Kara Eaker retires from Utah Gymnastics after alleging abuse from team’s coach

SALT LAKE CITY — Kara Eaker posted on Instagram today that she will retire from the University of Utah gymnastics team and withdraw as a student entirely. 

Her announcement was posted about an hour ago and says the decision to retire is due to verbal and emotional abuse while training on the Utah Gymnastics team over the last two years. 

“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,” read the Instagram post. 

Eaker pointed to the team’s coach as a source of this abuse but did not name anyone specifically. 

An independent investigation found that head coach Tom Farden did not verbally or emotionally abuse the school’s student-athletes.

However, Eaker says the investigation was incomplete at best. 

“Regarding the previous investigation done by Husch Blackwell, it is incomplete at best, and I disagree with their findings,” read Eaker’s post. 

Eaker concluded her post by saying she wants to help girls and women find their voices to speak out. 

“I hope my voice will help you to recognize the early warning signs of abuse in order to get help and report it,” she wrote. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

View this post on Instagram

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

A post shared by Kara Eaker (@_karaeaker)