Clara Göthberg is one of nine former elite gymnasts who in SVT Sports' review testify to a harmful leadership culture in Swedish rhythmic gymnastics.
For Clara Göthberg, gymnastics was at first the best in her life, she was only two years old when her mother took her to a gym.
- Gymnastics was my biggest love in life.
I loved everything.
I trained everywhere, on the patio, the lawn, the living room.
I breathed gymnastics, says Clara about the first years in the gym.
Slow transition between play and seriousness
When she turned six, the climate changed.
She says that parents were forbidden to be in the gym.
She tells of several leaders who said that the children were not allowed to talk to each other and did so they were punished.
- The focus ended up on educating competitive gymnasts, talented gymnasts.
We would be cast as light into the ideal of what a good gymnast is, says Clara Göthberg.
She talks about workouts that ended with her lying on the toilet floor and crying, threats that she will be beaten if she does not perform at competitions and urges not to eat and drink water.
Thought everyone had the same thing
According to Clara Göthberg, the change between children's gymnastics and elite training was slow, she did not react then to the climate change.
- I thought everyone felt this way.
If you go to football or the swimming pool, it's the same thing.
I had no reason not to trust these adults in the same way that you trust other adults.
We teach children that: "You should listen to the adults."
And we did, says Clara Göthberg.
Clara Göthberg's mother Kristina, was for a long time a prominent person in the Swedish rhythmic gymnastics world, when she passed away just over a year ago, Clara chose to tell about her experiences.
- I realized that there is so much in life we can not influence, or can control.
Then there are the things we can actually influence, where we can make a change.
Then I felt, can I help someone, if only a child by telling my story, or parts of it, then I want to do it, she says.