Olympic dust settled,

America's most popular

gymnast resumes the

daily grind of training

Hopeful young girls, usually clutching autograph books, flock to see her. "Dominique!" they shout endlessly. "Dominique! DOMINIQUE!" When she's able, she responds with a wave or, for the lucky ones, one of her thousand-watt smiles.

Dominique Moceanu's supporters are a devoted bunch. They practically worship her. "I think it's really neat to have fans that admire me so much," Moceanu giggles. "It makes me feel like I've accomplished something for myself, as well as everyone out there that really likes my performance. I think it's my personality; they like to see that I enjoy gymnastics."

Almost a year has passed since her Olympic debut, but Moceanu is still the most magnetic of the Magnificent Seven. "She gets, like, 1,000-3,000 letters a week," says Dimitry Moceanu, Dominique's father. "We've got a garage half-full. I bet we've got 100,0000 [since the Olympics]."

Moceanu's jam-packed schedule has left little time for answering fan mail, but she's grateful for the loyalty. "I appreciate everything that they've sent me," she says. "I do get it, even if I don't write back all the time."

Along with ardent admiration come snubs. "A lot of people think that I'm snobby when they've never met me!" Moceanu says. "...I just don't understand why some people think that they have to say those things that are really mean. ...A lot of the kids at school, after they got to know me, said, 'You know, you're not really a bad person. Some people think you're so snobby, but you're not. You're really down to Earth. You're really different from what I thought you'd be.'"

In 1996 everyone thought they knew Dominique Moceanu. According to the media, she was destined to win the Olympic all-around. "People had some expectations for me, and I had some for myself, but I don't regret what happened there," she says, dismissing the pre-Olympic hype. "I think I was the hardest person on myself out there. I wanted to do so well that I pushed myself a little too much. It was just overwhelming, the whole Atlanta experience."

Despite falling short of an overall title, Moceanu was still impressive, and a team gold is far from failure.

"Knowing what I went through with her, and what she went through, particularly, going into those Olympic Games, I definitely would consider it a very positive outcome," says former coach Bela Karolyi.

Dominique's biggest hurdle was a stress fracture that kept her out of the Olympic trials. Bela insists the injury to her leg was far more serious than they let on. "There was a definite chance not to compete," Karolyi says. "All the way up to the last day, to be honest."

Moceanu agrees: "A lot of people don't realize that three weeks before the Olympics I could not work out at all. You know you need a great preparation for the Olympics and with that little time I had -- two weeks maybe -- I think that I did really great. ...I could have done a lot better with the right preparation."

Despite her Atlanta ups-and-downs, Moceanu became the star attraction of the John Hancock tour, an experience she relished. "I love working with the people and I love being on it," she says. "It's a lot of fun."

So much in fact, that she plans to return with her teammates for an encore in September, despite the strain of training while touring. "My teammates are all very outgoing and fun, and funny to be around," she says. "They're all really great people. We keep in touch still, and write to each other. It's something that won't ever be broken. ...We're always going to stick together. We made a pact to ourselves that we'd always see each other and that we'd have a reunion."

The camaraderie and fame of the "Super Six" (the "Mag Seven" without Kerri Strug) was tested early-on when a scathing New York Times Magazine article labeled the young women brats. "It made us all kind of upset, what he had written about us," Moceanu recalls. "[But] one interview, one article isn't going to be the end of the world. We let the reporter into our tour and he goes and turns his back on us. When we saw it we were like, 'Oh my gosh! What is this?' I mean, he was with us the whole time. He knows that some of that wasn't true, [but] a little exaggerated."

Luckily for fans, controversy didn't sour Moceanu's love of performing. "I love the crowd!" she exclaims. "They just get me into it, and they're really excited. It encourages me when I see them, and makes me want to compete more."

Further competitive success is her goal, but coming down from a gold medal-high can be hard, and Moceanu is struggling to regain perspective. Karolyi knows the challenges involved only too well. "Every time, when I saw [a gymnast] coming out with a very successful result, it was very hard to get them down to Earth and get a serious schedule up again," he says.

Dominique is determined not to let success spoil her. "I have things to prove to myself. That's why I'm sticking with it," she says.

With Karolyi in semi-retirement, Moceanu's biggest post-Olympic problem has been finding a coach. A brief stint with former-Soviet Arthur Akopian didn't pan out -- "It was better for us to go our separate way," she says -- and intermittent workouts at Karolyi's ranch weren't enough to keep her competitive. Her father is building a gym (Moceanu Gymnastics, Inc.) but progress has been slow, leaving Moceanu with nowhere to work out.

