Butterflies, Maccarani sporting trial: Corradini’s accusations, Centofanti’s defense

And the third hearing in the sporting trial of Emanuela Maccarani and Olga Tishina, respectively the technical commissioner of the rhythmic gymnastics team and her assistant, accused by their former students of non-compliant training and of causing eating and psychological disorders, ended archive. After the hearing in Milan on 12 May, today we returned to Rome. At the end of the day everything for the discussion and the decision was postponed to Friday 29 September 2023 at 11 in Rome (place to be decided). The time to file the last briefs has been set by 18 September 2023.

Psychological abuse

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The first to be heard was Nina Corradini, silver at the 2017 European Junior Championships, who denounced psychological abuse during her time at the academy before the federal national court. Maccarani is there to listen to her, “I left because I couldn’t stay in Desio anymore. It happened when my mother was transferred to France. Not being able to stay there any longer, I asked to be able to go with her. Afterwards I also went to a psychologist from whom I am still being treated today”. Corradini confirmed her unpleasant words that were addressed to her every morning (“in turn by all the coaches, by Olga Tishina and sometimes also by Maccarani”) after breakfast during the weigh-in operations. “I have a negative memory because even if we increased by one or two ounces, comments were made out loud and in front of everyone like “how can you look in the mirror?” or “Aren’t you ashamed?” Most of the time they referred to me, Anna Basta and Talisa Torretti. After attempting to invalidate the testimony as a former member (request rejected), the defense of Maccarani and Tishina tried to put her in difficulty by assuming that her revelations had as their main objective a journalistic or television scoop against payment of a fee (“I am went to Canale 5 and La7, they offered us money but I refused”, the prompt response of the girl, very firm in her deposition.

Indictment

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It was then the turn of Martina Centofanti, daughter of Felice former Inter player, still blue from Italy in rhythmic gymnastics, who is a real indictment against Anna Basta: “She felt a grudge against against us for her personal failure, she was envious. She has never accepted being dropped from the first team in the Olympic year. However, she was excluded, not definitively, not only for physical fitness, but also for technical reasons. However, she did not accept him having this very particular character, she felt the protagonist in everything, she was not capable of accepting criticism ”, she said before the president of the federal court Marco Leoni.

Psychologist

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The last to be heard was Mauro Gatti, a sports psychologist and mental coach, who has been collaborating with the National Gymnastics Teams for years. “During my talks in Desio I encountered a situation within the canons of normality. During my stay there I found a serious and professional environment. From listening to the girls I have never learned of an uneasiness linked to the attitude of the coaches towards them. Have you heard of offensive remarks from girls? I have not registered any complaints about this. And I have never heard from the girls any problems related to weighing. Nor vexatious attitudes. Special situations? In Follonica in July 2019 I intercepted in the gymnast Anna Basta an emotional discomfort that cannot be well placed, not general. I first made this discomfort known to the technical director. I have seen many similar discomforts, at least hundreds, in general in my profession. I placed it in the normality of situations, competitive performance is very demanding and creates moods for the discomfort and evaluation that the athlete makes of himself. There have been some approaches on my part to enter more into this aspect with Basta, to stimulate the response of the competitive brain to respond to difficulties always in the context of sporting performance”, he added, confirming what has already been reported in the hearing report at the federal attorney. “Was it a discomfort related to food? Yes, it was a full-blown and recognized problem. One of the qualities I can propose is to try to overcome these difficulties. I also spoke about it with Maccarani, I made a report. What did she tell me? Who took note of it and were working in view of the evaluations that a director makes. I’ve never seen a manager who made teams feeling like I did before,” he continued. “I talked about this problem of the weight of Basta alla Maccarani, but they are dynamics that recur frequently in the sports arena. The commitment to which I am called is to support the athlete’s competitive self-esteem in order to face the problems. Besides the Just more discomfort from other girls about weight? Absolutely none, none told me about problems related to nutrition ”, she concluded.