Two-time Olympic taekwondo champion Steven Lopez has been declared permanently ineligible after the U.S. Center for SafeSport found him in violation of its code for sexual misconduct involving a minor.

Lopez declined to be interviewed in the case, which meant SafeSport had no reason to question the allegations by Nina Zampetti. Regardless, the center found there was a “preponderance of … evidence” that Lopez had sexually abused Zampetti when she was 14, according to the SafeSport decision, which was obtained by USA TODAY Sports.

“I’m happy to finally be heard and taken serious,” Zampetti said Friday night in a text message to USA TODAY Sports. “I’m glad someone believes me, and after all these years of trying to tell my family that he was not who they thought he was, the truth is finally out.

“I feel like my life would have been different (for the better) if that never happened to me,” Zampetti added. “And all I ever wanted was for him to be held accountable for that.”

USA TODAY Sports does not typically identify victims of sexual assault, but Zampetti has given permission for her name to be used.

The decision was made Thursday night but did not become public until Friday. Lopez has five days to notify SafeSport that he wants to appeal, and attorney Howard Jacobs said he would.

“SafeSport’s issuance of a sanction is done without any hearing and without any review by a neutral fact-finder,” Jacobs said in a statement. “We expect that when a neutral fact-finder hears the case for the first time, Steven Lopez will prevail, because the allegations are false.”

Lopez is taekwondo’s biggest star and the most decorated athlete in that sport. He is a five-time Olympian with gold medals in 2000 and 2004 and a bronze in 2008, as well as five world titles. He has been coached throughout his career by his older brother, Jean, who also coached younger siblings Mark and Diana to medals at the Beijing Olympics in 2008.

Both Steven and Jean Lopez have been under investigation for sexual misconduct for the last three years, first by USA Taekwondo and then by SafeSport. On April 3, SafeSport declared Jean Lopez permanently ineligible after finding he had committed violations of sexual misconduct and sexual misconduct involving a minor. His ban has been stayed pending an appeal.

Steven Lopez was initially accused of sexual misconduct by Mandy Meloon, a bronze medalist at the world championships in 1997 and 2005, and Amber Means, a former member of the junior national team.

Meloon said she and Steven Lopez dated on and off for six years. In 2004, after a physical confrontation at Lopez’s parents’ home, Meloon said Steven Lopez followed her to her apartment, broke in through a window and sexually assaulted her. Meloon said Steven Lopez also physically assaulted her on several occasions.

Means says she was drugged three times and that Steven Lopez had sex with her while she was unconscious on one of those occasions.

Meloon and Means have joined two other women in a lawsuit against the Lopez brothers, the U.S. Olympic Committee, USA Taekwondo and SafeSport. The lawsuit alleges the women were victims of a sex trafficking operation, claiming the USOC and USA Taekwondo knew the Lopez brothers were sexual predators yet continued to send young women with them to camps and competitions across the world.

More:SafeSport added to lawsuit involving taekwando's Lopez brothers

The lawsuit has put Meloon and Means’ complaints to SafeSport about Steven Lopez on hold. But Zampetti is not part of the lawsuit, and SafeSport said it banned Lopez solely on the basis of her complaint.

Zampetti’s family has been longtime friends of Lopez and his family, and she first met Steven Lopez, who is eight years older, when she was about 10. A year later, Zampetti began taking taekwondo lessons from Steven Lopez and his older brother Jean.

Zampetti told USA TODAY Sports that Steven Lopez engaged in frequent grooming behavior, paying special attention to her, holding her hand and asking her to sit on his lap. When she was 11, Zampetti said Lopez gave her a ring that she believed to be a “promise” ring.

Zampetti supplied several photos to SafeSport to support her claims, including one of her sitting on Lopez’s lap, one of his hands on her leg and another around her waist.

When Zampetti was 14, she told USA TODAY Sports that she was at the Lopez house when Steven Lopez asked her to take off her shirt and touched her breast. A short time later, he put his penis in her mouth and ejaculated.

Zampetti said she immediately told Steven Lopez’s sister, Diana, as well as another taekwondo athlete. She also told her sister, Connie, who corroborated Nina Zampetti’s account to both USA TODAY Sports and SafeSport.

“She has no discernible motive to fabricate a claim against Steven,” according to the SafeSport finding, “and, in fact, due to the close relationship between her family and the Lopez’s, her decision to reveal what occurred has been very difficult for her and has the potential to negatively impact long-standing personal and familial relationships.”