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Kara Eaker, Olympic gymnast and Pan-American Championships gold medalist, recently announced her retirement from the sport. Writing a lengthy note to fans, the American announced that she would also be retiring from the Utah Gymnastics Team and withdrawing as a student from the University of Utah.
In her note, Eaker detailed that she had been struggling with verbal and emotional abuse at the hands of a coach on the Utah Gymnastics Team, which had caused her mental health to rapidly decline. While she didn't name anyone in the note, fans have since speculated that she was talking about coach Tom Fardon.
After her announcement, many fans showered the gymnast with support, while calling for accountability from the University of Utah.
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An X (formerly Twitter) user @adex2491 wrote,
"Kara Eaker has officially retired. She deserved so much better, Tom Fardon count your days."
Meanwhile, @reinakatis chimed in to say that the University of Utah needed to fire its coach and ensure a better environment for athletes,
"If you continue to cultivate a culture of abuse that has caused many to leave your team, then many people won’t go for schedules or other things with the team. People like us want accountability and action, so please fire your coach and overhaul the culture for the future."
Here are some more fans who spoke out in support of Kara Eaker
Kara Eaker announces retirement, alleges abusive training environment
On Saturday, Kara Eaker took to Instagram to announce her retirement. The gymnast had notably been inactive on the social media platform since late August, leaving fans to wonder what was going on.
In her extensive post, Eaker stated that she was verbally and emotionally abused during her time on the Utah Gymnastics Team, which resulted in her developing severe anxiety and depression, anxiety-induced insomnia, PTSD, night terrors, and panic attacks.
"Today I'm announcing my retirement from the University of Utah gymnastics team, the sport of gymnastics, and my withdrawal as a student at the University of Utah. I accepted an athletic scholarship to the University of Utah because I truly believed the school was a place where I could contribute to the community, be a strong asset to the gymnastics team, and be free to develop myself and future career.
For two years, while training with the Utah Gymnastics Team, I was a victim of verbal and emotional abuse. As a result, my physical, mental, and emotional health has rapidly declined. I had been seeing a university athletics psychologist for a year and a half and I'm now seeing a new provider twice a week because of suicidal and self-harm ideation and being unable to care for myself properly. I have recently been diagnosed with severe anxiety and depression, anxiety induced insomnia, and I suffer from panic attacks, PTSD, and night terrors."
She went on to add that the people and system surrounding her at the University of Utah were complicit in the abuse.
As of now, the athlete has a linktr.ee in her bio that leads to @WomenAgainstAbuse which has resources for domestic abuse and how to spot an abuser, as well as hotlines for suicide lifeline and emotional abuse.
