Kara Eaker, a double world team champion with the United States in gymnastics, has declared her retirement at the age of 20. She expressed her decision in a letter shared on her social media profiles, where she cited enduring “verbal and emotional abuse” during her time on the University of Utah team.
“I accepted an athletic scholarship to the University of Utah because I truly believed the school was a place where I could contribute to the community, be a strong asset to the gymnastics team, and be free to develop myself and future career,” Eaker wrote in an Instagram post.
“For two years, while training with the Utah Gymnastics team, I was a victim of verbal and emotional abuse. As a result, my physical, mental and emotional health has rapidly declined.
“During my recruiting process, I was promised a ‘family’ within this program and a ‘sisterhood’ with my teammates, who would accept me, care for me, and support me. But instead, after I entered as a freshman, I was heartbroken to find the opposite in that I was training in an unhealthy, unsafe, and toxic environment.”
Brought to the point of tears
The former teammate of Simone Biles added that she was ridiculed, sometimes even “to the point of tears in front of the whole team”.
“I was scared to death by the loud and angry outbursts from the coach, ‘What the hell is wrong with you!’ What the f-ck are you doing!’ ‘You better get your sh-t together!’ and ‘Pull your head out of your ass!’
“The words are so intense and hurtful that it feels like a knife that’s stabbed so deep in my body that there’s no way to pull it out.
“I am speaking out for all the women who can’t because they are mentally debilitated and paralyzed by fear.
“I, too, find myself frozen in moments when fear takes over. But I can no longer stand by while perpetrators are still allowed in sports and are causing young girls and women to suffer.”
Eaker was team world champion in 2018 and 2019, and also won two golds at the Pan American Games.