In March she moved to Woburn, Mass., to train under Romanians Mihai and Silvia Brestyan. The Brestyans were coaching in Israel, and they brought their three prize pupils, Olga Menin, Becky Bank, and Maa'yan Tannenbaum.

"This was my idea to move up here and train, because I know I needed to train somehow, somewhere, you know, soon," she says. "My first impressions are really good. Mihai works with me really well and I like him very much as a coach. [But] this is temporary, just until my gym gets done."

Temporary or not, Karolyi feels that the move is a positive one. "I always considered that a better alternative than staying somewhere by herself, and being coach as an individual," he says. "She definitely needs a group around her -- [other] ones that are working out with intensity -- for her to catch up with the requirements."

The new Code of Points is a challenge for Moceanu, but she feels she can conquer it with time. "You have to work your butt off!" she laughs. "I know how that is because I've been through it one before. I haven't had much time, but I'm doing well and accomplishing the things that I want to accomplish, slowly but surely."

Moceanu shares a three-story house with the Brestyans and Israeli gymnasts, and the transition hasn't been easy. "[It's] the first time without my parents," she sighs. "All the time they've always moved with me, everywhere I've gone. I miss my home and I miss my family."

Back in Houston, Dimitry agrees. "It's really hard for us," he says. "[But] she has to train."

She's also attending public school for the first time since seventh grade. "It's different," she laughs. "We can wear whatever we want -- jeans and stuff. At my old school we had little khakis and polos we had to wear."

There have been many adjustments in the gym, too. Brestyan speaks only Romanian with his pupils ("I will teach you gymnastics and you will learn my language," is his philosophy) and getting back into the swing of intense training hasn't been easy. "We just started two workouts a day," Moceanu groans.

Despite the struggles, Moceanu has no second thoughts. "I like Mihai and the girls a lot and I like training with them," she says. "It's fun, you know, having teammates again. So, I don't really know if I want another coach right now. I don't want to move too much. I want to sick with whoever I can find that's good for me."

Finding a better coach than Karolyi won't be easy and Moceanu seems glad to have had the opportunity to train with him. "I don't regret anything," she declares of her years with Bela. "He was the best for me. He got me where I am. Of course, he's always gonna be there for me and I'm always gonna be grateful for what he's done. There's nothing bad between us. We just have to go our separate ways now."

At the International Team Championships in March, Moceanu failed to wow the judges, but was pleased with her results. "I think I did a great competition for just having a month of training and preparation," she says. "I got a lot of skills that it [usually] takes a long time to get. I was happy with my accomplishment. I was happy to be back. ...I've thought about Sydney, but that's so far ahead."

Two Olympics or one, her family will support her whatever she decides. "As we speak right now, I think we should take it one step at a time," Dimitry says. "See how she's doing. I believe she want to go to 2000."

Karolyi is more cagey about Dominique's chances. "It's hard for me to say whether she is going to have enough mental drive to do that," he says. "She is young, so she is a prime candidate to go further."

And if Dominique continues will Bela follow? "I would never make a comment like 'never' again, because I would look foolish," Bela laughs. "But, gosh, I'm still out here. I'm still semi-active, basically working at the grassroots level."

Unsure about her Olympic aspirations, Moceanu is focused on more immediate goals, which include the nationals and worlds this summer, as well as some professional competitions.

After gymnastics she'd like to attend college and study broadcasting, but for now she's just a normal teenager. Well, almost.

"This weekend I went to the mall and there were these little girls following me and they were, like, 'Oh my gosh look, she touched this!' " she says. "Is was laughing. It was so funny. [But] that's neat how they look up to me."

And why wouldn't they? After all, she's one of their own. "I love the mall, I love shopping, I love going to the movies, I love to hang out with my friends," she gasps, reeling off a list of traditional teen time killers. "I love shoes, I love clothes, I love Express, Limited Too, Limited, The Gap, 5-7-9," Dominique pauses, laughing at the last in her list of favorite stores. "I'm a [size] zero. A zero with alterations."

Like all teens, Dominique is sure to go through many transformations. Despite alterations, her fans are sure to follow.

Taken From: the June/July 1997 issue of International Gymnast magazine.
Pages: 15-17