World Champion Kara Eaker?s Abrupt Retirement Reveals Harrowing Old Cracks in Gymnastics? New Era

Kara Eaker is a 20-year-old retired gymnast. At just 20, the 2018 and 2019 Pan American Champion, who also represented Team USA at the 2018 and 2019 World Gymnastics Championships and was the traveling alternate for the 2020 Olympics, has retired. However, the reason behind this was even more somber.

According to an Instagram post by Eaker, she opened up about the verbal abuse, which came in the form of ?loud and angry outbursts,? that she faced at the University of Utah by her coach. She stated that as a result of the mistreatment, she has ?been diagnosed with severe anxiety and depression, anxiety-induced insomnia, and I suffer from panic attacks, PTSD, and night terrors?.

Eaker, shedding light on the harrowing effects of abuse, is now on a new journey of bringing the change through her voice. She shared Linktree in her bio on Instagram and provided resources and tools that fans and fellow athletes could use, refer to, report, and even understand ?abuse?. She even urged her fellow gymnasts to raise their voices and stand with her in unity to overthrow the toxic culture that exists in the sport. Eaker?s voice not only resonated through the community, but her experience revealed the harrowing old cracks in the new gymnastics era.

The old cracks in gymnastics

According to Vox, Back in the year 2015, Maggie Nichols and her coach, Sarah Jantzi, reported Larry Nassar to USA Gymnastics officials on June 17, 2015, after the coach overheard Nichols and another gymnast talking about his behavior. This saga culminated in 2018, when more than 150 women testified in court that the former doctor for USA Gymnastics had subjected them to abuse under the guise of medical care.

Big names in the sport like Simone Biles, McKayla Maroney, Maggie Nichols, and Aly Raisman also testified against him, and eventually he was sentenced to more than a century in jail. This case shed light on the years of mental, physical, and verbal abuse that sometimes lurk in the shadows of this great sport.

Jennifer Sey, a former elite gymnast and producer of the 2020 documentary Athlete A, said gymnasts? ?are constantly belittled and berated.? She continued, ?They?re stretched to the point of injury; they?re denied food; they?re fat-shamed. The child is really just beaten down.?

One important example of this comes in the form of Laurie Hernandez, who, for years, thought she was crazy for thinking that her coach had emotionally abused her. She thought that when her coach screamed at her for the tiniest of mistakes or lapses in focus, calling her weak, lazy, or messed up in the head, all top coaches pushed their young gymnasts that way.

She was even berated for gaining weight and developing the curves that come with puberty and was pushed to the point of even training while injured, and she thought it was normal that that was how Olympians were made and said, ?I thought I deserved all of it?. She stated that the abuse she faced ignited eating disorders and depression that she battled. Back in 2020, a panel organized by the gymnastics federation USA Gymnastics suspended Laurie Hernandez’s former coach, Maggie Haney, for eight years. However, the abuse persisted and was also happening with many other talented gymnasts.

How the problems persisted and was revealed in the new era of the sport

Even Jordan Chiles, in 2021, opened up about how her coach used to verbally abuse and fat-shame her. She said to actor Taraji P. Henson and co-host Tracie Jade on an episode of ?Peace of Mind with Taraji?, ?So I had a coach verbally abuse me. She called me fat. She said, I looked like a donut?. Chiles said she would even monitor what she ate, comment, and trigger her.

Chiles even said that she contemplated quitting gymnastics several times. Chiles ended up seeing a sports psychologist, which helped her move past the situation. And eventually, she began training at WCC alongside Simone Biles. Simone Biles, too, has stood at the forefront when it came to acknowledging the tremendous pressure she faced as the top athlete at the Olympics.

When she withdrew from the Tokyo Olympics, she emphasized, ?We also have to focus on ourselves because, at the end of the day, we’re human, too?. She continued saying, ?We have to protect our mind and our body, rather than just go out there and do what the world wants us to do?.

Today, gymnastics as a sport has made huge strides. SafeSport, which was established in March 2017,’s mission is to protect athletes from abuse. Being independent, it has the scope and authority to resolve abuse and misconduct throughout the U.S. Olympic and Paralympic Movement.

Many of the harrowing issues of the broken system were dealt with thanks to SafeSport and athletes like Biles, Chiles, Hernandez, Aly Raisman, and others who raised their voices in advocacy.

Read more: ?Shouldn?t Have to Beg?: Not Just Kara Eaker, Another Voice Comes Forward Against Toxic Sporting Cultures

However, Kara Eaker shed light on the cracks that still exist today in the different areas and levels throughout the sport. Along with Eaker, another athlete, Kim Tessen, a former gymnast on the University of Utah?s team, has also come forward and opened up about similar abuse she faced from an overpowering coach. Will the cycle of toxic abuse change in gymnastics? Only time will tell.

Watch this story: In the Wake of World Championship Glory, Simone Biles Forges Ahead To Redefine Greatness