Sang Lan is home from the hospital! :) Good luck to an amazing fighting spirit!
Read about Sang Lan's awesome comeback in the March issue of Teen People magazine.
Paralyzed Gymnast's Aide Robbed
~ February 17, 1999 ~
The Chinese gymnast paralyzed during the Goodwill Games watched helplessly from the back seat of a car while a man who offered to help fix a flat tire stole her guardian's pocketbook. Sang Lan's guardian, Gina Liu, pulled her car to the edge of a Manhattan service road Tuesday afternoon. Police said a man walked by and offered to assist. He and Liu changed the tire while the 17-year-old gymnast remained in the car. The man then stood up, stretched, dusted off his hands and snatched the 45-year-old woman's bag, which had $400 in it, from the front seat, then ran away, police said. Police said they did not have any suspects. Sang, a member of the Chinese national team, was severely injured during a warmup exercise at the Goodwill Games last summer in Uniondale, N.Y. She was paralyzed from the neck down, but has regained some strength in her shoulders, elbows and wrists, and can raise her arms.
Story © 1999 The Associated Press.
Left to right: Dimitry, Camelia, and Dominique Moceanu after Dominique was declared a legal adult.
Moceanu: Sorry for Orlando tab confusion
By Sharon Raboin, USA TODAY
~ February 18, 1999 ~
Dominique Moceanu called coach Rita Brown to apologize for any confusion over the nearly $29,000 Brown said the Olympic gold-medal gymnast and her coach owe her. Brown said Moceanu and Luminita Miscenco ran up the bill in just 2 1/2 weeks, then left her Orlando gym without telling her. "(Moceanu) regrets any misunderstanding and hopes to work it out with Rita," Moceanu's agent, Janey Miller of Gold Medal Management, said Wednesday. "She wants to take care of her responsibilities." Brown said Moceanu owes $23,147.96, including $325 in workout apparel, $1,496 in medical fees, $1,516 in moving costs from Houston to Orlando, $4,600 in apartment fees and $15,000 in updated gymnastic equipment. Brown said Miscenco owes $5,824.92. Moceanu, who made an appearance Saturday at the opening of Brown's new gym in Las Vegas, and Miscenco moved Tuesday into the Olympic Training Center in Colorado Springs. USA Gymnastics President Bob Colarossi said the federation didn't suggest the latest move, her third in a month. "It's a place Dominique and her coach thought would be the best training situation right now," he said. After Moceanu vowed in mid-December to overcome her personal problems and return to training, Colarossi said he asked Brown if she would be willing to work with Moceanu. Moceanu hadn't trained since Oct. 17, when a head-to-head argument between Miscenco and her father, Dumitru, escalated into a family crisis. It led Moceanu to take her parents to court to become a legal adult and get a protective order against her father. "We've been monitoring Dominique's situation very closely," Colarossi said. "At this point, our focus is to make sure Dom's focus is on training and gymnastics. It's been spiraling out of control for a long time."
Story and Image © 1998/99 USA Today.
Gymnast's father agrees to turn over documents
~ February 17, 1999 ~
The father of Olympic gymnast Dominique Moceanu has agreed to hand over financial records of the trust fund he established for her before her legal emancipation last year. Dumitru Moceanu also agreed to give a deposition to his daugher's attorney on March 10. The elder Moceanu, 44, did not comment after Tuesday's hearing before Harris County Probate Judge William McCulloch. The younger Moceanu's attorney, Ellen Yarrell, sought a court order to force the father to turn over the records, which she believes will show the teen-age gymnast's fortune has been squandered. Moceanu, 17, ran away from her parents' home last October. Although Moceanu, has not filed a lawsuit against her father, Texas law permits judges to order evidence to be disclosed before a suit is filed to try to prevent frivolous lawsuits. Yarrell did not seek other financial records, such as Dumitru Moceanu's personal finances and records of the company that runs the Moceanu gym, said Katherine Scardino, the father's attorney. However, Yarrell added that she still might seek those other records if she finds she needs them to track her client's trust fund money. Though Moceanu's trust owns the 70,000-square-foot north Houston gym building, Dumitru Moeceanu owns the company that operates the facility. While her father says all the money in the trust went to pay for the gym, Ms. Moceanu said she believes her parents have used some of the money to buy personal items, which would violate the trust. The trust fund is liable for paying off $1 million in loans issued by Woodforest National Bank to buy the land and build the gym. According to the agreement reached Tuesday, Woodforest will turn over the records it has on the trust by Friday and Robert Sanders, an accountant working for the Moceanu parents, will turn over records he has by Feb. 25. Moceanu no longer lives in Houston. The gymnast, declared an adult Oct. 29, moved to Orlando, Fla., last month to resume training and now lives in Colorado Springs, Colo., Yarrell said. She is training in a facility for Olympic hopefuls. Scardino said the gymnast's parents are worried about her education. "Why is this child not going to school?" Scardino said. "She's flying around from Texas to Florida to Colorado and not doing what she should be at this stage of her life." Moceanu has been studying for a high school equivalency examination since first running away from her parents' home. Also, Dumitru Moceanu has dropped his appeal of a protective order keeping him away from his daughter until December, Scardino said. She cited her client's inability to keep up with legal costs.
Story © 1999 Associated Press.