Mistreatment in the gym, hear from other gymnasts in the prosecutor’s office

Three hours to explain relationships, hierarchies, dependencies, philosophy of the world they represent and which, at least for a couple of weeks, has ended up in the eye of a hurricane that continues to hit hard and that no one feels like downgrading. Three profitable hours – so at least investigative sources report – the ones they spent in the prosecutor’s office in the very early afternoon of Thursday the leaders of the Italian Gymnastics Federation in conversation with the deputy prosecutor Alessio Bernardi who since last August has been investigating the alleged psychological abuse reported by the mother of two very young athletes who attended a gym in Calcinato, a center from which the FGI draws promises and certainties of artistic gymnastics.

Yours

According to what has been learned, the president Gherardo Tecchi, the general secretary Roberto Pentrella and the technical commissioner Emanuela Maccarani, summoned as people informed on the facts, answered all the questions that were put to them, demonstrating spirit cooperation with the investigation. The feeling is that after their interrogation it is clear that what happened in the Calcinato gymnasium, if it happened, is not the result of a federal policy, it is not a consequence of direct “guidelines” issued by the leaders of Italian gymnastics to the clubs and technicians who they feed and govern the movement at all latitudes of the country. In particular, the public prosecutor asked Emanuela Maccarani to clarify the meaning of the vowel sent via WhatsApp to some collaborators, technicians and federal managers.

The coach – it was learned – let the investigators listen to the original. From the loudspeaker of her cell phone would have sounded the invitation from her to from her to don’t talk to the pressnot that of not collaborating with the ordinary and sports justice bodies that are trying to shed light on the criminal complaints and on the statements of some former national team athletes who have cast more than a shadow on the past, but also on the future of Italian gymnastics .

Weights and obsessions

Having set aside, at least for now, the possibility that the number one of Italian sport, the president of Coni Giovanni Malagò, will also be heard in the prosecutor’s office, the investigation by the deputy prosecutor Alessio Bernardi continues and is moving briskly towards its conclusion. Also yesterday the prosecutor dedicated part of his day to questioning people informed about the facts. Less illustrious witnesses showed up on the third floor of the prosecutor’s office, but probably better informed on the facts that would have occurred – according to the reports that have been filed in the meantime become a dozen – in the Calcinato gymnasium. Some athletes paraded: they had to report whether controlling their weight was a non-negligible aspect of preparation or had become an obsession, not to mention torture.

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