Two former Olympians have been banned from coaching gymnastics over their shocking abuse of young students.
Anna Li, 36, was suspended by the US Center for SafeSport from all USA Gymnastics-affiliated coaching for nine months and her mother Jiani Wu, 58, for one year.
Wu’s husband, Yuejin Li, 66, was placed on probation for nine months, but not suspended, and will continue to run their Legacy Elite gym in Aurora, Illinois.
SafeSport found a ‘preponderance of the evidence’ that the trio physically and mentally abused young gymnasts for years.
There were no sexual abuse claims, such as those against former Olympic coach Larry Nassar, prompting the creation of SafeSport to investigate abuse claims.
Wu is a former Chinese Olympic medalist and former coach of the US gymnastics team, and Li is a former member of the US national team and eight-time UCLA All-American.
Li and Wu were suspended after a nearly six-year investigation into complaints at USA Gymnastics that were made public in 2019.
Both they and the abused gymnasts’ parents complained about the length of the investigation, which SafeSport boss Ju’Riese Colon admitted “just took too long.”
Anna Li competes on beam during Day 2 of the 2012 U.S. Olympic Gymnastics Team Trials on June 29, 2012 in San Jose, California
Wu Jiani performing at the Women’s Balance Beam event at the 1984 Summer Olympics in Los Angeles
At least 15 people filed complaints and SafeSport gathered about 50 witnesses, but other gymnasts and parents said they did not report abuse or stopped cooperating because the agency did not respond.
Others said they feared Li would badmouth them to universities or abandon them in judging national or regional competitions to harm their careers.
SafeSport found that the gymnasts and their parents were “credible in retelling their experiences in the gym” and provided photos to support their claims.
‘Their stories were corroborated by other witnesses, and independent retellings of the same, in-depth issues were given to the center.
“For the most part [Li and Wu] all denied the allegations… and provided information in an attempt to discredit the plaintiffs and their parents.”
The SafeSport decision, released on Wednesday, and parent complaints filed with the decision, detailed the shocking abuse.
Li once yelled at a girl to “get your fat ass over the safe” and told her “you’re too fat to get over the safe.”
Riley Milbrandt, one of the gymnasts who went public about the abuse she suffered, was once pushed by Wu while doing a handstand and fell on the balance beam.
Another time, when the coaches were dissatisfied with her performance, she had to stand against a wall for two hours.
Wu told the other gymnasts that they too would suffer that punishment if they talked to her.
Wu pushed a student against a beam, causing injury; forced a student with a broken foot to take off her orthopedic boot and run; excessive conditioning assigned as punishment
Li Yuejiu and Wu Jiani co-own the Legacy Elite gym in Aurora, Illinois, where the abuse occurred
A similar complaint was made about Li kicking a student out of practice and telling the class not to talk to her, saying “she’s a baby.”
Other times, the coaches called athletes scaredy-cats, “too mental,” “main things” and asked if they were “stupid,” according to SafeSport complaints.
Another punishment if Li or Wu felt that gymnasts were not putting in enough effort was to sit in an inflatable pool in the corner of the gym.
Even their toilet time was limited and closely monitored. Gymnasts were only allowed to do one per workout, each of which was recorded on a registration form, and if they took more than two minutes they were punished with extra exercises.
There was also large-scale physical abuse, as shown by the complaints, interviews by SafeSport and the announcement of the decision.
“There was hair pulling and girls were constantly shamed,” one parent wrote in a complaint, and another wrote that she witnessed “hair pulling under the guise of physical coaching.”
One allegation that was recounted in detail was when Wu pulled a girl to the ground by her ponytail when she was unhappy with her training performance.
Carmen Scanlon, the mother of a 10-year-old gymnast who she complained was abused, claimed her daughter was pulled to the ground by a beam.
“Jiani yanked her off the high beam, pulled her to the ground, grabbed her arm, dragged her to some mats and then sat on her back,” she told the Orange County Register.
‘I was there. I saw it. I was stupid. I didn’t know what to do. We should have left (the club) that day. We left a month later.’
Another complaint alleged that a “child had tape placed over (her) mouth for two hours.”
Li competes on the uneven bars during the Division I Women’s Gymnastics Championship held at the University of Florida
Sometimes the abuse led to injuries, and even when athletes were injured in training accidents, they were told to keep going.
“Coaches thought they were above doctors,” one parent alleged in a complaint to SafeSport.
“They told the girls that they know more than the doctors because they have been in the sport for so long.
‘They said they never needed doctor’s lists, that they knew how to deal with all injuries. Therapy lists were torn up and thrown in the trash.’
Another time, a gymnast who had to do a 10-minute handstand fell and hit her head, causing her to lose consciousness and suffer whiplash – but Wu had to keep swinging from the bars.
The notice of decision summarized the claims that SafeSport found credible against the two coaches, along with Yuejin Li.
Wu pushed a student against a beam, causing injury; forced a student with a broken foot to take off her orthopedic boot and run; excessive conditioning assigned as punishment.
She also yelled and called athletes names, shamed athletes, and kicked an athlete out of practice every week.
Li pushed an athlete in the stomach and grabbed her by the legs or stomach and pulled her off the high bar, shouted the names of five athletes, shamed gymnasts and gave excessive conditioning.
She also forced students to remove casts, splints and orthopedic boots and train and compete with broken arms, toes and feet, and forced someone with a broken back to do ten rope climbs.
Yuejin Li was found to have thrown a shoe, punched and grabbed a gymnast around the neck, called a student a “cry baby” and engaged in the same kind of excessive conditioning in punishment and body shaming as Li and Wu.
During the lengthy investigation, despite the barrage of accusations, Li received numerous high-profile assignments from USA Gymnastics’ jury selection committee.
They included seven in 2024, including the Olympic Trials, the U.S. Championships and a World Cup.
‘Nothing happened to them. Nothing,” Scanlon said.
“USA Gymnastics doesn’t care about the kids unless they’re at the highest level. Anna is allowed to do whatever she wants, despite a plethora of accusations against her.
“The complaints against her are so detailed that I don’t know how anyone can ignore them.”
Scanlon told the Chicago Tribune she was only informed of the decision at the last minute and was not kept informed of the investigation as promised.
“She was ruthless, so I don’t think a 12-month suspension is enough,” she said.
In the Legacy Elite gym where all the abuse took place
Li and Wu’s attorney, Russell Prince of Prince Sports Law in Florida, said they would appeal the decision, which could take 10 to 14 weeks.
In the meantime, they would relinquish Legacy Elite and be replaced by “other Olympians who want to come in” and assist the “elite and high-level coaches” on the gym’s staff.
He insisted to the Tribune that the pair have complied with the investigation “without reservation,” even though “the allegations are categorically false.”
Prince claimed they were not made aware of the complaints until a year after the investigation and that they were last interviewed three years ago.
Colon apologized to the parents and gymnasts involved in the study for the time it took to complete the study.
“The Center takes every case seriously and ensures investigations are thorough, trauma-sensitive and prompt,” she said.
‘There are cases where people feel that a case is taking ‘too long’, when in fact that is just the nature of this complex work.
Then there are moments like this where it simply took too long, and I’m sorry it took almost six years to provide answers to athletes and the gymnastics community.
“We are continuing with recently implemented systems… to ensure this does not happen again in the future.”