Abuses in gymnastics: "As a child you don't notice how dependent you are"

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Gymnast and athlete spokeswoman Kim Bui (motif from 2019)

Photo: Julia Rahn / imago images / Pressefoto Baumann

"If nothing changes now, it will be a slap in the face for all those who have gone public with their story."

This sentence comes from a document that every trainer should have read, because it provides an insight into the emotional world of many athletes in this country.

It was written by the Stuttgart gymnast Kim Bui, 32 years old, multiple German champion and Olympic participant and athlete spokeswoman for the German Gymnastics Federation (DTB).

Last Wednesday she took the floor in the sports committee of the Bundestag in Berlin and explained to those in power in German sport, sponsors and officials what it means to grow up as a young gymnast in this country.

"You always feel pushed into the role of the little, young inexperienced gymnast."

Bui had also presented its point of view to the committee members in writing beforehand.

With her consent, SPIEGEL quotes longer passages from her eight-page statement.

In it Bui writes:

»The compulsion, the pressure, the verbal abuse, the eating disorders, the physical and mental injuries have been absolutely taboo topics for us up to now.

Everyone knows about it, only very few dare to talk about it because they fear the consequences.

There is a fear of being removed from the national team, of being marginalized in the training group, of losing internal competitions and of showing fundamental weaknesses.

There are many reasons why most have remained silent so far. "

The consequences of the gymnastics scandal in Chemnitz were on the agenda of the sports committee on Thursday.

According to Bui, Chemnitz only appears to be "the tip of the iceberg", she concludes from her own observations but also from conversations with other gymnasts.

Bui has been doing gymnastics for 28 years and has been in the federal squad since 1999 - without a break.

She wrote that even before the reports from Chemnitz she began to work through her gymnastics past for herself.

In doing so, she would keep coming back to the point of "addiction".

»At such a young age you don't know what it takes to be successful or how a training plan should be designed.

You trust the trainer blindly.

In the best case scenario, you celebrate your first successes and this confirms the approach of a trainer.

The dependency in the athlete-trainer grows proportionally.

The power imbalance in communication with the athletes is becoming more permanent.

Even as an older gymnast, it remains extremely difficult to meet a trainer on an equal footing.

You always feel pushed into the role of the little, young inexperienced gymnast from which you come.

And if one but his own opinion dares to say can go out inevitably in such a way that it in training

>

atone

<

needs.

Certain demonstrations of power by the trainers follow: additionally imposed training exercises, training under pain, disregard or humiliating comments. "

Bui also went into the incidents in Chemnitz

Kim Bui took over the position of athletes spokesperson for the DTB in 2009. In this function, the student of technical biology, who researches cancer immunotherapy, represents almost 300 athletes.

Bui considers it important to help them find their own way and respect their needs, especially at a young age.

»In my experience I see that few trainers * acknowledge that young girls slowly develop into young women, both physically and mentally.

This requires appropriate handling and a further development of the relationship to one another.

In my experience, however, many trainers do not change their behavior.

They continue to choose to display authoritarian behavior rather than properly involving the athletes.

Despite or precisely because of this power imbalance, the trainers become a kind of

›

supermother / superfather

‹

who, in addition to sports, sometimes also takes care of doctor's appointments, physiotherapy and school problems.

As a child and adolescent, one often does not notice the type of addiction one is in.

Many gymnasts, I included, have realized very late that you can not, such as growing

>

normal

<

or

>

healthy

<

be described. "

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Kim Bui (r.) 2011 at an appointment with Chancellor Angela Merkel

Photo: Tobias Schwarz / REUTERS

In her statement, Bui also went into the Chemnitz incidents.

She was not aware of what the gymnasts concerned had gone through there, she writes.

She has "really great respect" for the fact that the gymnasts had the courage to make their experiences public.

At the end of last year, more than a dozen female athletes reported in SPIEGEL how they had been mentally abused by their trainer Gabriele Frehse at the federal base in Chemnitz for years.

This had denied the allegations several times.

“These stories, which were published in SPIEGEL, get under your skin and even take me, who comes from this sport and knows most of the protagonists, very much.

It is undisputed that our sport is very tough and that you often have to go beyond your limits in order to move forward a bit.

I agree that coaches have to push their athletes to their limits.

But the way in which this is done is important.

Degrading sayings, threats, insults, the compulsion to train under pain and the unchecked dispensing of painkillers are unacceptable and not humane treatment - not even in high-performance sport. "

Kim Bui retraced why Pauline Schäfer, former world champion of 2017, chose to go public:

»Pauline Schäfer and all the other gymnasts felt encouraged by the previous reports from the other countries to go public.

As Pauline has mentioned several times, she was not heard enough about the situation in 2018.

No consequences were drawn that led to lasting change.

The workup at that time was simply insufficient.

Pauline did not know of any independent body to whom she could turn, from whom she could hope to be heard and to take action.

The way to the public was the last possible instance to make yourself heard. "

“The gymnasts spoke up and told their story publicly, hoping for change.

They wish that those who come after them do not suffer the same fate.

If nothing changes, it will be a slap in the face for all those who have gone public with their story. "

"In competitive sports you have to go to your limits, you have to be ready to torture yourself."

It is now a matter of showing together, says Bui, that competitive sport is possible

"

without sacrificing human wellbeing

"

.

For this it is essential that athletes can express grievances without fear of consequences.

Or that trainers are better trained in psychology and sociology.

»In competitive sport you have to go to your limits, you have to be ready to torture yourself.

The task of trainers is to generate this commitment through the intrinsic motivation of athletes - and not to force it through training that is harmful to health.

It is important that trainers take care of individual personal development.

Persistent stressful situations, physical pain and exertion of stress in the form of psychological violence inhibit this development.

If trainers do not devote themselves to this problem, psychosocial and emotional disorders will continue to occur in the athletes.

These include eating disorders, burnout, inferiority complexes, low self-worth or self-harm. "

Bui feels obliged to help drive the desired cultural and structural change at the DTB.

She warns against blanket judgments and, with all determination, advocates a differentiated approach:

»Despite the problems that I highlight in this statement, I can see that some things have improved over the past few years.

That gives me hope because it shows that change is possible.

The training methods are sometimes less brutal and the weighing no longer takes place in public.

There is now rich and varied food at the national team course.

I am also against the fact that the behavior of individual trainers is generalized and that all trainers are placed under general suspicion that they have done everything wrong per se in their careers.

Nevertheless, I am of the opinion that Chemnitz has to be a wake-up call.

You have to use this situation to sensitize everyone involved and finally to initiate a real cultural change.

To this end, the DTB has already developed a large number of concepts.

Often, however, there is no connection between the concepts and what is happening in the hall.

A visible and noticeable change requires that the concepts and guidelines are implemented with conviction.

Strict consequences must follow if they are not adhered to. "

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