“No wonder she was too nervous” - Fans remember potential gymnasts who weren't coached properly

Modified Nov 18, 2023 02:25 IST

Dominique Moceanu and Elena Mukhina (Image via Sportskeeda)

A social media page dedicated to gymnastics recently remembered a couple of gymnasts who had immense potential but couldn't achieve their potential due to poor coaching.

The page primarily highlighted legendary gymnasts Dominique Moceanu and Elena Mukhina. Mentioning their gymnastics run, the fans also talked about the aspects that hindered their potentially brilliant careers. This made several users remember other veteran gymnasts with similar stories.

American gymnast Moceanu was a member of the gold medal-winning United States women's gymnastics team, the ‘Magnificent Seven’ at the 1996 Olympics in Atlanta.

However, the fan pointed out that the gymnast trained under an allegedly abusive set of coaches, Béla and Marta Károlyi. Although she made it to the 1996 Olympics, Monceanu underperformed due to her injuries.

The Reddit post revealed that by 1997, the American gymnast was relieved from her abusive coaches as they retired. That year, she made it to the world championship but was out of shape.

Later on, Moceanu won the Goodwill Games under the able guidance of coach Luminita Miscenco. However, the gymnast had to get rid of him, as her father did not like the coach.

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Eventually, the 1996 Olympic gold medalist filed for a ‘divorce’ with her parents in 1999. She tried to make her comeback in 2000 under coach Mary Lee Tracy but it turned out to be a failed attempt.

She injured herself while warming up at the nationals which did not let her continue her participation. The gymnast tried a final comeback in 2006 but failed to score high enough at the nationals.

Soviet gymnast Elena Mukhina's bright career got diminished due to a series of injuries and poor coaching. She won three golds, one silver, and one bronze medal at the 1977 European Championships. In fact, Mukhina also won three gold medals and a silver medal in the 1978 world championships in Strasbourg.

However, in 1979, the Soviet gymnast experienced a series of injuries that badly affected her career. She broke her leg while training for the world championships. After a year, she was rushed back to training without proper recovery for the 1980 Olympics. However, two weeks before the big event, she broke her neck.

On learning about the sorrowful stories of the two veteran gymnasts, Reddit users remembered a couple of other gymnasts. One of the users recalled Anastasia Grishina and wrote:

"I feel so bad for Nastia. Her coaches would not stop changing her bb/fx composition in 2012. No wonder she was too nervous for beam in 2012 team final."

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Another user shared a different take by remembering Jordan Chiles:

"Also Jordan Chiles! Although we already saw her potential earlier in the year @ Winter Cup when she scored 57+ in the AA!"

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Kara Eaker received support from Dominique Moceanu

In October this year, gymnast Kara Eaker made headlines after announcing her retirement from Utah University’s gymnastics team. She revealed that the decision was due to the abusive training sessions that took a toll on her mental and physical health.

Eaker pointed to a particular Utah coach whose treatment discouraged her from training. The young gymnast received immense love and support from her fellow gymnasts.

Eaker also received encouragement from veteran gymnast Dominique Moceanu. The latter wrote on her X (formerly known as Twitter) handle: