HOUSTON The father of U.S. Olympic gymnast Dominique Moceanu was ordered on Monday to stay away from his daughter after she accused him of stalking her and plotting to kill her friends. The court order came a month after 17-year-old Moceanu, who was on the gold-medal winning American squad in the Atlanta games, had herself declared an adult so she could control the sports earnings she accused her parents of squandering.

I'm terrified of my father, she said in an affidavit supporting Monday's court order. Moceanu accused father Dumitru Moceanu and a private investigator of following her and said he attempted to hire someone to kill her coach, Luminita Miscenco, and male friend Brian Huggins. The affidavit said the elder Moceanu had been investigated by police for the alleged murder plot, but a police spokesman said the case had been checked into and closed without action.

(Reuter)