She stuck her vault in the 1996 Olympic games, bringing home the gold for her team and earning a round of applause from the crowd. She was the youngest member of the U.S. women’s gymnastics team to win a gold medal. This women’s name is Dominique Moceanu (Pronounced mo-chee-AH-new). Her life may seem perfect with all the success in gymnastics although it was anything but that. With a short-tempered father, an overworking coach, and a sister she didn’t know about; her life was not a piece of cake. Dominique’s birth and childhood was fairly simple. She was a healthy baby and was descend to become a gymnast. Dominique’s parents, Dumitru and Camelia Moceanu, were both gymnasts and competed in Romania when they were younger so naturally, gymnastics came to Dominique easily. When Dominique was three months old, her parents wanted to test her strength to see if she had what it took to be a gymnast. They put a clothesline up and put Dominique on it so she was hanging up by her hands. Dumitru slowly took his hands away and Dominique still held on. Dominique was told that she wouldn’t let go and held on to the clothesline until it broke! At …show more content…
When Dominique was twenty-five she married Michael Canales, aged twenty-nine. Michael Canales was a nationally ranked collegiate gymnast and is now a podiatric surgeon. The first time they met was when Dominique was competing at the Junior National Championships, she was twelve and he was sixteen. Dominique and Michael started dating in 2001 and on November 4th, 2006, they were wed .“This is the best day of my life!” Dominique said excitedly in a magazine interview. “I’m marring the best person for me.” One year after they were wed, Dominique and Michael welcomed baby girl Carmen Noel Canales to the world. When Carmen was two, Dominique and Michael decided to have another baby. This baby’s name was Vincent Michael Canales. Today, Carmen is eight and Vincent is six. Both kids are taking part of gymnastics like both Dominique and