Report. Two gymnasts denounce the trainers of the CAR of León: "They insulted us, they called us bollycao"
The complaint of two gymnasts aged 15 and 16 for the alleged humiliating treatment received by the coaches of the High Performance Center of León has reopened injuries in the Spanish training sport, due to its proximity to cases of mistreatment and abuse and, at the same time, by the constant threat of disorders such as anorexia and bulimia.
The management of one of the national federations with the most licenses yesterday acknowledged EL MUNDO that the protocols are being reviewed
s so that something similar does not happen, and technicians from various sports admitted that the debate on how to address promising young women has returned to social gatherings, that is, to WhatsApp groups.
Ruth Fernandez
, coach of the CAR of León, and
Nuria Castaño
, the technical director of the center, threatened to take legal action against the two complaining gymnasts in a statement, the case has served to rethink the work of the trainers between competitions and training sessions. “It is an issue that has concerned us for many years and I believe that today we are all aware of the damage that can be done, we know that we work with sensitive material, but in sport there is always pressure.
The system judges you by the achievements that your pupils achieve from a very young age and it is you who must maintain responsibility.
I repeat myself a mantra over and over again: above the result is the person.
It may sound utopian, good-natured, from the worlds of Yupi, but for me the end never justifies the means, "he explains.
Ramon Cid
, former national athletics director and now coach of one of the greatest promises of Spanish sport, the heptathlete
Maria Vicente
, 19 years old. From his point of view, "a coach should never stop being a trainer" and caution with adolescents and, above all, adolescent girls should be extreme.
“Years ago in the Spanish Athletics Federation we established the strict prohibition of talking about weight to boys and girls of youthful age, that is, 15 and 16 years old.
We remove the measurements from the reports, we completely remove that issue from day to day.
We knew that we could call monstrous diseases such as bulimia and anorexia and, in fact, there are specialties in athletics that have unfortunate precedents in this regard.
I repeat myself: above the result is the person, I prefer 100,000 times to lose an athlete than to lose a person ", emphasizes Cid, who in the Federation promoted
Project 15.5, a Big Data initiative that precisely takes care of the health of adolescents aged 15 and 16 years in training.
"We know at what age they are most susceptible"
Something similar to what you are projecting these days
David Macià
as national climbing coach in senior and youth category.
In another sport closely related to eating disorders, he wants to surround himself with a medical team with nutritionists and psychologists to avoid more cases.
For this, the way of relating to athletes seems "crucial".
«In climbing there has always been a lot of fixation on weight and it is a tradition that we are trying to redirect.
We know at what age climbers are most susceptible and the comments to avoid.
The 'you're fat' has danger, that is clear ", says the coach of
Alberto Gines
, the 18-year-old climber who will compete for a medal at the Olympic Games in Tokyo 2021. «I have worked for 25 years as a Physical Education teacher at a high school and I have always tried to be very careful with my way of addressing students and female students.
Now as a selector nothing changes.
Even if we are looking for a podium in a Games, a World Cup or a European, a coach is still a teacher and respect is always a line that must never be crossed.
The end does not justify a less respectful treatment ", concludes Macià, who agrees with Ramón Cid in taking special care of" adolescents, the most sensitive age "and in caution as a method:" We must be honest, but at the same time we must be cautious .
An adolescent is not a small adult and an athlete in training is not an elite athlete in a small age.
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