The Olympian and the CrossFitter

The Olympian and the CrossFitter

 

Gymnast Dominique Moceanu Helps Julie Foucher With Handstand Push-Ups

 

By Jason Gay in the Wall Street Journal

·  @JasonWSJ·  Jason.Gay@wsj.com·  Biography

A couple of years back, a former high school gymnast from Michigan named Julie Foucher was in the hunt to win the CrossFit Games—the fast-growing strength and endurance competition that determines, in its own words, "the fittest on earth." Over several days, Foucher lifted, swam, ran and jumped. Wait: that is making it sound way too much like a lazy day at sleep-away summer camp. The CrossFit Games are not a lazy afternoon at sleep-away summer camp. They can be grueling. Like her competitors, Foucher repeatedly pushed herself to the physical limit.

Then came handstand push-ups. If you are like me, you can do somewhere between zero and zero handstand push-ups. Foucher also encountered difficulty. Any chance at the title slipped away. Foucher took second in 2012. Not at all bad, though not first.

A medical student at the Cleveland Clinic Lerner College of Medicine of Case Western Reserve University—you must need to wear two school sweatshirts for all that—Foucher took a season off to focus on her studies. But 2014 loomed as a comeback year. Foucher began to ramp up her competitive training, working as usual with her longtime CrossFit coach, Doug Chapman. But she wanted a little outside help. Gymnastics help. Help on specifics like those handstand push-ups. She asked around, and discovered that there was a gymnast in the Cleveland area interested in helping her: Dominique Moceanu.

As in that Dominique Moceanu. Gymnastics idol, member of the Magnificent Seven, 14-year-old gold medalist at the 1996 Olympic Games. With her gymnast and doctor husband, Michael Canales, Moceanu had an affiliation with a Cleveland facility called Gymnastics World. Both Moceanu and Canales had been intrigued by the rising popularity of CrossFit—specifically how it employed gymnastic techniques, and the athleticism of its competitors. A connection with Foucher was made. "We reached out and said, 'Hey, if you ever need, we'd love to help out," Moceanu, now 32, said in a telephone interview earlier this summer.

"I don't normally get star-struck or nervous," said Foucher. "But when I found out I would get to meet her, I was really excited. I'd really looked up to her when I was a little girl."

A partnership blossomed: the Olympian and the CrossFitter.

"Perfect timing," Moceanu said. "It was almost as if fate had brought us together."

Moceanu and Canales plan to be on hand this weekend in Carson, Calif., as Foucher competes in the 2014 CrossFit Games. The Games began Wednesday with a series of swimming events in Hermosa Beach, Calif., with Foucher among the favorites in a spectacle that continues to widen in popularity, as some traditional sports struggle for relevance. Since launching in 2007, the CrossFit Games have blossomed into an engrossing multiday event with a global list of competitors. Reebok serves as a title sponsor. ESPN provides coverage. And Foucher, 25, is a rising star.

"Julie doesn't really have any weaknesses," said Chapman, who first began training Foucher at his HyperFit USA gym in Ann Arbor, back when Foucher was an undergrad at the University of Michigan.

A former wrestler with 12 athletes competing in this year's Games, Chapman continued to supervise Foucher's overall training as Moceanu and Canales advised on gymnastics. ("Doug's the ringleader," Canales said.) Moceanu described working with Foucher on flexibility and what she described as "overall body-awareness." She and Canales created a series of circuit-training and tumbling drills; they worked with weights around Foucher's ankles and midsection; they tweaked Foucher's technique with rings and ropes. Since the CrossFit Games thrive on the element of surprise—some workouts aren't revealed until the last minute—Foucher had to be prepped for anything. "You never know what CrossFit will throw at her," Moceanu said.

Foucher said her early starstruck-ness had worn off—almost. "There are still moments where I am like, 'Dominique Moceanu is helping me do splits right now," she said.

Meanwhile, Moceanu and Canales developed an appreciation of their own. Canales, a member of Ohio State's 1996 National Championship gymnastics team, said they often see Foucher perform basic gymnastics techniques in which "you would not be able to tell the difference between an elite international competitive gymnast and Julie."

"I can't believe some of the things she does," said Moceanu. "And I know I pushed my body to the limit."

Moceanu also worked with Foucher on her mental preparation and developing competitive edge—"killer instinct," as Moceanu put it. "I've always been a little more reserved and shy and not so aggressive in my competitive nature," Foucher said. "But [Dominique] is a competitor through and through."

"You have to say it," Moceanu insisted. "I said it at nine years old. 'I want to be an Olympic champion.' [Julie] has it in there. It is just giving her a little more mental edge."

Whatever happens at these games, Foucher's medical schooling will continue; she hopes to one day build a family practice. Reached Wednesday afternoon, Foucher said she was pleased with her performance in the ocean swimming events. Overhead squats were scheduled for the evening. "I feel pretty relaxed," she said. There was a lot of competition remaining to declare the fittest on earth, but Julie Foucher felt prepared for whatever came next.