By Vanessa Harris
Photos by David Young-Wolff Davidyoung-wolff.com
Olympic Gold Medalist Dominique Moceanu was the youngest member of the 1996 U.S. Women’s “Magnificient Seven” Gymnastics team competing in Atlanta–a team that was the first (and so far the only) team to take home the gold medal. In her recently released autobiography, Off Balance: A Memoir, the Olympian hurtles herself into another role: author.
Growing up a gymnast myself, I remember anxiously watching Dominique perform her craft, stunned by the ease, pure joy, and lack of fear she had while carrying out her elite level routines. While catching up with her on her book tour, I found it no surprise that Dominique continues to conquer new grounds with these same noteworthy characteristics she carried as a young girl.
Vanessa Marie Harris: Gymnastics is so much about finding balance.
Dominique Moceanu: On the beam, and off the beam!
VMH: How do you find your balance now?
DM: It comes from having a great family and life, a great husband and kids.
A lot of balance is having the perspective that I want my kids to grow up in a healthy environment and be happy. I think I have my priorities straight. I know what’s important and what I focus on: my family, my children and my husband are number one.
Through all of the challenges in my life, I’ve been able to look at those things and think that they happened for me and not to me—so I can be stronger and can handle anything that comes my way.
I continue to give back to my sport as an ambassador. It makes me feel good and makes me feel like I am balanced in that way.
VMH: How do you think the competitive and confident mentality you cultivated as a child influences you now as an adult?
DM: All that determination in my youth in athletics taught me to become a confident strong woman and business-woman today.
I used that determination to be the first in my family to graduate from college; that was a huge stepping stone. Now, I’ve had five books released this year, “Off Balance: A Memoir” being one of them along with a four-part children’s series. That was a huge goal.
I’ve continued to have goals in my life that keep pushing me to strive, jump out of my element, and do something new. I want to continue to go that route.
VMH: How do you “jump out of your element” and chase those adrenaline rushes now?
DM: I have a lot of coffee! No, I think I have pure adrenaline for being a hard worker… I won’t stop or rest until I accomplish what I need to do. It’s part of who I am, and it was part of how I became so successful when I was young. I think that those things are beneficial to me now because those experiences shaped and molded me to the woman I am today.
VMH: Are your children gymnasts?
DM: Yes and they love it. They are having fun with it but my husband and I don’t want to push them too hard, so I let them play. My son has a fun three-year-old class he enjoys. I just want them to have a healthy mind, healthy body, and healthy soul doing whatever they choose to do. If gymnastics is part of their life, wonderful. If not, that’s okay with us. It’s important for me that they are ethical citizens, have a good work ethic, and that they find something they love: music, art, whatever they’re going to be leaning towards as a passion.
VMH: You learned at an early age how much of the body is controlled by the decisions of the minds. Tell us about your insight related to the mind-body connection.
DM: The mind is so powerful. You can control so much of what you do by what you tell your mind.
Your body participates in sports, it wears and tears, and eventually you have to retire, But your mind stays with you forever, you have to use it to the best of your ability to accomplish the most in life. The mind has such control over the body and how you feel.
As long as you have a strong mind you can overcome anything, but girls in gymnastics let their fears stop them from progressing. They are scared to do that back tuck on balance beam, they’re scared a back handspring back handspring, but if you learn to let go of those fears and instill confidence and believe in yourself. If you don’t believe in yourself, you can’t accomplish those things and move beyond those fears.
Exercising helps the soul too; it’s a release of stress. If I get a good couple work outs in a few times a week I feel back on track. If one is thrown off balance, you have to work to get it back in balance because they all are interconnected.
VMH: You sound like a Yogini. Do you practice Yoga?
DM: I don’t practice Yoga, but I do love stretching. I’ve done a few Yoga classes in the past. Now, I just don’t have enough time. At the gym where I work out, they have a kid’s facility where they just get to play, so I put my kids there while I work out. But I can’t stay too long so until maybe they’re both in school, I just do my own stretching.
VMH: Janice Ward, who was your physical therapist and mentor, seems to have been a shining light in your life. How did her influence and the practices of physical and massage therapy ease you through your growth and struggles?
