A few weeks ago Catherine Lyons cited the reasons for her retirement as physically, mentally and emotionally abusive coaching. The responses I saw were quite mixed. Many comments were supportive, some suggested they were not surprised and one poster went as far as to say the abuse against Catherine was an 'open secret' and many adults had failed her. Not surprisingly coaches/parents who currently/have recently been involved with Catherine former coaches stood up to defend them stating they are not aware of any issues and any allegations are unfounded and purely speculation.
No one but Catherine and her coaches truly know what has happened, but for me it was a brave move for Catherine to speak about her retirement and the reasons leading to it. It has taken two years for her to go public with that information and to my knowledge no retirement announcement was ever officially made yet some people felt the need to disparage her announcement suggesting the post was fake, that they had never experienced any issues with her coaches/club and that her parents were only making a fuss because their Olympic dream is over. In my mind, this is a form of victim shaming and indicative of a culture that accepts abusive coaching practices as par for the course.
Something to consider is why would Catherine make a statement such as this two years after retiring if there is no substance to the claim? It is obviously not a reactionary claim as that would have been made straight after Rio and others within the gymnastics community are supporting and in some instances corroborating her comments. I hope this gives others the courage to speak about their experiences, whether that's to their friends, parents, an adult or to BG as the only way to stop abuse is to talk about it.