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SALT LAKE CITY — University of Utah gymnast Kara Eaker announced her retirement from the sport and withdrawal from the university Friday.
Eaker, who was tabbed as an alternate for the United States gymnastics team at the Olympics in 2020 before enrolling at Utah, announced on Instagram that her retirement comes after she was a victim of "verbal and emotional abuse."
"As a result, my physical, mental, and emotional health has rapidly declined," Eaker wrote on Instagram. "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."
Eaker said the "family" atmosphere that was promised to her when she was recruited to the program was absent when she enrolled as a freshman.
"I was heartbroken to find the opposite in that I was training in an unhealthy, unsafe, and toxic environment," she wrote. "I have now reached a turning point and I am now speaking out for all women who can't because they are mentally debilitated and paralyzed by fear. I, too, find myself frozen in moments when fear takes over."
The news comes on the heels of an investigation into the gymnastics program after allegations of abuse by head coach Tom Farden. But following an outside review of the allegations it was found that Farden did not engage in "any severe, pervasive or egregious acts" toward athletes in his program.
Investigators such as Husch Blackwell interviewed 45 individuals, including all 12 gymnasts on the 2022-23 team — which included Eaker — seven former athletes, five parents of student-athletes, six members of the current coaching staff, 11 athletic department staff members and four former staff members.
As a result of the investigation, though, the university accepted recommendations from Husch Blackwell to put checks in place to ensure gymnasts are included in an environment where they can feel safe.
"While the findings of the independent review by Husch Blackwell concluded that coach Farden's actions were not 'severe, pervasive or egregious' by the objective standards of the SafeSport or NCAA policies, we still consider the experiences reported by members of the program over recent years with great care, compassion and sensitivity," Utah athletics director Mark Harlan said in a statement at the time.
Eaker's comments on Instagram Friday add credence to the allegations previously raised. Utah has not officially responded to Eaker's allegations at the time of this writing.
Eaker suffered an injury in the first meet of the season during her freshmen year and was held out for a majority of the year in recovery. She did, however, return to the sport and was an integral part of the university's nation-leading beam team. She ends her career with two perfect 10.0 scores on beam — once in 2022 at regionals and again in 2023 at the Best of Utah meet.
