“Power gaps must be broken up”
Ex-gymnastics stars again-and calls for changes
01/26/2025 – 8:32 a.m.Reading time: 2 min.
German gymnastics have been dealing with massive allegations of abuse for weeks. Former top gymnast Kim Bui again describes details.
The former German gymnast Kim Bui calls for fundamental changes in dealing with coaches to prevent abuse in gymnastics. In an interview with the “Bild am Sonntag”, the 36-year-old emphasized: “The blatant gap between coaches and athletes must be broken up.”
Bui openly spoke about stressful experiences during her active time. For a long time, she found it a matter of course to compete in competitions despite pain and injuries. “The fact that you always struggle with your own weight and constantly vomit after eating. That coaches still fuel this behavior with their comments and even interfere with the intimacy of athletes.”
The former gymnast described the climate in competitive sports as a system of fear. Athletes are expected to be silent and function. During puberty, contradictions would often have had negative consequences: “One is stamped: troublemaker, cross head, sensitive, unsuitable for competitive sports. Then criminal training threatens and more.”
After her career, which she ended with third place in the team competition at the European Home Championships in 2022, Bui published her book 45 seconds. Among other things, she addresses her eating disorders.
In the past few weeks, several former gymnasts, including Tabea Alt and Michelle Timm, had made grievances at the federal base in Stuttgart. As a result of the allegations, a coaching duo was temporarily released and should no longer return to the artificial gymnastics forum.
Kim Bui emphasized US gymnastics as a positive example. “It fought out of the system and showed that it can also work in an environment at eye level.” Biles had created an environment that met her own ideas and focused on her mental health.