Read 30 Books #3 - Off Balance

The 2012 Olympics are officially over and it's probably a good thing, because I have been a little obsessed the past two weeks. I've heard how terrible the NBC coverage of the games in America is, but in the UK we had 24 HD channels on BBC streaming every game live. I even attended seven of the games so it's been extra awesome and overwhelming. My favorite summer Olympic sport is artistic gymnastics. I was 14-years-old when USA took home the team gold for the first time ever and 16 years later we did it again. It brought back all of those memories of the Magnificent Seven, which got me thinking, what are they doing now?

1996 US Women's Gymnastics Team Gold left to right: Borden, Dawes, Chow, Phelps, Moceanu, Strug, and Miller

After a couple hours of lost time on Wikipedia, reading articles, looking at old and new pictures and watching YouTube videos of those old routines I remember as a teenager, I caught up on those seven American gymnasts. I found out Shannon Miller has had enough plastic surgery to make her look completely different, she also survived ovarian cancer; Amy Chow is a paediatric surgeon, pianist and pole vaulter; Dominique Dawes is still gorgeous and is on President Obama's council for Fitness, Sports and Nutrition; Amanda Borden ditched that awful short bob and opened a gym in Arizona; Kerri Strug is an avid marathon runner; and Jaycie Phelps owns her own athletic center in her hometown of Indianapolis.

2007 Reunion in Atlanta. Left to right: Borden, Chow, Phelps, Moceanu, Strug, Dawes and Miller

But who can forget the youngest, tiniest gymnast of them all, Dominique Moceanu? She was the same age as me at the time of that gold medal performance, but at only 4' 4" and 70 pounds she looked more like a 10-year-old. She stole America's heart that year especially with her Devil Went Down to Georgia floor routine. A couple years after those Atlanta summer games she was surrounded by media and scandal as she took her parents to court for a divorce. After she was emancipated she continued to train under her own terms and made several attempts to get back to elite competing condition, but was plagued by injury and surgeries. While I was looking into what she's been up to I found that she just released a memoir nicely timed with the recent hype of another USA team gold medal. I found this video online and it's not hard to believe I immediately put down the book I was reading (and not very interested in anyway) to pick up this interesting memoir:

Yeahhhhh, so it's not enough that she has a secret sister that was given up for adoption, but that sister has no legs. Pretty juicy stuff. Dominique's memoir, Off Balance,  is full of gymnastics horror stories mostly surrounding her crazy intense father and the demanding and manipulative Karolyi power couple (who are still in power today). What makes this gymnastics story unique is that Dominique is a first generation American, but was raised very much like her family still lived in tyrannical Romania (she hadn't even tried a peanut butter and jelly sandwich until she was 14-years-old!). Because of this upbringing you see why she resorted to seeking emancipation after being under the iron fist of her father. Perhaps the most inspiring part of this whole story is not Dominique's at all, but that of the sister she only learned about a few years ago. Her sister, Jennifer, seems like an incredible person - born without legs, but doing more than most people with legs accomplish (including myself). She climbed trees as a small kid, played softball, basketball, volleyball and gymnastics - without legs!! Man, do I feel like a bum when so-called 'disabled' people do more than I do! Really makes me feel guilty for not appreciating or taking care of my body. 

I'm giving this book a thumbs up! I enjoyed the juicy gossip, was inspired by Dominique's sister, and even though Dominique did not get to compete again she's now living happily with her husband and two children. I did struggle with a couple parts of this book, one being the repetitiveness of some of the statements about gymnasts or her family; this is likely an editing problem which surprises me because there were two co-authors. Also, while I don't doubt Dominique had an awful childhood, I can't help but wonder how much of her perspective is distorted from a child's point of view? We all have our childhood issues, which at the time seem so traumatic or dramatic because that point in our life is narrow and that's how it feels. As we get older we look back on those things and yes, some of it is still awful, but maybe not as bad as we once felt when we were that immature child and our world was so small. We learn to understand our counterpoint's perspective, forgive, and grow. I don't know how much of that Dominique has done and at times I felt like I was listening to a teenager still. It almost seems as if this was an exposé on how awful, corrupt, and damaging Bela and Marta Karolyi are to USA gymnastics. I would have liked to read more in-depth details on her struggle to get back to competing again in the early 2000s, her partying years (she briefly discusses boys, alcohol and drugs, but not in anywhere close to the detail of the tumbles in her past routines or cruel conversations with Bela), and the creative process (if any) of gymnastics. After reading this book, I'm hoping we get to hear more from her sister about her journey through all of this!