Historic coach of Italy’s rhythmic gymnastics team faces trial for abuse

Emanuela Maccarani, coach of the Italian women’s gymnastics team, and her assistant Olga Ticina have been accused by a sports court of harassing and emotionally abusing members of the national team who trained under their orders. be brought to court.

Until mid-2020, both sides “adopted training methods that did not comply with the obligations of fairness and professionalism, exerted psychological pressure and caused some gymnasts to suffer from eating disorders and mental disorders,” the Italian Gymnastics Federation said. (FGI) said the public prosecutor’s office.

Italian media reported that gymnasts who trained at the prestigious Decio Academy in Brianza (North), led by Mr Maccarani, were humiliated and harassed by coaches who pressured them to control their weight.

Coach received notice this Wednesday that he will be put on trial following an investigation conducted by the FGI Public Prosecutor’s Office.

Prosecutors questioned everyone who had attended Maccarani’s gym in the past five years, a process that lasted nearly two months and ended on December 29.

A historic Italian coach who has led the team for almost 27 years, Maccarani is one of the most famous gymnasts in the country. Italian on the Olympic Committee.

Controversy erupted over the Italian gymnastics team when gymnast Nina Corradini, the sport’s 19-year-old promise, revealed in November last year the ordeal she experienced while in the federation a year earlier. After

Following her complaint, it was revealed in early December that federation president Gerardo Tekki had stepped in to protect another coach, Laura Bernizzi, the silver medalist at the 2004 Olympics, also in 2018. accused the abuse and harassment of two girls in… 11 years old.

When the gymnast exposed what happened, Tecchi issued a statement condemning the act and made the federal available to the prosecutor’s office to clarify what happened, and they filed an isolated case. emphasized that it is