Monika Míčková is a retired Czech rhythmic gymnast. She competed Worlds 6 times.
She posted an awful retrospective of her long career. It begins with …
You’re fat.
You are lazy.
You are incompetent.
You are stupid.
From the mouth of the coaches I heard these words almost every day and took them as a normal part of the drill. They also behaved equally to other girls, regardless of age and performance. No one imagined something strange going on, everyone accepted that it was supposed to be. …
In a recent Q&A session Gretchen Kerr, vice-dean of academic affairs at the University of Toronto’s Faculty of Kinesiology and Physical Education talks about her role as a volunteer athlete welfare officer with Gymnastics Canada and her views regarding emotional abuse.
As a psychologist Kerr’s field of expertise is the emotional abuse of athletes which she is using to advocate policy change and influence coach education. …
There is a fine line between pushing an athlete to be their best and maltreatment. That line is crossed when the athlete performs through fear and intimidation rather than their desire to achieve.
In their paper Stirling and Kerr (2008) report that emotional abuse takes the form of physical behaviours, verbal behaviours and the denial of attention and support – bullying, berating, humiliating, degrading and intimidating/threatening are all forms of emotional abuse. …
I’m one of those who doesn’t see any way around USAG going bankrupt.
If even one court starts awarding money to athletes abused by the National Team Doctor / criminal, they’ll have to pay out to victims as much as possible. And shut down.
If they survive, I like this goal.
Rhonda Faehn:
… USA Gymnastics hopes within a month to have a temporary home for four training camps this year and six to eight annually in 2019 and 2020 while it looks for a permanent location that can service all of USA Gymnastics, including the men’s team and the rhythmic gymnastics and trampoline and tumbling programs as well. …
… “The goal is to find the best fit and the best opportunity for all the disciplines, and that is going to be the top priority – what is the best setup, an airport with a lot of direct flights …
This is the video I’ll be showing to kids. It’s relatable and balanced. #BurnItAllDown types seem to want to ban all spotting. That’s dangerous, of course.
USA Gymnastics reached in December 2016 a confidential out-of-court settlement with an NDA with Olympic champion McKayla Maroney.
But were there others?
We’d believed McKayla was the only one.
After Scott Reid turned up two more cases, here’s the response:
“USA Gymnastics answered specifically and truthfully in its response to Senators Blumenthal and Moran.
USA Gymnastics does not use or require a non-disclosure agreement as part of an investigation.
The Senators asked about investigations, not settlements. To clarify the facts, approximately 10 years ago, mutual settlements were separately reached in two publicly filed lawsuits. As you recited, the settlement agreements included routine language that the plaintiffs would not disclose the amount of the settlement or the terms of the agreement beyond family, accountants and taxing authorities.
The plaintiffs in these cases are not bound by any other confidentiality restrictions, and their allegations have always been a matter of public record. USA Gymnastics encourages them to speak about their experiences if they so choose to help prevent abuse in the sport. …
Gymnastics Coaching.com 