Relive 1996 Olympic Glory
The "Magnificent Seven" captured a ton of media attention during the 1996 Atlanta Olympics as the U.S. captured gold. However, one of the members of the team, Dominique Moceanu (third from right) says there was a dark side to the team's success.
John Gaps III, AP
Moceanu says that dietary restrictions on her while growing up led to numerous injuries due to the "dark side of the elite gymnastics scene," where young girls are put under intense pressure to perform.
Jerry T. Lai, Getty Images
Moceanu competed in Atlanta at the age of 14, and she now realizes that her upbringing led to numerous injuries and pressure not normally on a girl that age.
Doug Pensinger, Getty Images
While Moceanu, now 27 and a mother, hopes there is change within the sport, she isn't optimistic there will be with the current leadership at the national training center.
Jerry T. Lai, Getty Images
Amanda Borden, Amy Chow, Dominique Dawes, Shannon Miller, Dominique Moceanu, Jaycie Phelps, and Kerri Strug were recently inducted to the U.S. Olympic Hall of Fame.
Jerry Lai, Getty Images
Phelps, left, Borden, center, and Moceanu were part of the first U.S. women's gymnastics team to capture the gold medal, and one that made the girls American heroes.
Alexander Zemlianichenko, AP
The most memorable moment of their performance was Strug's effort, as she was able to come through injury to help the team capture gold.
Doug Pensinger, Getty Images
Strug injured her ankle on her first attempt on the vault, and had to attempt the excercize again by landing on one leg.
John Gaps III, AP
Strug managed to land and despite not even being able to walk, secured the gold medal for the United States with the one-legged landing.
Amy Sancetta, AP
Moceanu, who was considered a medal threat coming into the 1996 Olympics, suffered a stress fracture that made it difficult for her to compete during the Games.
Eric Fefferberg, AFP / Getty Images
Just as with the aforementioned novel and many topics on Real Sports, this discussion will not focus on the lighter side of gymnastics in the Olympics.
Instead, Moceanu will allege that there are many concerns facing young gymnasts in their world of competitive sport
Moceanu, who said there is a "dark side of the elite gymnastics scene," described diet restrictions she said she had to follow as a young gymnast and physical stresses that led to leg, wrist and shoulder injuries. She said one way to change the sport's culture would be to remove Martha Karolyi, the women's national team coordinator, and Bela Karolyi, who operates the national training center, from their roles.Despite the Zoolanderian way in which these particular allegations sound, they are pretty serious. Moceanu and Sey are essentially stating that the organization structure inherent with the USA gymnastics teams encourages poor psychological and physical development within these young women.
"People are hoping that there'll be change," Moceanu said. " ... If it was up to the athletes, it would have happened a long time ago."
