SHOW: CBS THIS MORNING (7:00 AM ET) December 10, 1998, Thursday
TYPE: Interview
LENGTH: 818 words
HEADLINE: OLYMPIC GYMNAST DOMINIQUE MOCEANU DISCUSSES THE RECENT LEGALITIES INVOLVING HER FAMILY
ANCHOR: THALIA ASSURAS
THALIA ASSURAS, co-host: Now as we reported earlier, Olympic gymnast Dominique Moceanu has won a legal restraining order against her own father. The 17-year-old gold medalist alleged that he repeatedly threatened her. And Dominique Moceanu joins us this morning.
Hi. Good morning.
DOMINIQUE MOCEANU (Gymnast): Hi.
ASSURAS: Do you feel safer now with this restraining order?
MOCEANU: I feel safer. I'm--I know that it's--it hurts, but I think it's all going to be OK.
ASSURAS: Do you think your--your friends are safe? I think it was your coach and a friend of yours named Mr. Huggins with whom you've, at least at some point, lived with his family. Do you feel they're safe?
MOCEANU: I think they're safe. Hopefully, they--they will be. And things will hopefully get back to normal and try to move on with our lives.
ASSURAS: You--you say that--that it hurts. What do you mean it hurts?
MOCEANU: It just hurts because I have to go against my own father. And it is my family that, you know, had to suffer with this. And I've suffered a lot. But I knew I was doing the right thing in my heart and I just stuck with it.
ASSURAS: Suffered a lot--what do you mean?
MOCEANU: Just emotionally and a lot of mental stress.
ASSURAS: Mm-hmm. Y--your father claims that he doesn't actually remember hitting you. I believe he said that during the--the--the hearing and that he don't--did not look into a hit against your coach or your friends. Why do you think the judge believed you and not your father?
MOCEANU: I don't know. I just said the truth, and I guess deep down inside he--he felt like I was. And my dad wasn't responding to a lot of the questions. So I don't know. I guess that's kind of, you know, what helped also. And I had good, you know, arguments back, and I spoke well, I guess.
ASSURAS: Will you see your mother? Because there's no restraining against your mother.
MOCEANU: I want to see my mom and my sister, definitely.
ASSURAS: And your sister has remained home with your parents. She's nine years old. Christina, is it?
MOCEANU: Yes.
ASSURAS: Do you feel she's safe or do you worry about her?
MOCEANU: I was worried about her at one time, but I went to go see her at her school and she said she was OK. So that's all I needed to hear. She said she was OK and she was doing OK. So that's--that made me feel really good.
ASSURAS: So you're not really worried?
MOCEANU: I'm not worried anymore.
ASSURAS: Is this dispute with your parents really all about money?
MOCEANU: No, it's not. I mean, I don't have any money. I didn't gain any money from all this, and I'm not going to have any money probably from all of this. But I can start over right now, which I'm doing. So start over and, you know, just pay my bills and be normal.
ASSURAS: What are you living on, though?
MOCEANU: I have made some money in the federation, sports, you know, the la--the national team members monthly and, you know, my agent, Jane Miller, she's helping me with that.
ASSURAS: So you said you're building toward the future. I understand, though, that you haven't actually been doing much training. Are you going to get back into it? Do you expect to compete?
MOCEANU: Hopefully. If things go well--I've got to see what my plans are in the future, you know, school, gymnastics and whatever else I--I'm going to want to do. But as far as right now, I'm just trying to get things back on track and slowly I'll look into that. And that would be a--you know, a goal of mine. And if I can do it, great. If not, you know, that's also great.
ASSURAS: You're very young. What about--what about security measures? Are you--are you taking security measures right now?
MOCEANU: You know, there's a lot of, you know, different safety precautions you can take. You've just got to be very careful. There's nothing specific. But you've just got to be careful. There's a lot of, you know, people out there and you've just got to be careful.
ASSURAS: You know, it's almost Christmastime. You see all the decorations. It's a wonderful time of the year. And your parents have said that they really want to see you around Christmas. Do you think that's going to happen?
MOCEANU: I want to see my mom and my sister, definitely.
ASSURAS: Not your dad?
MOCEANU: I'm not allowed to for one year.
ASSURAS: He's not allowed to. And you don't want to see him?
MOCEANU: Right. I can't.
ASSURAS: OK. Well, good luck to you.
MOCEANU: Thank you.
ASSURAS: Dominique Moceanu, thank you very much for joining us this morning.
MOCEANU: Thank you.
ASSURAS: All the best.