Dominique Moceanu is a former gold gymnast who also wears the hat of a businesswoman and an author. She holds the record for the best female gymnast ever produced by the United States. The former athlete began at a young age – thanks to her sports parents who discovered her talent in time.

During his career, Moceanu has represented his national team across the various age categories at national and international world championships and has also featured for several clubs. Although she has retired from the sporting world, her legacy is not entirely forgotten. Currently, she is a successful entrepreneur and also works as a coach and author.

Dominique Moceanu’s Bio (Age)

The former athlete was born Dominique HelenaMoceanu in Hollywood, California on September 30, 1981. Dominique’s hometown is Cleveland, Ohio while her parents are of Romanian descent. She began taking gymnastics lessons at the age of three in Illinois and later trained in Florida, precisely at LaFleur. She was then coached by famed Romanian coaches Béla and Marta Károlyi at the age of 10, after her family moved to Houston, Texas.

She started her career very young. She earned her first place on the US national team in 1992 as well as five medals at the Junior Pan American Games this spring. Under Károlyis, the athlete became a junior national champion in 1994 and a senior national champion the following year, becoming the youngest gymnast to win the US national gymnastics title. At the 1995 World Championships held in Japan, Dominique was also the youngest member of the American team. That didn’t stop her, however, from becoming the only American to win an individual silver medal as well as the top American all around finalist.

Prior to the 1996 Olympics, Moceanu wrote an autobiography titled Dominique Moceanu: An American Champion, starring Steve Woodward, which was also featured on Vanity Fair. She also had many fans in and out of the gymnastics world. After her retirement in 2000, she was involved in many things. She graduated with a degree in business management from John Carroll University in May 2009.

The former athlete also has a family – twoDr. Michael Canales, a former gymnast and podiatrist from Ohio State, after their wedding on November 4, 2006. Their children’s names are Carmen Noel Canales (she was born on December 25, 2007) and Vincent Michael Canales (he was born in May 2009 ).

Parents

Dominique is the daughter of Romanian parents Dumitru Moceanu and Camelia Moceanu. Both are former gymnasts and are believed to have arrived in the United States in 1981 after fleeing Ceausescu’s administration in Romania. It was shortly after they settled in the United States that Dominique was born.

The gymnast shared that her father was an overbearing one who repeatedly abused his family. At the age of seventeen, Moceanu sued his parents for squandering $1 million of his post-Olympic earnings. She then broke free from them and began taking charge of her own finances.

Sister

Dominique has two younger sisters – Jennifer Moceanu (born October 1, 1987) and Christina Moceanu (born August 24, 1989). She was raised with Christina while Jennifer was raised by her adoptive parents, Sharon and Gerald Bricker, in Illinois. Jennifer was given up for adoption by her parents the day she was born because she was born without legs and her irresponsible father decided not to raise her for fear of not being able to pay her care bills health.

Although Jennifer was born without legs, she took up athletics (aerial acrobatics) and the performer never allowed her disability to stop her from becoming a champion. She grew up fearless with the help of her older siblings (the Brickers). She fell in love with gymnastics at the age of eleven after watching Dominique Moceanu win a gold medal at the 1996 Olympics in the United States without knowing she was her biological sister.

Besides their striking resemblance and athletic talent, Jennifer realized that she shared a lot more in common with Dominique and she began to idolize her. She eventually took part in the Junior Olympics and later started falling for Illinois State. Over time, she continued to follow Moceanu, even when she made headlines for suing her parents for spending lavishly on her million-dollar post-Olympic winnings.

After so many years, Jennifer learned from her adoptive mother that Dominique is actually her biological sister. And after taking some time to process the revelation, she decided to write to him to inform him that she was his fan, that his biological last name was Moceanu and that she was also his sister. Moceanu received his letter on December 10, 2007 and immediately made a call to his mother as his father was sick at the time and could barely communicate with people. Camelia, amid tears, told Dominique that her father had given up a baby girl for adoption in 1987.

After giving birth to her first daughter on December 25, 2007, Moceanu felt ready to meet Jennifer for the first time. Along with her younger sister Christina, she met Jennifer at Dominique’s apartment in Ohio for the first time. Sadly, their father passed away before the reunion but Jennifer finally met her birth mother in January 2010 when she was 22 years old.

The sisters currently live in different states, but they visit each other when they can. Jennifer, in particular, continues to perform as an aerial acrobat and travels the world as a motivational speaker.

Net value

From his sports, business and writing career, Dominique has reaped a fortune. As an international figure, it’s no surprise that she’s a millionaire. Currently, the former American professional gymnast is worth $2 million. Now she is writing and starting to work, and her earnings/net worth is expected to increase beyond this figure in the near future.

Body dimensions: height

Moceanu is 5 feet 3 inches (1.6 meters) tall. However, his exact measurement of weight and that of his other body characteristics are difficult to obtain.