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The College of Utah has launched an investigation of its extremely acclaimed ladies’s gymnastics program following allegations of verbal and emotional abuse of workforce gymnasts by head coach Tom Farden.
The college has turned to the Kansas Metropolis, Mo.–primarily based legislation agency Husch Blackwell to conduct the evaluate, according to The Deseret News. Present and former athletes, their mother and father, and Utah gymnastics staffers have been interviewed as a part of the investigation.
The previous scholar athletes, who spoke to The Deseret Information on the situation of anonymity, aren’t alleging sexual abuse. They are saying Farden subjected them to verbal degradation and public shaming at practices and meets, isolating gymnasts from household and pressuring them to chorus from exterior communication, and bodily intimidation, together with throwing objects within the fitness center and forcefully dealing with gear.
The Deseret Information stated Farden declined to remark in regards to the allegations.
One former gymnast advised The Deseret Information that Farden was solely targeted on successful.
“I felt like I used to be a factor, a enterprise asset,” she stated. “For those who’re doing stuff that doesn’t look good for this enterprise that he’s working, then he thinks you’re irrelevant.”
Different athletes in addition to former coaches, nonetheless, defended Farden and praised his method.
“He’s as skilled as they arrive and he is among the finest coaches on the market within the sport of ladies’s gymnastics,” stated Megan Marsden, Farden’s former co–head coach. “He’s top-of-the-line technical coaches and he cares in regards to the athletes.”
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