JOHNSTOWN — Olympic gold medalist Dominique Dawes wasn’t surprised when she learned Johnstown gymnast Kristal Uzelac has been training with the goal of possibly competing again at the elite level.

Uzelac is 24.

“I could definitely relate,” said Dawes, 33, who will make an appearance at Uzelac Gymnastics in Richland at 3 p.m. on Sunday. “I could not get gymnastics out of my blood even after winning the gold in 1996.

“When I see Kristal Sunday I’ll give her a pep talk.”

Dawes briefly retired after winning gold as part of the United States’ “Magnificent Seven” team in the 1996 Atlanta Olympic Games. She ended her retirement and was a veteran on the 2000 U.S. Team in Sydney, Australia.

That group was back in the spotlight this month, receiving a belated bronze medal.

The Chinese team, which originally placed third, was disqualified for using an underage, 14-year-old gymnast. The U.S. moved from fourth to third place 10 years later.

Back in 2000, Uzelac was only 14 years old – two years below the minimum age required to compete in the Olympics.

Uzelac had just won the second of an unprecedented three consecutive Junior National titles. She had already competed twice in the Canberra Cup in Australia, winning silver each time. Uzelac had been first all-around while representing Team USA in France a year earlier. She won the gold with Team USA in a competition against China and Romania at the International Team Championships in 1998.

The diminutive gymnast was on the fast track to the Olympics, it seemed.

But she was two years too young in 2000.

“I think back on 2000, and think if I was 16 I could have had the chance to have been on that 2000 team,” Uzelac said Thursday.

“At the time things just flew by me and I didn’t realize it. They told me I could have made the Olympic team. But I was 14. I did not know any better. When I look back, I realize it was possible, and it makes you think.

“During the trials for the 2000 Olympics, all around Boston there was a banner of me hanging in the streets,” Uzelac added. “Now thinking about it I wish I was 16 and could have been on that team. But you can’t change that. I did learn a lot by not being on that team.”

Uzelac’s career continued to progress until injuries slowed her. She wasn’t in the running for a spot in the 2004 Athens Games. Eventually Uzelac earned a full scholarship to Penn State and made an almost immediate impact before a concussion and ankle injury ended her college career.

Dawes first heard of Uzelac between the 1996 and 2000 Games. Dawes had briefly stepped away from competing at the international level during that stretch.

“I had heard the buzz of Kristal coming up as a pretty talented junior,” Dawes said.

“I was a fan of Parkettes (where Uzelac trained in Allentown). I had seen Kristal coming up as  a junior. I did get a kick out of watching this young little girl moving up the ranks and possibly becoming an Olympic hopeful, even though her age prevented her from competing in the 2000 Games. She was a talented, consistent competitor.”

Since her college career ended, Uzelac has helped her parents, Brenda and Don Uzelac, operate Uzelac Gymnastics. She works as a coach at the Altoona facility and pitches in at Johnstown, too.

“I’m thrilled to hear a gymnast do this type of thing,” Dawes said. “A lot of times gymnasts will back away from the sport because sometimes you get burned out.

“You’ve given 10 or more years of your life to the sport. Kristal still is a positive role model, and she’s helping a lot of young gymnasts.”

As Dawes once did, Uzelac used her time away from competitive gymnastics to reflect on both her past and future in the sport.

“I’m hoping to get back,” Uzelac said. “I started in December and was really trying to make the team again. It was a struggle and I backed off a little bit. Now I’m starting to train again.”

Mentally, Uzelac is in a better place with her sport than a few years ago.

“At the time I left Penn State, I wasn’t really enjoying gymnastics,” she said. “I wasn’t having fun. I came back in 2007 and competed at the Parkette Invitational. Now that I’m getting older and coaching, I’m getting the spirit back. I feel like I’m 10 years old in gymnastics again. I’m 24 and that’s older. If I do try in 2012, I’d be 26. I still have a goal I want to reach. I really want to try it. I want to go for it.

“Maybe in the next Olympics, you’ll see me.”