Golgota Files Abuse Complaint with FRG

[makam]

I've honestly of late been questioning if the abusive culture was not in place pre-Karolyis. There's plenty of truly awful stories from American gyms in the 1970s. While I can't speak as confidently about other nations in the 60s and 70s I wouldn't be surprised if it was somewhat universal. That the Karolyis reinforced the culture is a given, but it may've been far more pervasive for far longer than we realize.

As for Sabrina, she's just barely reached adulthood in a legal sense. She's probably younger than her age emotionally due to the abuse. I hope she gets some grace in this whole mess because she hasn't had the distance from it to reevaluate the situation. Edit to note-- certainly not defending her actions against Golgota, but she may not fully understand the severity of them.

Was it though? (I totally don't know) But the sport was so very different back then. WAG was more focused on grace and presentation than athleticism or crazy flexibility. I'm sure the drive to win was strong and probably eating disorders were still a feature, but the skills they were doing didn't need tiny physiques--heck you could compete in a bouffant. Even though women had less of a voice back then, i think screaming at or slapping an adult woman would be very different than doing it to a kid. I would also think the abusive culture accelerated when the gymnasts got younger and less able to fight back and when perfection became defined as something an average human could never achieve (oversplits, extreme flexibility, etc).

 

[BJM123]

I suppose there are lots of people affiliated to the FRG, probably including past gymnasts, who have similar incidents in their coaching pasts. I remember Andreea Raducan showed her inaugural speech as president of the FRG a few years ago, in her film. Her big pitch seemed to be, no more complaining about coaches.

The incident with Camelia and Sabrina is hard to watch now, but I don't think it would have been career-ending for a parent-coach in the 1970s anywhere. Or the 1980s. 1990s? 2000s? Must depend on wider culture and childrearing practice where you lived. The gymnasts' memoirs we've been looking at don't suggest Romania was an anomaly any ti!f last century.

So there are a lot of people - including I'm sure Octavian Belu and Mariana Bitang - with something like this in their pasts, and they're the people who are funding Romania's elite gymnasts, these days. There must be a lot of people who realise they may be better off hanging together in denial / minimisation than trying to hang Camelia I separately. They're probably going to need an external body to intervene, if anything is to happen.

I get the fact that there are lots of people who are affiliated with them and have built connections and I don't know if RGF has an EEOC or Civil Rights Division within their jurisdiction but there have been other gymnasts that have complained openly about her. Previously, Andreea Raducan, who has a DOPING charge managed to become its president? The crazy part? She was allowed to keep her medals because certain "tests" came back clean. No way.

Now we have this incident and we see the overzealousness of the mother! Honestly? I'm not sure if there's a middle ground to where the parents can be present but not intrusive and intentionally invasive. In other words, the mother SHOULD NOT be a coach, head coach, to any of the other gymnasts. Why are they giving her this much power?

You're correct about the whole area but it doesn't matter where you live if you're not adhering to rules and regulations. Add to the fact that she's abusive and not the daughter is a bully and it's a serious recipe for disaster. Golotha should defect and go on to represent another country if for no other reason than to save her sanity. Honestly? I don't think that an internal or external body is going to intervene any time soon. Wow...This is really really really bad and it give the RGF a serious black eye!

 

[BJM123]

But isn't this usually the case - the bullied/abused become bullies/abusers themselves. The cycle needs to be broken.
Sabrina needs to be taken away from her mother's control but I feel that ship has sailed. Sabrina is an adult herself and can do what she wants/be coached by who she wants.

Such a sad situation - Sabrina could have been the next Romanian superstar...

All events that Sabrina has been entered into and medaled should be stricken from the records. Why? Because we have no way of determining what level of control, pull, etc. her mother had over the other judges. I think that this goes much deeper than her mother. Wow...Just wow.

 

[phoenix7]

All events that Sabrina has been entered into and medaled should be stricken from the records. Why? Because we have no way of determining what level of control, pull, etc. her mother had over the other judges. I think that this goes much deeper than her mother. Wow...Just wow.

