U.S. NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIPS NEWS

THANKS TO NBCOLYMPICS FOR THIS E-MAIL OF DOMINIQUE, WE PRAY FOR YOU DOM,BYE,CARLOS.

Note: Dominique Moceanu is in 10th place in the all-around competition after the first night of the U.S. Gymnastics Championships.

I�ve worked so hard to come here, and I hit what I came here to do, and I'm really glad about that. Maybe things didn't go great scoring-wise and where my start values are right now, unfortunately. If the judges would have given me credit for everything, I probably would have gotten a better score. I was a little upset when I started out on floor, because I didn't get the score I thought that I deserved. But oh well, that's life.
The first thing that got me upset was my ankle, and then that (the scoring), and I was like, "great." I rolled it completely, right with my first pass, my first 30-second touch. I'm having the doc look at it after this, but I think it's sprained. It hurt, but I was strong. I've dealt with injuries my whole life. I've been pretty tough, so I just pushed through it the best that I could, and I think I did pretty good.
I hadn't competed in two years at a big competition, and I hit my four events, and that's what I trained to do. Maybe some difficulty here and there might have to be upgraded, but if I get all my connections, I should start from a 10.0 on all the events. Sometimes judges have the power to do what they want (even when) you do the work, but I'm glad to be hanging in there. It felt really neat to be back. Hopefully, my ankle will just stay strong.