DM: Janice has been awesome. She entered my life when I was 10 years old; she was kind of an adopted aunt for me and my younger sister Christina. Here she was, this woman coming back from the funeral of her Aunt Pearl whom she was so close with, and she felt so sad. And , I came to her office that very day. We both believe that when one door closes another one opens, and that was in her face that day—and and mine too, because I was like, “Wow I met this person and here’s what she was going through in her life, but we just bonded immediately.”
My masseuse, my physical trainer, my friend, my aunt – she encapsulated all of those things for me as well as being a family friend. She was there for my mom like a sister, she was there for my dad as though he was her tough love brother. She could be tough with him because she grew up with brothers. She was just my slice of American pie.
Her main goal was to help me keep my mind and body healthy, emotionally well and physically not in pain. She wanted me to have a childhood and she made sure to give that to me when she saw I was training so intensely at such a young age and missing out on what normal 10-year-olds do.
I was going to my first competition in Brazil and competing at the junior Pan Am games. So those kinds of things she would sometimes go with me. She went with me to Belgium to make sure that I was safe. She was one of those people in my life where somebody was looking out, and sent her into my life and Christina’s so we could have that person. Everyone has that person, and she was ours that looked out for us. Metaphorically and physically she had a healing touch.
VMH: You are open about the pressure of body image issues not only as a gymnast but as a woman. How did you learn to become comfortable in your own skin?
DM: It took many years. As an an elite athlete so young with coaches having unrealistic expectations who don’t talk to you about nutrition, I think you are just not educated. When coaches are nasty and negative, it hurts. As a small child when you’re being called fat, when there is name calling and belittling, it balloons and affects you because it hurts, when you know you’re just 70 pounds and 4 foot 4 and fourteen years old.
For awhile I had to figure out how to be healthy way. It took a long time. It takes a lot of elite gymnasts a long time. We put on a bunch of weight, almost instantly, because we stop training eight hours a day, our diet is no longer restricted, and s we have the freedom to eat whatever you want. You’re not chained anymore, and boom, you go through this phase in your 20s when you gain a lot of weight and then you have to start regulating differently.
A lot of these girls are peaking at 16, and while some of them are going to naturally be thin, some of us are going to have to work at it harder. For me in my 20s, meeting my husband, was helpful. He gave me such a healthy perspective and instilled confidence in me. He loved me with my curves, and he had the attitude,,“You want to get in shape? I’ll help you, we’ll work together.” Then I realized I wanted to be healthy, I didn’t want to have a warped body image. I decided I wanted to make a change and that I don’t want the people who hurt me to ruin the way I felt about myself for the rest of my life.
I decided I’m going be healthy, I’m going to eat what I want in moderation, and I’m going to work out. Sometimes I work out with my husband, and we make it a fun team activity. Little by little I started becoming regulated and I felt that my body was at a good peaceful place. I had kids, I allowed myself to eat what I wanted, I gained healthy weight, I didn’t care so much what the scale said, which was a pretty big deal—I’ve come a long way.
Now, I’m fine, I eat what I want, and I love my chocolate still. A lot of people don’t get there. I coach young gymnasts and one who I coached when she was very young currently has an eating disorder. It breaks my heart that she can’t beat it right now, but I keep instilling love and confidence in her, and I think one day she’ll get there. But it’s very real: These things happen to these girls, and you want to hope that they can find a way to get through it.
I hope that I am that inspiration to a lot of them who have looked up to me at one point in their lives.
Dominique Moceanu wrote “Dominique Moceanu: An American Champion” when she was only 13 years old. The memoir ranked number seven on New York Times’ Best Sellers List. Her second autobiographical work, “Off Balance: A Memoir,” was recently released: Dominique-moceanu.com.
David Young-Wolff loves to tell a story in a single frame. Never satisfied with the ordinary, he strives to create exciting images with a unique twist. In addition to his assignments, he is currently working on two projects. One is coming to LA, which involves photographing people who are moved to LA from other countries. He is also shooting photos to illustrate an upcoming book, Navajo Mothers, Navajo Daughters. davidyoung-wolff.com
