International Olympic Committee (IOC) president and former Olympic fencing champion Thomas Bach expects significant consequences following allegations of “systematic physical and mental abuse” within German gymnastics and hopes the ramifications spur lasting change.
Several German female athletes made serious accusations against coaches at the National Gymnastics Centre in Stuttgart and the German Gymnastics Federation (DTP) last month. Bach also highlighted that previous German gymnast Kim Bui, who now works in the IOC’s Athletes Commission, also discussed similar abuse in her autobiography 45 Seconds. Bui voiced in an interview with Stern magazine that the system has "manipulated, humiliated and destroyed” female athletes for years.
She also expressed: “It affects the entire sport of gymnastics in Germany,” accusing many of the perpetrators of having protected one another.
24-year-old former German gymnast Tabea Alt utilised Instagram during late December 2024 to notify the public of the abuse she faced at the National Gymnastics Centre in Stuttgart. Alt claims that she was even made to perform and compete whilst suffering from broken bones: “During all these years, my health was deliberately put at risk by disregarding medical advice and making me compete with several broken bones.”
Alt had to end her career aged 21 due to persistent injuries.
She also expressed: “It is not an isolated case: eating disorders, punitive training, painkillers, threats and humiliation were the order of the day. Today I know it was systematic physical and mental abuse.”
Alt also claims young athletes were manipulated so that “we could be controlled.” Alt wrote a letter to the DTP detailing the allegations three years ago, but it was “either ignored or not taken seriously.”
However, the DTP denied ignoring Alt’s 2021 letter and said it held workshops with sports psychologists in Stuttgart, among other things, in response.
Additionally, previous national team gymnast Michelle Timm voiced that she received “threats in all contexts” from her coaches. She stated she had “trained for months with visible physical damage due to poor medical decisions,” which ultimately led to stress fractures and the premature end of her career. She described the situation at the national centre as “catastrophic.”
Furthermore, current gymnast Lara Hinsberger spoke out about the psychological abuse she faced at the national training centre as well. The 20-year-old said she was “wilfully broken at 14 due to inconsiderate adults.”
She continued: “In Stuttgart, I was treated like an object. I was used until I was so physically and mentally broken that I lost all value for the coaches [and at some point for myself too].”
Other athletes spoke out in support. Elisabeth Seitz, three-time Olympian, former European uneven bars champion and Germany’s current highest-profile gymnast, expressed: “I am on the side of all female athletes who had the courage to go public with their experiences. The people who cause them [the alleged abuses] must be held accountable.”
After athletes made their abuse known to the public, the DTB investigated, and two coaches were temporarily suspended in Stuttgart. The DTB said it plans to set up an investigation commission to clarify the allegations in the coming weeks.
It also stated: “the meaningfulness and success of the measures introduced so far must be fundamentally put to the test in a self-critical manner.”
It continued by saying it: “strive[s] for humane competitive sport and that performance must not negatively affect personal development.”
Athleten Deutschland, an independent organisation which represents the interests of German national team athletes, stated that the allegations need to “be swiftly investigated and dealt with — also in order to prevent continued misconduct and thus potentially ongoing suffering for other athletes.”
The organisation also stated that it believes the accusations will be dealt with swiftly as the DTB has become “a pioneer for safe and non-violent sport in the German [sporting] association landscape in recent years.”
Bach expressed that the allegations need to be assessed “in the context of their time.”
The previous 1976 Olympic fencing champ elaborated on this by saying: “What I experienced as an athlete in terms of training methods or statements would no longer be possible today and would no longer be appropriate or accepted.”
Overall, Bach seems to believe the revelations will spur significant long-term change: “We now hope that there will be movement and that there will be a change in awareness. I think it's very correct that this is now being made transparent.”
This is not the only recent scandal within German gymnastics, which is considered the cradle of the sport. In 2020, other female athletes at the national training centre in Chemnitz made serious allegations against their coach, Gabriele Frehse. She apparently harassed the gymnasts and gave athletes medication without a doctor's prescription.
The DTB fired Frehse, however, she won a legal battle over her dismissal and has been working as an Austrian national team coach since 2023.
Additionally, gymnasts have recently reported physical and mental abuse in the Netherlands in 2020 and France and Switzerland in 2023.
In the United States during 2017, long-time team doctor Larry Nassar was sentenced to life imprisonment for the sexual abuse of more than 250 girls and women, including Simone Biles.
According to the US Center for SafeSport, almost 300 gymnastics coaches in the United States are currently banned or suspended for misconduct.
Therefore, the German gymnastics scandal has further indicated potent safeguarding issues within the sport and the importance of protecting athletes.
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