Moceanu 'Psyched' For Competition

Saying she is "psyched about life now finally," Dominique Moceanu has switched coaches, will resume training on Monday and plans to compete in the U.S. championships in August.

The 17-year-old gymnast has emerged from an emotional three-month legal fight to free herself from the control of her father and seems happy and at ease with her situation.

Moceanu was at Arizona State University for her first public appearance since her successful effort to be declared an adult made national headlines. She will sign autographs before Saturday night's Reese's Gymnastics Cup but will not take part in the event because she hasn't trained since last October.

"There is a sense of relief because I don't feel controlled and hovered over," she said. "It's something I can't explain. I'm trying to put those memories behind and move into the future."

A month ago, a judge in Houston ordered Moceanu's father, Dumitru, not to have any contact with her for a year. She says she is living alone in an apartment in Houston and plans to begin classes at a junior college next week.

Her father called her once, in apparent violation of the court order, but has had no other contact with her, she said.

"Now it's over with and hopefully he can deal with it, but I don't know how it is," she said. "He keeps wanting to appeal and do all this stuff and it's just wasting everybody's money and time. He just needs to put it behind him and deal with it and accept it."

She said she still talks regularly with her mother, sister and other members of her mother's side of the family.

"My dad's side of the family condemns me and blames me but I have to deal with that and I have to go on," she said.

Most of the public reaction she's received, she said, has been positive.

"Some of it was critical but I expected that," she said. "Nobody really understood what pressure situation I was at to make some of the decisions I had to make. Nobody will ever know and it's hard for me to explain."

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Dominique Moceanu has had her life turned upside down. (AP)

but says she is making money again for appearances. There is nothing left in the trust fund that was established for her by her father, she said.

"I have to start over now and that's fine," she said. "I think I've learned early what it's like to fall down and pick yourself back up and fal down and pick yourself back up."

Moceanu now stands 5-feet-2, taller than Olympic teammates Shannon Miller and Jaycie Phelps, who greeted her with hugs and laughter for Friday's pre-meet gathering.

She said she has split with her coach of last year, Luminita Miscenco, because Miscenco decided to move to Oklahoma in the wake of the tense court battle. Among other things, Moceanu's father is accused of attempting to hire a hit man to kill Miscenco and a friend of Moceanu's.

"She felt really pressured in Houston," Moceanu said. "She just wanted to leave it behind her for the time being. We have no hard feelings. At one point we were just so fed up because we were stressed, but that doesn't mean we don't miss each other."

Moceanu said she couldn't leave Houston and "not have any family, or what's left of it."

She will be reunited with Alexander Alexandrov, who was her coach in 1994 and 1995.

Moceanu says she is confident that she can be a better gymnast than ever, especially since her performances last year in the Goodwill Games and U.S. championships were the best of her career.

"That showed me that I still had it in me," Moceanu said. "I still had the talent, and I've grown. I've even grown since I've been off. I feel so tall. I'm used to being itty-bitty and I'm not itty-bitty anymore."

She wants to compete in this year's world championships, with the ultimate goal of making it to the Olympic Games in 2000.

Phelps, a close friend, said her parents were nothing but supportive and never overbearing in her career.

"I don't think I could have lasted if my parents were like hers," Phelps said. "She's a tough, tough girl."

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