That would apply to loads of abusive (and just plain corrupt) coaches, though. We can't strip Sabrina of her medals on the suspicion that her mother may have been able to flex with the judges. We'd have to strip the majority of medals all the way back to Nadia at least ...

Anyway, if Camelia has any sway with international judges, her daughter would be scraping into third place instead of fourth sometimes, when it matters.

I can't think of any particularly egregious results for Sabrina - sure, execution could sometimes be lower, but that applies to lots of gymnasts. The poor girl has earned her medals.

 

[Passion]

 

[phoenix7]

I get more and more confused: wasn't Denisa training with Corina five minutes ago? Is this about the club structure which I have never understood - like your club is one thing and your training base is another?

Anyway. Also, very obviously, not a solution.

 

[MaryClare]

I get more and more confused: wasn't Denisa training with Corina five minutes ago? Is this about the club structure which I have never understood - like your club is one thing and your training base is another?

Anyway. Also, very obviously, not a solution.

Corina coaches at one of the regional training centres that make up the national structure. I think there are 4 in total. Patrick and Daymon were previously based at one

 

[Hatsumomo]

So they didn't want to deal with the actual issue and instead decided to flip the kill switch?

 

[Passion]

„Nu se poate șterge cu buretele” / FRG, măsură extremă după scandalurile de la lotul național: „Șocul e imens”

Federația Română de Gimnastică a anunțat primele măsuri luate după ce Denisa Golgotă (23 de ani) a depus o plângere pentru hărțuire fizică și psihică la revenirea de la Campionatele Mondiale din Jakarta.

golazo.ro

• The Romanian Gymnastics Federation announced the first measures taken after Denisa Golgotă (23 years old) filed a complaint for physical and psychological harassment upon returning from the World Championships in Jakarta.
• GOLAZO.ro later learned that the gymnast's complaint was against her colleague Sabrina Voinea.

Almost a month later, the FRG took an extreme measure to prevent further incidents with the national team. The decision comes after GOLAZO.ro published images of coach Camelia Voinea's aggressive behavior.

The Federation decided within the Executive Committee to dissolve the national gymnastics teams at least until the end of the year, writes as.ro ! The athletes will train with the club teams they belong to for an indefinite period.

"It was a very difficult Executive Committee, with a lot of work on all fronts, including the recent events that have taken place in the public space. We really had to sort things out at the Executive Committee level."

After the videos with Sabrina and Camelia in recent days, the Committee decided unanimously that all problematic actions reported in the public space and beyond, plus those that happened after returning from the World Championships, should be sent to the Disciplinary Commission. We hope to come up with a final report as soon as possible and we will fully respect the decisions that will be made. I don't think it can be wiped clean ," said Ioan Suciu, according to the cited source.

The FRG president also spoke about the clips published by GOLAZO.ro, in which Camelia Voinea physically and verbally abuses her own daughter, Sabrina Voinea.

"The shock is immense when you see something like this as a parent in a training process. We know very well that it's a mother-daughter relationship there. We know very well that in every family there are good and bad. On top of all this, we're also talking about a training process. Things may be going in a certain direction... I can't say that I'm accusing her or that I agree or disagree. I didn't like what I saw. We will respect the decision of the Disciplinary Commission in this case," Suciu added.

 

[Sanzhirovka]

I’m not convinced this is directly related to these accusations coming out after worlds.

There were solid rumors in Romania before worlds that huge change was coming and some national coaches might lose their jobs.

I think this was in the works despite Denisas complaints.

But I guess it could be related to her making the complaints before - the ones we know FRG (Susciu) ignored.

Even so, the new FRG leadership has wanted to clean out the new thinking coaches from the moment they took control anyways.

iirc, there was talk of ousting Corina even around Europeans last spring.

I wouldn’t trust their reasons now- if they were planing this as I suspect, the latest videos almost give them an out to do it