Top Gymnasts Find Home in Union City

By Matthew Artz, Staff Writer
Fremont Argus, August 31, 2007

Whether it was five world championships or the Olympics in Barcelona and Atlanta, the 1993 Japanese all-around champion competed in front of packed houses, hobnobbed with gold medalists and earned a devoted following in her homeland.

"When I went to competitions, Japanese fans would give me presents," she said.

Now a coach, gymnastics once again has led Miura somewhere unexpected: Pacific West Gymnastics studio in Union City.

On a stuffy Wednesday evening, Miura's class consisted of about a dozen elementary school girls. Looking on were a few parents seated near handmade construction-paper signs bearing words of encouragement such as, "You Can Do It Natalie" and "Good Luck Gordon." "Sure, I miss (the competition)," Miura said, recalling the 1992 Olympics, where she spotted Dream Team member Michael Jordan. "(But) this is also a very great experience. I just enjoy coaching here."

Since opening Pacific West two years ago, Evelyn Paradis, a Fremont native, hasn't produced the next Mary Lou Retton yet, but she has managed to recruit a triumvirate of top-flight international coaches.

Besides Miura, there is the Romanian husband and wife team of Liviu Mazilu and Rodica Apateanu. Apateanu competed in the 1971 World Championships, judged international competitions and trained future Romanian Olympians.

Mazilu also competed, but made more of a name for himself in coaching. He was a Romanian national team coach, and in 1997, he coached U.S. Olympic gold medalist Dominique Moceanu in the World Championships.

With Pacific West's elite girls team on Wednesday, Mazilu, in a soft voice and thick accent, critiqued his students' performances on the uneven bars.

"Ouch," he said with a smile as one girl twirling on the high bar accidentally smacked her feet into the lower one.

"I don't know that I can still be so tough for the highest level of competition," Mazilu said. "I'm too nice to push them that hard."

Mazilu and Apateanu are a generation older than Nadia Comaneci, the Romanian wunderkind who won three gold medals as a 14-year-old in the 1976 Montreal Olympics and transformed the country into a female gymnast factory.

"We didn't work so much like today," said Apateanu, who started learning gymnastics at the now-ancient age of 9. "It was easier and more accessible then."

She and her husband were content to coach future Romanian Olympians, until they won the lottery for U.S. green cards in 1996. Within a year, they were in Texas, where Mazilu started training Moceanu for the upcoming World Championships.

But Moceanu fared poorly at the tournament and parted ways with Mazilu, who, with his wife, then headed to California. After nearly a decade in San Jose, the gym they worked at was sold, so last December they started working in Union City.

At about the same time, Miura, who had moved to San Jose, also was looking for a new employer.

Their presence has helped Pacific West more than double the size of its competitive team to 54 members and attract students from as far away as Santa Cruz, Paradis said.

Victoria Sanders, a 15-year-old from Fremont, admitted she was star-struck when she started working with Mazilu.

"At first you're like, 'That's so cool. I'm meeting someone who's famous,' but then you get used to it, and they're just another coach."

Although Pacific West, which now has about 350 students and 15 coaches, hasn't yet made a name for itself in competitive gymnastics, Paradis, who is also a coach, thinks a few of the younger girls have a bright future in the sport.

If so, they'll have coaches who have seen it all before.

Apateanu still keeps a box with newspaper clippings from her days as a well-known athlete in Romania.

She'll share a few stories from her glory days with her students, but mostly keeps the past to herself.

"It's part of history for me," she said. "Now I'm here and my job is different. I just want to be part of a team that is doing nice gymnastics and hopefully has good results."

Staff writer Matthew Artz covers Union City for The Argus. He can be reached at 510-353-7003 or martz@angnewspapers.com.