Former top Stuttgart gymnast Tabea Alt accuses coaches and associations of “specifically putting her health at risk.” Carina Kröll also speaks out.
For Tabea Alt it was “systematic physical and mental abuse” at the federal base in Stuttgart. This is what it says in an Instagram post that the 24-year-old published on Saturday (December 28, 2024).. Accordingly, those responsible ignored medical instructions and let old people do gymnastics with injuries, sometimes even broken bones.
Social media post on Instagram by tabeaalt
Several athletes with similar problems
Alt doesn’t see herself as an isolated case: “Eating disorders, punishment training, painkillers, threats and humiliation were the order of the day,” she writes. In addition to Alt, Carina Kröll also made serious allegations against the DTB on her Instagram account. The 23-year-old, who competed for Germany until 2022 and then moved to the Austrian association, particularly denounced the pressure to perform in the gymnastics system. This leaves little time to appreciate successes because new goals would be defined immediately.
Kröll, who was born in Filderstadt, also commented on the topic of nutrition. At the age of 17, she was pressured to lose five to six kilograms of weight within a few weeks in order to supposedly remain competitive: “I was ‘supposedly’ at my limit. For context: I was 1.64 meters tall and weighed 54kg – a completely healthy weight. However, I was classified as too heavy.”
World-class gymnasts Kim Bui and Emelie Petz had previously reported eating disorders during their careers. Bui suffered from bulimia at the age of 15after her trainer asked her about her body weight. It was only after seven years of therapy that she was able to develop a healthy relationship with food and her body again.
Petz also wrote on Instagram a few days before Christmas: “I’ve been battling an eating disorder for years.” The 21-year-old ended her career in 2023 after a lengthy Achilles tendon injury, which also cost her participation in the 2021 Olympics in Tokyo. She loves the sport, but many people don’t see what the sport leaves behind, wrote Petz. 17-year-old gymnast Meolie Jauch also announced the end of her career in December“not because my body can’t do it anymore – but because mentally it can’t do it anymore.”
DTB and STB have “concrete information”.
It is currently unknown whether this accumulation of mental and physical problems and resignations is directly related to the allegations made by Tabea Alt. At the request of SWR Sport, the DTB commented on the allegations. “The German Gymnastics Federation (DTB) as well as the Swabian Gymnastics Federation (STB) take the public debate and allegations about the mental health of competitive gymnasts very seriously. In this context, the DTB and STB have concrete information about possible misconduct on their part responsible trainer at the federal base in Stuttgart.”
What happened should now be processed
The statement continued: “Both associations will jointly initiate an investigation into what happened. External support will also be called in for this investigation. The subject of the investigation will be possible misconduct by trainers and coaches but also errors in the competitive sports system at federal bases as well as the handling of possible tips within the association structures of the STB and DTB.”
Alt’s allegations should not be new to the associations. According to her own information, the 24-year-old wrote a “detailed letter” to her trainer, the then national coach Ulla Koch, the DTB President Alfons Hölzl and the team doctor in 2021. “In it I clearly identified and made known the grievances here in Stuttgart and in German women’s gymnastics in general using my example.” She also suggested solutions and wanted to work on them herself.
Injury-related Retired at 21
During her active time, Alt did gymnastics for MTV Ludwigsburg (individuals) and MTV Stuttgart (team). She became German youth champion several times and took part with the German gymnasts at the 2016 Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro and at the 2017 World Gymnastics Championships in Canada, where she surprisingly won bronze with the team. In April 2021, she retired from competitive sports at the age of 21 after various injuries.
