Former Gold Medalist Talks About 'Dark Side' to Olympic Gymnastics on HBO

are you saying that athlete abuse should be condoned in favor of a win at all costs pursuit of olympic gold? the gymnastics community should stop hiding its dirty little secrets and clean up its act before the corruption destroys the sport!

"Win at all costs," is not an acceptable or a moral slogan no matter what the Karolyis think.

come on people, these kids are the best of the best. In order to compete on the world stage, you have to do drastic things... 3 pounds is the difference between gold, and watching from your couch in Kansas. The USA must have a strict regiment, or we have no winners just winers.... Just like a career, you car sacrafice and be the CEO in your younger years and retire traveling the world, or you can be a cry baby and sweep floors in the CEO's office all your life..... Get real people..... boycot the show, it is not worth the tape it was filmed on...... GO USA!!!!!

The Karolyi’s and other elite coaches throughout the world have developed a system of training which results in horrific injuries of young female athletes. Hours of pounding on open growth plates, sleep deprivation, and eating disorders have maimed and/or destroyed physically, mentally and/or emotionally countless numbers of young lives in many countries. Australia has had up to 15 of their elites retire over the past months due to eating disorders and injury. Last year, China’s Way Yen suffered a horrific spinal injury at age 15 while the fate of other gymnasts is less publicized. The ranks of the British elites have had their share of severe injuries notably, Imogen Cair and Beth Tweddle.

The 2008 US Olympic team and alternates represents the surviving tip of the proverbial iceberg of the cost of the sport. There was a 25% injury rate at the selection camp alone for publicly acknowledged injuries (Memmel, Worley, Larson). Every gymnast who attended Karolyi’s selection camp has had a major injury within the past three years, from shoulder , knee and/or ankle injuries to disc herniation and stress fractures of the back. And these are the seniors. Sadly, the junior injury level is higher. In addition, there are the unseen hundreds of 7-11 year olds who are being trained 30+ hours each week on open growth plates whose lives and limbs are being systematically shattered. Look to the TOPS and the Hopes programs encouraged by the USAG, and the tender ages of the girls involved. CNN’s documentary of the yesteryear’s TOP’s program would be mild compared to today’s pressure on a TOPS or Hopes gymnast and her training.

Bruno Grandi, the president of the International Federation of Gymnastics, is trying to move the competition age up to 18 in an effort to protect child gymnasts from this type of intense training while the pre-adolescent athlete is most vulnerable to injury…an upward age shift opposed by the Karolyi’s as well as other members of the gymnastic world. Sey and Mocenau are correct in their assessment about the past AND CURRENT state of women’s gymnastics not only in the US but throughout the world.

So..?? The important issue is HOW they got the results. Think!

This is so old news and it's never going to change. I was a competitive gymnast 40 years ago and it was the same then. It was wrong then and it's wrong now. Parents be ware this sport and others like it.

The short-term results are not worth the long-term damage. The ends do not justify the means. Ellen, you are an idiot!

i think this artical describes how the gymnastics world is these days.i know in first hand on this cause when that all started happening i quite because i felt all the presure was on me to win at all cost and that i always had to eat right and work out all the time, and even if you did something good it wasnt good enough for the coaches

last time i looked, this was America and no one held a gun to these girls heads and forced them to be gymnasts. their participation is a CHOICE. and if you CHOOSE to be the best then there are rigors that you KNOW you will endure. you can always CHOOSE NOT to participate in which case the couch in Kansas is the safe alternative. i cant remember the last time i read of someone pulling a hammie getting off the couch.
Now, how about placing the BLAME where it belongs, on pressure parents that shove their kids into the programs? i am sure Dominique's parents told her 'oh it's OK honey if you don't want to see Mr. Karoli or do flips anymore, daddy and i can live on the money we have." bulltwark, these gymnasts and parents do it for fame and setting themselves up for careers and lifestyle choices. whatever.

The Karolyis' took the products of American gym's from all over the USA and formed a very profitable business, with emphasis on the "business". The politics the Karolyis' use to get these producing gymnast's is evident in the Olympic team selection process - the gymnast not going through the Karolyis' camp hugely reduces her chance to make the team.

I am looking forward to hearing what these girls have to say.
Winning at any cost is never justifed.

As a parent of a high level gymnast, I have seen the injuries first hand and the desparate attempt to keep these girls from reaching puberty by limiting their weight and increasing work out hours. Once a girl reaches puberty, she is no longer a viable competitor in the elite gymnastics world.

Half the Olympic team for 2008 is barely 16 years old (the minimum age), and have remained "children". They are permanently injuring their bodies and their psyches for years to come. How many Olympic competitors in other sports are only 16?

The problem rests with the Karolyi's and with USA Gymnastics as they keep increasing the requirements and the level of tricks to near impossible levels for the human body to endure. USA Gymnastics sets the code for what is required, and if they stop increasing the difficulty level, other countries will follow suit and you will see injuries decrease throughout the sport. Gymnastics used to be about beauty and form, dance and expression, now it is all about "tricks" and how many triples you can do. It's a very sad thing to see these girls getting hurt. Watch how many of them are taped together at the Olympics, they try to hide it by using tape you can't see, but it's there. You do not see this with other sports!

It's time to hear the other dirty side of gymnatics!

Hey David, what a brilliant thing to say. Sacrificing early in your career after you've gone through school and got a job is a no-brainer. But it probably doesn't affect your ability to have children or grow above the height of 5'2". Yes, LET'S be real here. Gymnastics is wonderful if it doesn't impede natural, normal growth of the body. Comparing it to a career choice you make in adulthood is idiotic. And let's not forget that these are children making "career" decisions to participate in gymnastics. How many people are doing the career they wanted to do at 8, 9, 10... This is a career choice the parents make for the kids, and it permanently alters their bodies.

so you mean winning and money are more important than people? This attitude is why our world is crashing.

look people both sides have a good argument the coaches must win to stay coaches and they will do what every they can to win that doesn't give them the right to mentally and physically harm these young women if the cost of winning is the cost of these young women having to be nearly destroyed then it is not worth it and people who think that are the reason every country in the world hate the U.S. which is a shame. what we MUST do is find a middle ground where the athletes won't be in harms way, but will also have a fair shot at winning

Really?
That pair has produced the best results? You mean gold medals?
I've coached dozens of youth and high school sports.
Gold metals don't equate to balanced, happy, productive adults.
If I had taken that approach, the parents of my kids would have lynched me. And God would be a bit upset. I sat a star player but "D" student on the bench half a season. The result? He graduated from high school, and college when he was headed for life on the streets. What's more important here, gold medals for America, or happy productive Americans?
Please, let's think about our priorities. These kids are our future, not past reminders of two weeks every fourth summer.

sports are "american"? hahahaha

The one and only negative BRYANT GUMBALL could rise to this occasion!!! OMG!!! I thought we were rid of this RACIAL terrible broadcaster!!!

GOOD BYE & GOOD RIDENS!!!