30-01-2025
New abuse allegations in German gymnastics
New abuse allegations in German gymnastics have surfaced when former athletes spoke of authoritarian training methods at the Mannheim training centre.
Former national youth champion Zoe Meissner and Naomi Schachner went public with the allegations in a report by broadcasters SWR.
Meissner said she had to continue training despite injury, naming it "simply horrendous" that "I still had to continue doing gymnastics with swollen, thick feet, even though I could no longer walk."
Schachner also reported negative experiences, saying: "When it came to learning something new that I was perhaps afraid of, I was forced to stay on the apparatus until I could manage the element. I sometimes trained my hands to the bone."
The Mannheim training centre has been approached for comment by dpa, but was yet to make a statement.
The German Gymnastics Federation (DTB) said it has received several allegations over the past weeks which also concern the Mannheim centre.
The DTB is investigating after other ex-athletes since late December criticised catastrophic conditions at the Stuttgart training centre with systematic physical and mental abuse.
"The DTB will incorporate all of these reports - regardless of the time period they relate to and whether they concern individual persons or structural issues - into the various processes that have already been initiated," it said.
It said this also applies to reports that do not relate to current incidents but to periods in the past. But the DTB said that changes that have since been made at training centres and concerning the overall structures.
