It turns out that Nique's dad had called her and violated the court order.
Please read the article below --
Moceanu: Dad has violated order
Olympic gymnast Dominique Moceanu says her father called her this
week and tried to set up a secret meeting, violating her protective order
against him.
But Dominique says she won't report him to Houston police. "He'll be
in jail for a year and then I'll feel guilty," she says.
But, Dominique says, "if it happens again, I'll do it. It's just so
frustrating."
Dominique was granted a protective order against her father, Dumitru,
Dec. 9. She testified that she had felt threatened since gaining legal
independence from her parents Oct. 28. Her father is not permitted to
call or come within 500 feet of her for a year.
When reached Wednesday night at Moceanu Gymnastics Inc., Dumitru
denied that he called his daughter.
During their brief conversation, Dominique says, "He's like, 'Nobody
has to know. Let's just meet. Talk about the gym.'
"I'm like, 'You're not supposed to be calling me.' He's like, 'Why?' He
said, 'When can I call you again?' "
Dominique, 17, is trying to move forward with her life.
She hopes to resume training next week and begin classes in two
weeks at Tomball College in Houston. She hasn't practiced since the
crisis began Oct. 17 with a head-to-head argument between her father
and her former coach, Luminita Miscenco.
Dominique is "anxious to get back in the gym. Hopefully, it'll work out.
If it doesn't, there's life after gymnastics."
Dominique, who won a gold medal in the all-around event at the
Goodwill Games in July, wants to train at Brown's Gymnastics in
Houston. She refuses to work out in the multimillion-dollar,
70,000-square-foot gym bearing her name while her father is there.
Rita Brown, who also owns gyms in Orlando and Las Vegas, trained
1988 Olympian Brandy Johnson.
The 1996 Olympic gold medalist hopes to reunite with Alexander
Alexandrov, who works at the Houston gym.
"He coached me at junior nationals in 1994," she says. "He's a good
coach."
Dominique is scheduled to meet with her lawyer, Ellen Yarrell, and
CPA and financial adviser, Bill Hickl, Saturday to discuss finances.
Since she turned pro at 10, she estimates she has earned $2
million-$2.5 million.
In early November, Dominique sent a letter to her father's CPA
requesting records showing her earnings and expenses.
"To this date, we have not received any information pertaining to
Dominique's financial situation," Hickl says.
Asked if she'll go to court to obtain the records, Dominique says: "I
probably will."
Lawsuit December 1998 - Dominique
returned to court to get a protective
order against her father, whom she accuses of stalking
her and hiring a man to kill two of her friends.
Outcome - Dimitru (Nique's Dad) is ordered to stay away from her for a year,
and Domi will return to the gym to train for Sydney.
Articles
MOCEANU 'PSYCHED' TO RETURN
Although her legal struggles are far from over, Dominique Moceanu is
moving forward with her life.
The Olympic gymnast plans to get back to the gym after spending the
past two months in court.
"I'm psyched," said Dominique, 17. "I've been doing a lot of thinking. I
want to give it a shot. See if I can get (former coach Luminita
Miscenco) and work things out."
Dominique has not practiced since the crisis began Oct. 17 with a loud,
head-to-head argument between her father, Dumitru, and Miscenco.
The fight led Dominique to win legal independence from her parents
Oct. 28 and get a protective order against her father Dec. 9. He can't
call her or come near her for one year.
Despite the emotional strain of taking her parents to court, Dominique
believes she can concentrate on gymnastics.
With the Summer Olympics a little more than 19 months away, time is
critical.
She has no coach or place to train, although she would like to rehire
Miscenco, who was brought in January from Romania to the USA to
coach her. Dominique said Miscenco fled to Las Vegas after Dumitru
fired her.
Dominique refuses to train in the multimillion-dollar, 72,000-square
foot
gym bearing her name while her father is there.
USA Gymnastics President Bob Colarossi and Dominique plan to
formulate her comeback today in a telephone conversation.
"We're excited to have her back," Colarossi said. "We'll do anything
we can do (to help her) within the realm of what we can do."
USA Gymnastics gives Dominique $1,000 a month for training
expenses.
Of the 1996 Olympians, Colarossi said Dominique is the only female
gymnast still competing from the team that won gold medal.
Dominique had struggled with her maturing 5-2, 98-pound body since
the Olympics.
But she proved she had adjusted to the 7 inches in height and 18
pounds she gained by winning gold in the Goodwill Games and bronze
in the U.S. Gymnastic Championships last summer.
"She sent a strong and clear message to the world: Dominique
Moceanu was back," Colarossi said. "There were many doubters who
said her center of gravity and timing would be changed."
The World Championships will be in October 1999 in China and the
Olympics in September, 2000 in Australia.
Colarossi doesn't think "a two-month layoff will impact her
performance."
But Dominique might not be ready to compete in the Pan Am Games,
which will be July in Winnipeg. Tryouts are scheduled in mid-February.
Dominique, a high school senior who missed numerous classes during
the past two months, also plans to continue her education. Her goal is
to earn a general equivalency diploma (GED) and take math,
communication and reading and writing classes next semester at
Tomball College.
"I'm going to do gymnastics around school," Dominique said. "I know
we have a lot to do, but I think education is important."
Dominique said she'll send an application to the University of Houston
but will consider delaying her enrollment until after the Olympics.
Dominique and her agent, Janey Miller of Gold Medal Management,
will begin discussing endorsement opportunities.
"I'm hoping to get some," Dominique said. "This whole scandal, it made
us look bad in certain ways. Hopefully, they'll realize I'm not a bad
person."
But the legal wrangling continues.
Dominique's attorney, Ellen Yarrell, and a team of accountants are
trying to unravel details about her trust fund.
"There may be additional litigation if there are problems with the
trust,"
Yarrell said.
Yarrell also wants Dominique to get back her Olympic gold medal,
which she left at her parent's house when she moved out.
Despite the ongoing turmoil, Dominique is undaunted.
"I'm not going to let anything bother me anymore," she said. "I've been
hurt too much."
By Sharon Raboin, USA TODAY
Credits: The Unique Dominique Newsletter
Moceanu's Father Must Stay Away - AP (12/09/98)
Moceanu Returns to Court - AP (12/09/98)
Gymnast Still Battling Family - AP (12/04/98)
Pictures By Rob *Thanx*
Collage from the news
NBC News
Today Show
Court Pics -- very sad =(
Sounds
**To watch the Today Show Interview you'll need
Media Player
Today Show Interview
Misc.
Transcript from Dateline w/ Domi's Parents
Lawsuit October-November 1998 - Dominique wants to be declared a legal adult so she
can control her own finances instead of her father
Outcome: Lawsuit settled between Dominique and her Parents.
Here are pictures from her TV appearances. Click here!
Incase you
missed it, here is a summary of the events that happened.
(Special thanx to Carrie for summarizing this for me)
Dominique was sueing her parents for independence. She wanted to be
declared a legal adult to control her own finances.
It all started when Dominique didn't return home, instead she hid at a friend's
house in fear of her parents. She called home and said she wasn't going
to come home and that the next time they heard from her would be from a
lawyer.
On October 20/98 a restraining order was
issued against her parents keeping them away from her.
Dominique claimed that her father had robbed her of her childhood and
all he ever thought about was her gymnastics career. She also claims that
she doesn't know where all her money was going that was earned from
her professional career and that her dad had spent most of it.
On October 26/98 Dominique made an appearance on NBC's Dateline.
Click here
for a transcript of the show.
On October 27/98 Dimitru (Nique's Dad) was given an emergency court hearing
because he was concerned for her safety. He said that her welfare and safety
was not sufficient with the
people she was staying with. Later on in the day, Domi and her parents
met privately with their attorneys and had reached an agreement would
would be submitted to a judge for approval the next day. The restraining orders
were also lifted and more details were worked out in the 4 hour meeting.
On October 28, Dominique and her parents met in court face to face infront of a judge.
Dominique was declared a Legal Adult after her father had signed the papers for her independence.
Here are a bunch of online articles that were found on Dominique for your reference-
October 29/98
Moceanu declared an adult - cnnsi.com
Gymnast Free Of Parental Control - cbs.com
Dominique Moceanu no longer a child -- legally - star-telegram.com
Adult Status Granted - boston.com
Robbed of her youth - montrealgazette.com
Moceanu is Declared a Legal Adult - Washingtonpost.com
October 28/98
Moceanu gets her freedom - cnnsi.com
Moceanu, Parents Settle - abcnews.com
Moceanu, parents near an agreement - detnews.com
Poor Little Moceanu is 17, going on 35 - freep.com
Dominique Moceanu attains adulthood after settlement with parents - foxsports.com
Attorney: Parents agree to allow gymnast to become legal adult - foxsports.com
Gymnast, parents settle their differences - foxsports.com
October 27/98
Moceanu calls suing parents "the hardest thing I've done in my life" - foxsports.com
A Very Ugly Gym Suit - newsweek.com
October 26/98
Athletes' parents back in spotlight - mercurycenter.com
October 25/98
Moceanus tell their side of story - spokane.net
Suing her parents hard for Moceanu- spokane.net
Ace Gymnast Went To Mat For Parents 2 Years Ago nypostonline.com
Sports Digest - mercurycenter.com
Before October 25/98
Moceanu leaves home, sues parents - cnnsi.com
Olympian's New Hurdle Is Legal - cbs.com
Gymnast Dominique Moceanu remains in seclusion - foxsports.com
Report: Gymnast Moceanu files lawsuit against parents - foxsports.com
Olympic gymnast shadowed by bitter family fight - foxsports.com
Gymnast Moceanu sues for independence from parent - foxsports.com
Gymnast Dominique Moceanu remains in seclusion - star-telegram.com
Click below for the scanned newspaper article scanned by Rob from the Houston Chronicle.
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