Very sadly, I'm not at all surprised. Ohashi is not the only elite/NCAA gymnast who has, or has had, an eating disorder. A sport in which children and teens spend most of their waking hours having their bodies and "lines" scrutinised by adults, and which naturally favours thinner, lighter athletes, is bound to have such problems. That must be acknowledged. What absolutely disgusts me is the combination of people which basically encouraged Kaitlyn's behaviour: her parents, Valeri, his wife, probably others at the gym, too. In no world should a 13 year old be writing about measuring her thighs with her hands, sneaking around the house finding food hidden by her own parents. I contrast that with my own, joyful, childhood, and tears come to my eyes...
This happened only five or six years ago, and now Valeri is NTC. I'm so over USAG. Their culture is poison. They need to burn themselves to the ground and reform, immediately. I don't care about the medals, or the results, or the prestige - in fact, those actively harm reevaluation. They've been hiding behind good results to justify all of their dodgy practices, and resist change. The same goes for NCAA: the ends appear to justify any means. I thought when all the Nassar stuff came out, and the Thompson scandal for NCAA, that maybe this would be end of it (although that was by far bad enough), but it looks like the scandals are just unearthing more and more disgusting, putrid laundry. Even a few days after this episode, Kathy Klages has been hired by Twistars, and Geddert is being sued by his own insurance company for not firing Nassar, or something along those lines.
Hasn't enough harm been done to American girls? What more do they need to suffer, for serious change to occur?
