A top gymnastics coach accused of berating and mistreating athletes will be barred from the sport for five years instead of eight, after an arbitrator found some of the testimony that led to her suspension should not have been allowed.
At five years, the penalty imposed on the coach, Maggie Haney, is still considered the harshest one that U.S.A. Gymnastics, the sport’s national governing body, has handed down in a case that did not involve sexual abuse.
An arbitrator hearing an appeal from Haney upheld the suspension but ruled that the hearing panel that decided it should not have taken into account the cases of four of 11 gymnasts who complained.