My daughter was a gymnast at WOGA training under Cecile and Laurent. They are excellent coaches and while Laurent is tough he is not abusive by any stretch of the imagination and neither are the other coaches in the gym. Most of the "mentality" that people refer to was from older Eastern-bloc coaches who have long since retired or moved on to other gyms. Weigh-ins have not happened for many years since back when they sadly were common practice in the sport. While WOGA certainly does have a tendency to expect their gymnasts' (and gymnasts' families) lives to revolve around the sport it is far from the rigorous military-style atmosphere I see described here! As with any world-class gym the kids are expected to focus and work hard and push themselves. But my experience is that the coaches are caring and want to help the kids be at their best. It is not a "win at any cost" mentality (perhaps that was once true but again those old-school coaches are no longer there; it is a mostly young group now). I can't speak for the elite and upper levels since my daughter is younger but the kids come out of practice happy and are excited to go back. That wouldn't be the case if the atmosphere was the misery people seem to think. It's tough but so is any world-class training in any sport. I think Cecile and Laurent will do great with Simone and while we we all miss them we are happy for their new opportunity.
Ohashi was coached by Valeri and I have heard his style was far more rigorous than the current crop of coaches. Much of the pressure on Ohashi came from her own parents from what I understand but Ohashi was also a difficult and rebellious teenager who gave her parents a lot of grief and therefore presumably her coaches as well. This is not to minimize what she went through by any means! But I don't think that all of the gymnasts from Ohashi's era would cite the same experiences. Again though I cannot speak for the upper levels because my only knowledge is of the younger teams. But I do think there is a lot of misinformation circulating about the supposed "WOGA mentality" that simply doesn't ring true to many of us whose children were/are happy gymnasts there.
