Leg Injury Clouds Moceanu’s Hopes

The book tour for “Dominique Moceanu: An American Champion” got off to an inauspicious start Monday, with the 14-year-old author-gymnast telling the “Today” show that a stress fracture in her right leg could keep her out of the Olympics.

“I don’t know, it’s going to be hard,” she said on the program. “This has been my dream and everything. . . . You have to prepare yourself for the worst--and hopefully pray the best. So, we’ll see.”

Moceanu was found to have a four-inch stress fracture of the tibia--the inner bone of the lower leg--last Monday, after complaining of soreness at the U.S. national championships. She has petitioned the U.S. Gymnastics Federation for permission to bypass next week’s Olympic trials and would then try to qualify for the Olympic team by way of a waiver procedure.

U.S. Olympic gymnastics qualifying procedures allow for injured competitors to skip the trials and use their scores from the national championships instead. At the nationals in Knoxville, Tenn., earlier this month, Moceanu was third with an overall score of 78.22.

Shannon Miller, who won the national meet with a score of 78.38, will also petition for an injury waiver “in the next 24 to 48 hours,” according to her coach, Steve Nunno. Miller has been bothered by a pulled forearm muscle and a sore wrist tendon in recent months, and she aggravated the wrist injury while competing in Knoxville.

Moceanu and Miller, considered the United States’ best hopes for an Olympic gymnastics medal, will try to make the U.S. squad in absentia. If both petitions are accepted, which is likely, Moceanu’s score of 78.22 and Miller’s mark of 78.38 will be entered among the others produced at the trials, to be held June 27-30 in Boston.

If those scores rank among the top seven, Moceanu and Miller will qualify for the Olympic team.

“That’s a gray area,” said Bela Karolyi, Moceanu’s coach. “There’s no guarantee that Dominique’s nationals score will hold up. Scores at the trials are higher than at the nationals--they tend to go up by 8/10ths of a point to a full point. At the trials, the fourth, fifth, sixth and seventh gymnasts can come very close to Dominique’s score.”

Nunno is less anxious about Miller’s chances because, he said, “I did a little research before I decided to petition and in the last three Olympic trials--’84, ’88 and ‘92--only two athletes besides Shannon did better than her score: Phoebe Mills in ’88 and both Kim Zmeskal and Shannon in ’92.

“And Dominique is only a tenth of a point behind Shannon. So, I’d say it looks pretty good for both of them.”

If Moceanu and Miller qualify, they will have exactly three weeks to prepare before their first Olympic events. That, in Karolyi’s estimation, is ample time.

“The doctors tell me Dominique will be out a minimum of two weeks,” Karolyi said. “After that, anyone who starts to guess [as to when she can compete again] would be gambling. But I know one thing, because I have seen it happen a few times during my coaching career--young athletes heal quickly.

“Mary Lou [Retton] in ’84 had knee surgery five weeks before the Olympics and won the gold medal. Nadia [Comaneci] also, in ‘76, entered the Olympics with a heavily sprained ankle, and she was a complete success there.

“Based on my experience, I know I could put [Moceanu] out on the floor tomorrow and still have her turn in a more than decent performance.”

Doctors would advise Karolyi against it, however. After examining Moceanu, doctors warned that she could break the leg if she tried to compete on it too soon.

Moceanu spoke about her injury in dramatic terms on “Today.”

“In the competition, I really started to feel sharp, sharper pain,” she said. “That’s when I knew something was wrong with it. I mean, it was pretty bad at first. . . . We were like, ‘Oh my gosh, how can this happen right now?’ ”

Moceanu won the 1995 U.S. senior nationals when she was 13, a year after winning the junior national championships--an unprecedented feat. At the 1995 World Championships, she placed fifth, best among Americans, and helped the United States team to the bronze medal.

Those two results, combined with Karolyi’s Olympic expectations for Moceanu, led to the hurry-up autobiography, which was released Monday. Sales, of course, may dip if Moceanu, American Champion, spends two weeks in Atlanta this summer sitting in the stands.

For the moment, however, Karolyi continues to talk bravely.

“After the trials are over, she still would have [three] weeks to prepare,” Karolyi said. “That’s not a whole lot of time, but I feel very optimistic that in that period of time, we could get her ready to be successful. I think she can do it.”