![]() It troubles me that he is now in that position," Larson said. ![]() "It truly bothers me that one of the adults who treated me this way, making me feel completely invisible, is the new national team coordinator Valeri Liukin. Liukin told USA Todayat the time that he wanted to "move on in a different direction." But his name came up at the sentencing, with former gymnast Mattie Larson saying Liukin was among the adults whose cruelty after she made two mistakes at the 2010 World Championships caused her to spiral into a deep depression. ![]() He stepped down a little less than two years later-days after more than 150 women spoke at the sentencing for former national team doctor Larry Nassar, describing how Nassar sexually abused them, how coaches verbally and emotionally abused them, and how the culture of gymnastics encouraged the systemic abuse. In 2016, Liukin was named the new USA Gymnastics women’s national team coordinator, succeeding Marta Karolyi, as expected. Wagoner pleaded guilty to sexual assault and was sentenced to 15 years in prison. Liukin's name eventually was dropped from the lawsuit, which WOGA settled in 2008 for an undisclosed amount, per the Indianapolis Star. In 2006, a former gymnasts sued WOGA, as well as Liukin, saying she had been sexually abused by her coach, Chris Wagoner, while training there as a teenager. His name also has been brought up in the context of abuse before. He was once considered the obvious heir apparent to Bela and Marta Karolyi. WOGA alumni include Olympians Carly Patterson and Madison Kocian, and UCLA star Katelyn Ohashi. His daughter, Nastia, became an Olympic gold medalist herself, winning the Olympic all-around gold for the United States in 2008, and now is a gymnastics commentator for NBC. He was an Olympic gold medalist for the Soviet Union in the 1980s. Liukin's name might sound familiar for several reasons. In response, Liukin called her a baby and forced her to show the trainer her diarrhea in front of everyone. Another gymnast, McKenzie Wofford, said she got sick while training at the ranch. The Register reported that one gymnast, Megan Marenghi, said she also saw Liukin scream at his own daughter, Olympic gold medalist Nastia Liukin, and push her against a wall. Liukin regularly forced gymnasts to run on a treadmill or in the Texas summer heat in sweatsuits if he deemed them overweight, even though some of the girls weighed less than 80 pounds at age 14, 15 or 16, according to SafeSport complaints and interviews.Ī WOGA gymnast was allegedly forced by Liukin to work out even though she had just completed doctor-ordered bed rest after an eating disorder left her heart weak. While there were multiple incidents that were traumatizing.” “Going into the gym, I was terrified about what was going to happen that day. national team member who trained under Liukin at WOGA, wrote in a complaint filed with the U.S. was a normal occurrence,” McKenzie Wofford, a former U.S. “Being called fat, worthless, weak, stupid, idiot, etc. The abuse described to SafeSport, per the Register, included Liukin screaming at gymnasts, belittling them, and forcing them to run in the Texas heat while wearing sweatsuits in order to lose weight. That is the most high-profile job in all of gymnastics in the United States. Reid's reported also contained this detail: Liukin, while being investigated for multiple reports of abuse, was still being considered by USA Gymnastics for the role of high performance team coordinator for the U.S. About two weeks earlier, Reid reported that Liukin was, and still is, the subject of an ongoing SafeSport investigation that was initiated after multiple former gymnasts reported suffering verbal and psychological abuse while training with Liukin at the World Olympic Gymnastics Academy in Texas, and at the Karolyi Ranch in Texas. Earlier this week, the Orange County Register's Scott Reid broke the news that Valeri Liukin will coach Team USA in the DTB Pokal Team Challenge and Mixed Cup international gymnastics competition.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |