Gymnastics: Failing A Community and Enabling Abuse
SVHS’s Kaylee Everett (center), 11, is a competitive gymnast at Brown’s Gymnastics. Everett says, “Competitive gymnastics is an incredibly versatile sport, creating leeway for both positives and negatives to inevitably coexist. I think one of the main positives of gymnastics is seemingly not only how it shapes you into an athlete, but also as a person. You learn incredible self-discipline, adaptability, determination, resilience and successful work ethic. Gymnastics is physically demanding. As with any sport, gymnastics is a sport that comes with the risk of injury due to physical exertion. Once you injure something, however, you are then prone to reinjuring the same thing. In competitive gymnastics, gymnasts don’t necessarily have the time to rest and heal during competition season (unless it is completely and utterly necessary that they need to in terms of fractures, surgery, etc. ). Another negative, and perhaps the one that has the most affect on gymnasts, is mental blocks. Gymnastics ruthlessly challenges your mental/emotional strength. It is a sport that requires perfection, consistency and courage, three things that can be very detrimental to one’s mental health if not accomplished to their own, or perhaps others’, expectations.”
April 8, 2022
Competitive gymnastics consists of an unchanging culture of belittlement, manipulation, and abuse. When Simone Biles withdrew from the All-Around event at the 2021 Tokyo Summer Olympics to take a break for her mental and physical health, the dark side of gymnastics came to light.
Biles received criticism for stepping down after citing that she had “the twisties,” a life-threatening feeling of being lost in the air. Many people, both within the sport and watching from the sidelines, agreed that Biles deserved a break. Though, soon after Biles bowed out, Texas Deputy Aaron Reitz tweeted, calling Biles a “selfish, childish national embarrassment.” Biles’ monumental accomplishments and acts of bravery quickly proved Reitz wrong.
However, this is not the first time that Biles’ words and actions sparked attention to the hazards that gymnasts face. On the Today Show, Biles told show host Hoda Kotb, “I don’t think people understand the magnitude of what I go through.” The interview continued with Biles reflecting on the Olympics and the abuse she endured on the road there.
The trial of Larry Nassar in 2018, revealed the dark side of gymnastics and what Biles and upwards of 500 other women endured. The case revealed that Nassar abused athletes from 1992 to 2015, while USA Gymnastics (USAG) ignored accusations of sexual assault by Nassar and other coaches.
Regardless of the complaints and accusations, USAG continued to employ other trainers and officials that abused and controlled female athletes, both physically and mentally. Terry Gray, a former coach at Brown’s Gymnastics, received charges on 31 felony and misdemeanor counts, including five for sexual assault. Gray, a Las Vegas coach from 2009 to 2015, allegedly received multiple warnings before getting convicted. During the year-long investigation leading up to the charges, Gray continued coaching at Southern California Elite Gymnastics Academy, until his arrest in 2019.
USA Gymnastics came under fire when an IndyStar investigation reported accounts of USAG dismissing sexual abuse allegations against a coach, William McCabe. The investigation revealed that the trainer abused underage athletes for seven years after USAG dismissed the initial four warnings. In a later lawsuit regarding McCabe, two former USA Gymnastics officials stated in court that USAG continually disregarded sexual assault allegations. For years, USAG routinely failed to report accusations of misconduct, harassment, and assault to authorities, to protect the coaches and the company’s reputation.
Multiple instances of the assault occurred at the now-former USA Gymnastics Training Center, Karolyi Ranch. At Karolyi Ranch, gymnasts would train and prepare for the Olympics during month-long trips. The owners, Bela and Marta Karolyi considered it to be a prime location for a training center due to the isolated location north of Houston- the athletes could practice free from distractions. However, Karolyi Ranch was also far from hospitals and Bela Karolyi employed Dr. Nassar, for that reason.
Including Nassar, the Karolyis faced accusations of emotional and physical abuse from athletes. Lawsuits alleged that Bela Karolyi hit gymnasts, withheld food, and obsessed over any weight gain. On the ESPN podcast, Heavy Medals, episode four, athletes made claims against the Karolyis for searching their bags for food. Dominique Moceanu, a retired Olympic gymnast, who trained at Karolyi Ranch received a slap across the face after Bela Karolyi found candy hidden in her bag. She told the podcast, “I remember just holding my cheek, and I was trying to be tough, but I felt mortified and humiliated. Márta had this look of satisfaction on her face like ‘good for you,’ and it was like she was happy that I was being punished… Like she enjoyed the moment.”
Despite the severity of the injuries that many endured while at Karolyi Ranch, athletes continued to train. Moceanu told the Heavy Medals podcast, “We can never say ‘I am hurt.’ It was a sign of weakness to Martha. She would make you feel like you were faking it. And Bela, too, I mean, you could not say ‘I am hurting’ to them. They would not believe you.”
As a result of public outcry over the allegations and Nassars faults, USAG cut ties with Karolyi Ranch in 2018 when Biles came out as a victim of Nassar and tweeted, “It is impossibly difficult to relive these experiences and it breaks my heart even more to think that as I work towards my dream of competing in Tokyo 2020, I will have to continually return to the same training facility where I was abused.”
In light of the accusations against coaches and stigmas around mental health, Simone Biles and many others displayed bravery in coming forward to share their experiences and bring awareness to the magnitude of assault within gymnastics.
