The New York Times - USA (2020-08-03)

A culture in gymnastics that has toler-

ated coaches belittling, manipulating and

in some cases physically abusing young

athletes is being challenged by Olympians

and other gymnasts around the world af-

ter an uprising in the United States.

Many current and former competitors,

emboldened by their American peers,

have broken their silence in recent weeks

against treatment they say created mental

scars on girls that lasted well into adult-

hood.

One gymnast, who is just 8, said a coach

tied her wrists to a horizontal bar when

she was 7 and ignored her as she cried out

in pain.

At a time when the Tokyo Olympics

would be in session had they not been post-

poned until 2021 by the coronavirus pan-

demic, gymnasts have been sharing hor-

rific stories of coaches body-shaming

them, stifling their emotions, using corpo-

ral punishment on them and forcing them

to train with injuries, using the pursuit of

medals as a way to rationalize shameful

behavior.

Chloe Gilliland, 29, a former member of

the Australian national team, recalled her

coaches telling her that she was “a bad

child” and “a danger” to her own body be-

cause she was too heavy. At 17, she thought

of killing herself because, she said on In-

stagram, “I felt like it was easier to end my

own life than to give in to what they

wanted me to be.”

Catherine Lyons, 19, once a top junior

competitor for Britain, said coaches would

hit her and harass her about her weight,

and when she was 7 or 8 she would cry so

hard that coaches would shut her inside a

cupboard until she composed herself. Lat-

er, she said, she learned she had post-trau-

matic stress disorder because of the treat-

ment. She told ITV News: “I wasn’t worth

anything. I wasn’t a human. I was a com-

modity rather than a child.”

Other gymnasts have simply said on so-

cial media, “I am one of them.”

The stories from gymnasts in all levels

Lisa Mason, above, and Jennifer Pinches were among

more than 30 British gymnasts to post a statement

condemning the sport for not protecting athletes

ANDREW TESTA FOR THE NEW YORK TIMES

TONY MARSHALL/PA IMAGES, VIA GETTY IMAGES

Sharing experiences on social

media in an effort to shine a

harsh light on a culture.

By JULIET MACUR

Continued on Page D4

‘One of Them’:

Gymnasts’ Call

To End Abuse

Is Now Global

SCORES ANALYSIS COMMENTARY MONDAY, AUGUST 3, 2020D1

N

2 SNOOKER

Fans are allowed, for one day,

at the world championship.

3 BASEBALL

Yoenis Cespedes decides he’ll

opt out, after not showing up.

5 SURFING

Some of the best

discuss a sport

awaiting its delayed

Olympic debut.

Thirteen Pac-12 Conference
football players announced Sun-
day they were opting out of the
coming season, saying they would
not play until systemic inequities
that have been highlighted by col-
lege athletics’ response to the co-
ronavirus pandemic were ad-
dressed.
The players, who are from 10
schools and include All-American
and honor roll candidates, said
that playing a contact sport like
football during the outbreak
would be reckless because of what
they described as inadequate
transparency about the health
risks, a lack of uniform safety
measures and an absence of am-

ple enforcement.

Those shortcomings, they add-

ed, are emblematic of a system in

which players have little standing

to address social, economic or ra-

cial inequalities — and, they said,

far more of the millions of dollars

they help generate should go to-

ward addressing them.

“The people who are deciding

whether we are going to play foot-

ball are going to prioritize money

over health and safety 10 times

out of 10,” Jaydon Grant, a senior

defensive back at Oregon State

who graduated with a degree in

digital communication arts said in

an interview.

The announcement comes as

the college football season is in-

creasingly in doubt as the coro-

navirus bounces around the coun-

try — including infiltrating Major

League Baseball — no more under

control than it was in March, when

college sports and professional

leagues in the United States be-

gan shutting down.

This has led many universities

to keep students off campus and

some conferences, like the Ivy

League, to postpone fall sports un-

til at least January. But the schools

at the lucrative top of the football

food chain, which heavily leans on

television revenue, are forging

ahead. Four major conferences —

the Southeastern, Big Ten, Pac-12

and Atlantic Coast — have pared

their schedules mainly to confer-

ence games.

Still, there is pushback gather-

ing over whether universities

should be conscripting unpaid col-

lege athletes to keep hundreds of

millions of dollars flowing into

athletic departments’ coffers by

largely assuming whatever risks

come with Covid-19, the disease

caused by the coronavirus. Partic-

ularly when there are no N.C.A.A.-

wide standards on the frequency

of testing or other protocols,

Citing Systematic Inequities, 13 Pac-12 Football Players Opt Out of the Season

Oregon safety Jevon Holland, above right, has decided to sit out.

THEARON W. HENDERSON/GETTY IMAGES

The conference said

the players will retain

their scholarships.

By BILLY WITZ

Continued on Page D4