Winning at a young age, with the world at your feet, what could go wrong? Dominique Moceanu, at the age of 14, at the 1996 Summer Olympics was an Olympic Gold winner, and yet her personal life had troubles that she had no idea about. Now, it has been more than a decade since the first revelation about the acclaimed gymnast and her long-estranged younger sister. But even now, new details about the story come out, and how it was a secret that was kept from Moceanu.
She was part of the US women’s gymnastics team known as the “Magnificent Seven” that won the team gold medal at the 1996 Summer Olympics in Atlanta. Why was it historic? This was the first time a US women’s gymnastics team won gold at the Olympics. Naturally, the team garnered headlines and left an indelible mark on the new athletes to follow. One of them turned out to be Dominique Moceanu’s long-lost sister, Jennifer Bricker.
Back in 1987, Moceanu’s parents, Camelia and Dumitru, abandoned Bricker at the hospital as a baby in Chicago, Illinois. Because Bricker was born without legs due to uterine band had severed the blood flow to her lower limbs. Now, Daily Mail reported, “Neither knew in 1995 that it was Dominique’s parents who gave Jen up for adoption on the day she was born, out of fear that they would struggle to afford her medical bills.” Another shocking tale is that Camelia never had the chance to wrap her arms around Jennifer.
In 1995, Dominique Moceanu dominated national news because she was a national all-around champion at just 13 years old. And far away from her in Illinois, Jennifer idolized the person who would later turn out to be her sister. Bricker, while speaking to the Daily Mail, said, “It’s just a miracle that I would even be watching [the competition], that I would see her.” The reason is also very uncommon, since there was no gymnastics facility that Bricker would train in.
However, she recalled, “It was just this innate thing in me. And then I finally saw somebody who I could relate to.” Moceanu shared the story in her 2012 memoir, “Off Balance,” and documentary titled “She Looks Like Me,” which premiered at the SXSW Film Festival in March last year.
Conquering Gymnastics and reuniting with family–Dominique Moceanu
Inspired by Moceanu, Jen entered the 1998 AAU Junior Olympics and placed fourth before going on to become a well-known aerialist and motivational speaker. Quite shocking, right? Even Moceanu felt so and revealed it last year. “Her childhood idol became her biological sister. Which is, that is unheard of. That’s like one in a billion,” said Moceanu, recounting the story from her Northeast Ohio gym.
Dominique Moceanu’s parents had a hard time coming around the fact. The decision was taken by her father, Dumitru. But it was his dying wish to meet his long-lost daughter once, which the 1996 Olympian revealed. Dumitru passed away in 2008 and never got a chance to meet Jen, but “he wanted to“, said Moceanu, last year.
“That was kind of one of his dying wishes. It’s like, ‘I do want to meet her,’ and it was kind of something he said right before he passed, and I thought, ‘Well, you’ve come a long way.’” Despite years of being away from her birth family, apparently Bricker had no hate towards Moceanu or towards her elder sister, who was also her idol.
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