Next year, he’ll begin his residency as a foot and ankle surgeon.  The two first met in 1994, when both were competing at the U.S. National Championships.  Their paths kept crossing at various competitions until finally in 2001, their relationship began to get more serious.  It was Canales who suggested Moceanu move to Cleveland, and introduced her to the owners of Gymnastics World, where he also coaches.     

Both describe a special bond that comes from having trained seriously in a disciplined sport.  “There’s a lot that goes unspoken between us.  We understand one another,” said Canales. 

“He helps to motivate me, especially with school.  He gives me ideas.  He’s one in a trillion,” said Moceanu.  “Mike is the one who got me fired up to perform at my invitational, and he suggested that I have my own bobble head.”  The bobble head, currently in production, will score Moceanu yet another first as the only gymnast to have one. 

Canales describes the two of them as being “a force – a unit.”  He is quick to add, “I don’t make a dime off of anything she does.  I have my own life, and my own goals.  I bring guidance and time management.” During this interview, Canales spontaneously began taking notes as Moceanu talked.  When asked what he was writing he said, “After every interview, we sit down and talk about how to improve, what to focus on.  I noticed she said ‘you know,’ about ten times.”

“I knew you were going to get me on that,” Moceanu shot back with a smile.    

Canales is well-mannered, mature, and seems sincere in not wanting to crowd the spotlight.  If anything, he comes off as slightly protective, “What people don’t realize is that Dominique, in a positive sense, is naive.  After everything, she still wants to see the good in people.  I’m more skeptical.”

Plenty of people want a piece of Moceanu.  It’s hard to believe she’s a business marketing major at Akron U and not a case study.  Last year her website, where she markets and sells merchandise, received five million hits.  For three months, she traveled every weekend making personal appearances, all of which she booked herself.  She coaches 16 hours a week, organized her first invitational, and still made the Dean’s List.   

“I trained with the best coaches in the world.  That discipline is ingrained in me.  Now I need to re-direct that energy.  I see how much I can get done in a day,” she explained.  Her eventual goal is to open her own sporting facility and offer pre-school gymnastics.      

For now she’s happy to learn from Ron and Joan Ganim, owners of Gymnastics World.  “She’s spectacular,” said Ron, although at first, Moceanu had to adjust to different standards.  “Her coaching style is different from what we were accustomed to.  Her orientation is:  perfect.  To get to the Olympics, there’s no tolerance for a bad day, bad form, bad anything.  Our kids aren’t going to the Olympics; we can tolerate a few mistakes.  It took her a while to get used to that,” he said.         

Rachel Koludrovich, 14, said she appreciates Moceanu’s faith in her, “Sometimes she asks me to do things that I thought I could never do, and then I amaze myself.  The most important thing she’s taught me is perseverance.” 

Another student, 12-year-old Meghan Sweeny, said the biggest plus is having Moceanu demonstrate technique.  “She’s really good!  She’s not mean, but she’s tough.  She’ll make you better.” 

Moceanu admits she sets the bar high, “I try to push them to the point that they can do things they never thought they could.  I’d rather see them cry in the gym than at a meet.  I teach them what they have to do now to prevent that stuff.”  An area where she’s more empathic is weight.  “I don’t walk up to girls and announce they have to lose weight.  These are not elite gymnasts.  I teach them to eat healthy, or change their workout.  I struggled with constantly being told I was too heavy.  I hated it.”       

She’s now busy adding a new title to her resume:  actress.  Moceanu is starring in the independent film, As Fast as She Can, written and directed by Akron native James Hinton III.  It was his wife who suggested Moceanu for the lead after seeing her in a TV ad for Tri-C.  With only a concept in mind, he approached Moceanu.  Once she agreed to star, he was inspired and completed the script in three days.

She plays a young woman diagnosed at age three with a deadly disease, but she lives to defy the odds.  At eighteen, the character leaves her parents and her sheltered environment to find herself.  For all Moceanu’s efforts to clear up public perception, parts of the movie’s theme sound hauntingly familiar.     

“It has some semi-autobiographical moments,” said Hinton.  “There is tension with the parents; the dad is overprotective.  The daughter misses the big picture, and then she realizes her dad was doing everything for her all along.”  Commenting on the movie’s title Hinton said, “Dominique is frenetic.  She’s here and there – she’s always moving as fast as she can.”

The movie, cast with local actors (and cameos by Moceanu’s boyfriend and sister), is set to go straight to DVD.  A majority of it will be filmed at Akron General Medical Center.         

Regarding Moceanu’s limited acting experience, Hinton said he’s confident:  “She knows this character.  She’s going to do just fine.  Plus, she’s a showman, and she prepares.” 

That was evident as Moceanu nailed her routine at her Cincinnati invitational.  “It never gets old, I never get tired of watching her,” said her mom. 

“When I see her perform like that, I tell her she should compete again,” added Dimitry.  Indeed, she is hoping to join a post-Olympics tour following the summer games in Athens. 

Before her performance, Moceanu, standing in her flashy unitard invites questions from the audience.  She calls on a young hopeful, who squeaks out, “Why don’t you wear regular leotards?” 

Without missing a beat, Moceanu responds:  “Because I’m older now, I’m a woman.  I can wear whatever I want.”