Two years after complaints, coaches yet to be interviewed

In August 2019, the U.S. Center for SafeSport took jurisdiction over an investigation into complaints from dozens of gymnasts and their parents alleging that Jiani Wu, an Olympic medalist for China now coaching at Legacy Elite Gymnastics in a Chicago suburb, had routinely physically abused young gymnasts, and that she and her daughter, Anna Li, an alternate on the 2012 U.S. Olympic team and UCLA All-American, had verbally and emotionally abused minor-age athletes.

“Please do know that the Center is working hard to move through the process in a timely and efficient manner,” Esther Johnson, the U.S. Center for SafeSport’s intake coordinator, wrote to a former Legacy parent about the investigation in a September 4, 2019 email.

Almost 22 months after the first complaint was filed against Li and Wu, nearly 20 months since Johnson’s email pledge, not only has the case not been resolved, but U.S. Center for SafeSport investigators have yet to interview Li, a former member of the influential USA Gymnastics athletes council, and Wu, according to interviews and U.S. Center for SafeSport documents obtained by the Southern California News Group.

Although Libby Bailey, a senior investigator for the U.S. Center for SafeSport, wrote in an April 1, 2020 email to a parent, “I expect to interview the coaches in the upcoming weeks,” she acknowledged in another email last month that the center still had not scheduled interviews with Li and Wu.

“We have been attempting to schedule interviews with the Legacy coaches since December but have been unsuccessful,” Bailey wrote in a February 18 email to a parent. “They have recently retained new counsel which may cause additional delays in scheduling.

“Please know that we will not allow delays to go on indefinitely and should interviews not be scheduled within a reasonable timeframe, the investigation will be completed with the information we have collected thus far.”

The continued delays by the U.S. Center for SafeSport have enraged former Legacy gymnasts and their parents and further fueled already widespread criticism that the center is too underfunded, understaffed and dysfunctional to effectively process cases in a timely manner.

“Why is SafeSport still allowing these delays?” said Corrina Milbrandt, the parent of a former Legacy gymnast. “This would never happen in a court case.”

Legacy “is still open. They’re still operating like nothing happened,” said Ed Fitzgerald, one of the parents who alleges his daughter was abused by Li and Wu. “It befuddles us. I think it’s despicable, just despicable.”

More than 100 pages of confidential complaints to USA Gymnastics and the U.S. Center for SafeSport as well as other documents from the two organizations obtained by SCNG not only detail the nature and extent of the alleged abuse but reveal that the U.S. Center for SafeSport has received complaints that Li and Wu have continued to abuse gymnasts since the center took jurisdiction over the case in 2019.

“I am worried for people still there,” said Riley Milbrandt, Corrina’s daughter.

At least 30 complaints have been filed with the U.S. Center for SafeSport in which gymnasts and their parents allege that Li disparaged gymnasts in front of their peers on a “daily basis,” regularly called girls fat, pressured injured athletes to train or compete, and threatened to make negative comments to college coaches recruiting them if they struggled in training, were unable to train or compete because of injuries or illness, or appeared in Li’s opinion overweight, according to interviews with multiple gymnasts and parents and U.S. Center for SafeSport and USA Gymnastics documents.

Wu on multiple occasions pulled young gymnasts by their hair when she was dissatisfied with their training, including at least one occasion when Wu allegedly pulled a girl by her ponytail all the way to the ground, according to interviews and multiple complaints submitted to U.S. Center for SafeSport and USA Gymnastics.

“Hair was pulled and girls were constantly bodyshamed,” a parent wrote in a formal complaint to SafeSport and USA Gymnastics.

Another parent in a complaint with SafeSport and USA Gymnastics said she witnessed “Hair pulling under the guise of physical coaching.”

Carmen Scanlon said Wu pulled her 10-year-old daughter by her hair off a balance beam to the floor when the girl didn’t perform a skill to her satisfaction.

“Jiani yanked her off the high beam, pulled her to the ground, grabbed her by the arm and dragged her to some mats and then sat on her back,” Scanlon said. “I was there. I saw it. I was stupid. I didn’t know what to do. We should have left (the club) that day. We left a month later.”

Another complaint alleges a “child had tape placed over (her) mouth for 2 hours” by the coaches.

Despite the severity of the allegations the U.S. Center for SafeSport rejected a request from parents that Li and Wu be placed on interim suspension, a measure with which SafeSport can suspend individuals as a protective measure pending the outcome of the investigation, according to documents. Individuals placed on interim suspension can then request a hearing within 72 hours.

“That case has been active (nearly two years) and Anna and Jiani still haven’t been interviewed tells me that SafeSport doesn’t care about one athlete. Not one,” Milbrandt said. “SafeSport is a failed system that just isn’t equipped to handle these kind of cases and it’s not fair to these athletes and their families.”

Li and Wu did not respond to requests for comment.

Russell Prince, Li and Wu’s attorney, on Tuesday requested SCNG not contact the women.

“The SafeSport interviews with Center have been scheduled for quite some time and should be completed within the next 30 days,” Prince said in an email.

When pressed about specific dates when the interviews had been scheduled or would be held, Prince declined to answer.

Instead he said “Anna, her family, and Legacy Elite have been fully participating in the investigation and the interviews are scheduled to be completed within the next 30 days.”

SafeSport said in a statement, “The US Center for SafeSport does not publicly discuss matters to protect the investigative process.”