Practices at Everest Gymnastics in North Carolina, one of the sport’s top training centers, often began with Coach Qi Han calling out which of the girls, including some as young as 9, would be placed in the “fat group.”
Those gymnasts were assigned extra workouts to lose weight, four gymnasts who trained with Han within the past six years said, but they didn’t dare complain. They tried not to cry, and if they did, the gymnasts said, Han might call them stupid and unworthy of his attention. Or he might throw a shoe or a cellphone at them.