German gymnasts open up on abuse and mistreatment | DW News

Two former national team gymnasts have opened up to DW to share their experiences of bullying and mistreatment in the sport. They say the problems in Germany are wider than previously reported. Earlier this year, reports in German news magazine Der Spiegel uncovered wide-ranging allegations of abuse at an elite training center in Chemnitz. A dozen other gymnasts have come forward to accuse the head coach in Chemnitz, Gabriele Frehse, of bullying them and making them train through injuries.

The accusations follow a wave of allegations this year by gymnasts in the United Kingdom, the Netherlands and Australia. They were emboldened by the Netflix documentary "Athlete A," which chronicles the sex abuse scandal involving Larry Nassar, the disgraced US gymnastics team doctor.

The two Gymnasts Naomi and Ruby van Dijk say they probably would have kept their silence if it wasn't for the forthright denials by Frehse, who has called the allegations against her "baseless," claiming she had "never overstepped the mark." "We can definitely confirm these aren't baseless allegations that the other girls have made," Ruby insists. "Two or three of them were with us in Chemnitz and we witnessed how badly they were treated. We can easily say it's not baseless."

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