My dad hit me... he even made me train when I was sick... I felt like I was in prison.

No friends.

No dates.

No school.

No TV.
  

         No relief from a relentless ordeal of training and more training -- or an
         abusive father who squandered her hard-earned money.

         That was the nightmarish life of 17-year-old Olympic gold medal gymnast
         Dominique Moceanu, who's made headlines by running away from her parents'
         home and asking to be declared a legal adult so she can control her own
         finances.

         "Dad has been driving me so hard that I feel like I could go insane!" Dominique
         told a source.

         "My dad has hit me -- and I don't mean that he's just spanked me! He has a hard
         time controlling his temper and I'm scared that he might do something one day
         that he will regret."

         Dominique has been working professionally -- and earning money for the family --
         since age 10. But she was "miserable," she said.

         And the final straw came when her father Dumitru decided that the girl's new
         gymnastics coach Luminita Miscenco, 26, was poisoning her mind and
         threatened to deport her to her native Romania.

         On October 18, Dominique fled the family's home in Houston and went to stay at
         an undisclosed location with Luminita.

         "Dumitru kept a hellish schedule for his daughter," said the source.

         "He put school in second place behind gymnastics and he thought it was better
         to have Dom home-schooled."

         Dominique confided to the source: "I begged Mom and Dad to let me go to
         school with all the other kids so I could have a normal life. But they didn't want
         me getting mixed up with what they called bad influences.

         "Since when is having a few friends a bad influence?

         "The only time I've gone out on a date was once, and my parents made sure it
         was a group of people going out, not just me and the boy. I'm 17 and I should be
         able to go out on a date every now and again.

         "I was so lonely. I felt like I was living in prison!

         "I was doing all the work for my family and making money so that my mom and
         dad could live in comfort. But I was miserable.

         "Dad even monitored what I ate. One of my favorite treats is getting coffee drinks
         at Starbucks, but he would only let me get one or two a week -- with no sugar.

         "And forget about sweets and any other kind of treats.

         "Since I couldn't have any friends, I made my lucky teddy bears my friends.
 

              FAST FACTS: In 1996, Dominique became the youngest
              athlete ever to appear on a Wheaties cereal box.
 

         "But Dad told me that teddy bears were for babies and that I was acting like a
         spoiled brat.

         "I hid my teddy bears and would talk to them at night in my bedroom before I
         went to sleep.

         "I never, hardly ever, got a chance to watch TV. Dad said that TV wouldn't help
         my career so I wasn't allowed to watch.

         "My life has been all about a tight schedule. I wind up spending between seven
         and nine hours a day in the gym.

         "Dad even made me train when I was sick.

         "I had a two-inch stress fracture in my right leg after National Championships in
         1996. When I was practicing I just couldn't take the pain and I fell to the floor
         crying. But I just had to grin and bear it. That's what Dad told me to do."

         Dominique is trying to seize control of her own finances from her father -- who
         set up a trust for her that she can't touch until she's 35 years old!

         "Dumitru wants to make a fortune off his daughter's gymnastics talents," Roland
         Court, a contractor who helped build the Moceanu family's gym in Houston, told
         The ENQUIRER.

         "He's spent millions of dollars of her money. He's bought fancy houses and
         luxury cars for himself and traveled all over the place."

         And Dominique told the source: "The way things are now, I won't be able to get
         to my money until I'm 35. By that time, nothing will be left!"

         Dumitru has had several legal problems over finances, court documents reveal.

         In addition to a federal tax lien and civil judgements, he was charged in Florida in
         1992 with felony counts of grand theft auto and fraudulent use of a motor vehicle
         registration. The charges were eventually dropped.

         When contacted by The ENQUIRER, Dumitru -- who has denied ever hitting his
         daughter -- told The ENQUIRER: "I have nothing to say. I don't know if I will be
         talking to the press anymore."

         The source added: "Right now, Dominique doesn't trust anyone but Luminita.

         "She told me, 'When I met Luminita, she took me to the huge Galleria shopping
         mall in Houston and I had the best time.

         "It felt good to be acting like a girl.

         " 'Luminita has shown me that there is more to life than just gymnastics all the
         time.

         " 'I need friends and a little fun . . . and some love.' "