Dominique Moceanu, a member of the 1996 gold medal winning US women’s gymnastic team, receive the biggest bomb shell of her life as her father was dying and weeks before giving birth to her first child.
Moceanu received a letter in 2007 from Jen Bricker, saying that she was the Olympic gymnasts biological sister. Their parents, Bricker wrote, gave her up for adoption when they found out she had no legs.
The news had been equally shocking toBricker, who grew up idolizing Moceanu, the youngest member of the US Olympic champion “Magnificent 7”. “I would not shut up about her. Dominique!”, said Bricker who did not know at the time that the champion was her sister. “I knew she was Romanian. I knew we looked alike. I was her biggest fan!”
Amazingly, Bricker, now 24 is a gymnast herself. Having no legs did not stop her from excelling in volleyball, basketball and softball in her youth. But, just like her sister, her passion is gymnastics. She even made it all the way to the Junior Olympics as a power tumblr.
When Jen was 16, her parents an Illinois couple who adopted her is a baby, reveal to her that the gymnast she had been idolizing was actually her older sister. Four years later, Bricker sent a letter to Moceanu. Published in Moceanu new memoir “Off Balance”, the letter included photos and Bricker’s adoption papers. Bricker wrote to her sister “I feel that I have one chance to show you and prove to you that I am not some crazy person, but I am sure after seeing all of those papers, you’ll see that I’m serious.”
The sisters now have a close bond and continue to marvel at the similarities. “The tone of our voice, our handwriting, the way we laugh and chuckle. It is mind blowing,” Moceanu said. Bricker enjoys a strong career as an acrobat and an aerialist and has even toured the world with Britney Spears.
