Culture change seeks to produce happier U.S. women athletes

KATY, Texas (Reuters) - U.S. women’s gymnastics, long associated with intense pressure placed on the shoulders of young girls, has entered a new era that prioritizes happiness and career longevity, former Olympians now in leadership roles said.

Not long ago the typical career of an elite gymnast was short and existed in a culture that controlled every aspect of the athlete’s schedule, conditioning and diet.

Following a high-profile sexual abuse scandal that broke in 2016, however, physical and mental health issues have been dealt with more sensitively and USA Gymnastics is putting the athletes first, the former gymnasts said.

“Times have changed a lot,” Alicia Sacramone Quinn, a two-time Olympian who is now a national coordinator for USA Gymnastics, said during a training camp near Houston this month.

“When we were growing up it was acceptable, or they thought it was acceptable, to be that demanding,” she said.

“We are actively trying to break that trend. Instead of coming from a place of power and fear, we want to lift them up and make them feel that they can accomplish anything they dream of if they work hard enough.

“We’re here as more of a positive influence for them rather than somebody that they are intimidated by.”

Disgraced former USA Gymnastics doctor Larry Nassar was sentenced to up to 175 years in prison for sexually abusing young female gymnasts entrusted to his care and in 2021 his victims reached a $380 million settlement with USA

Gymnastics and the U.S. Olympic & Paralympic Committee.

A more cheerful mood around team training was evident, however, in Texas, where four-times Olympic gold medallist Simone Biles and her team mates smiled and laughed between executing their jawdropping feats on vault, floor, balance beam and bars.

Girls as young as 3 years old attending the venue for private lessons looked on in awe.

Gymnasts vying for a place in the fivemember U.S. team for the Paris Olympics acknowledged the pressure they were under but were quick to point to the camaraderie within the group.

“We want these athletes to enjoy what they are doing,” said Sacramone Quinn, captain of the 2008 Olympic team.

“For me, I felt like it was a job and I was on a business trip. I think more people are coming around to the idea that we’re shaping these athletes as young women,” she said.

Carly Patterson, the 2004 Olympic allaround champion, said she remains connected to the team as an adviser because she wants to provide the kind of support she did not receive.

“I’m here because I didn’t have someone in this position, in my shoes, at that time in my career,” she said.

Even the location of the camp at a gym in suburban Katy, instead of at the now shuttered Bela Karolyi Ranch located down a dirt road in a remote part of Huntsville, suggests a newfound openness about the program.