It has been almost two weeks since New Jersey coach Maggie Haney, the former coach of Olympic champion Laurie Hernandez has been suspended for 8 years by USA Gymnastics following the accusations of abuse. Hernandez herself has opened up about her tough experience with the disgraced coach, and now more families of gymnasts are coming forward.
The Mercury News published a story on May 9th, covering the years of Coach Maggie’s reign of terror since 2016. One of the accounts describes Haney screaming at an unnamed gymnast to try an unknown skill on the uneven bars, which resulted in her hitting her head on the cement floor. The coach and her assistant began to laugh before realizing she was actually suffering seizures. She contacted several skull fractures and suffers from migraines to this day.
The interviews and documents acquired for the Haney case describe how she used to pull young gymnasts by their hair, berated, body-shamed, and mocked them. She also tried to guilt-trip them, threatening to kill herself if top athletes would leave her MG Elite Club.
Haney made gymnasts perform while injured, with no casts or other protective medical gear, The Mercury News article says.
The emotional and physical abuse from Maggie Haney had such a severe impact on her gymnasts, many of whom were still preteens, that they still report gabing panic attacks, nightmares, suicidal thoughts, depression, self-harm tendencies, and eating disorders.
