Little girls in pretty boxes: the making and breaking of elite gymnasts and figure skaters

"While Christy lay in a hospital bed in Kansas City in the summer of 1991, Erica Stokes slipped away from the dinner table in her Houston home to throw up. She had become an expert at vomiting, simply contorting her abdominal muscles to force her meals out...
Bela Karolyi was calling her a pregnant goat. He called everyone names: her teammate Betty Okino was a pregnant spider, Kim Zmeskal was a pumpkin or a butterball, Hilary Grivich was a tank. Erica tried not to take it personally, but the words burrowed into her brain".

"She found herself adrift. She was twenty-
years old and knew nothing but gymnastics. She still hadn’t had a romantic relationship.
She hadn’t even begun to menstruate until a few months into retirement. She had the emotional maturity of a teenager. It was as if she had grown up in a little box and now she had stumbled out, disoriented and frightened. For three years she slid into a fierce battle with bulimia".

“Now I don’t weigh myself. Why should I let that thing control my life? Why should I let
that little number tell me if I’m going to have a good day or a bad day?”

"Karolyi once gripped Chelle Stack by the back of the neck and walked her to her mother’s car in the parking lot, calling her pathetic and no good. Chelle’s offense? She wouldn’t raise her legs high enough during a warm-up jog because she feared reinjuring her hamstring. He called Erica Stokes a pregnant goat as she began to go through puberty. Betty Okino was a pregnant spider. Kristie Phillips was an overstuffed Christmas turkey. Karolyi belittled and ignored his girls for one reason: he got results. He winnowed out the weak and prodded the strong. Julissa Gomez left with her confidence shot.
Erica Stokes left with an eating disorder. Kristie Phillips left feeling suicidal. Chelle Stack left resentful and disappointed even though she had reached the Olympics... the list goes on".