The U. gymnast announced on Instagram she is leaving the Red Rocks and retiring from the sport, alleging the investigation into coach Tom Farden was “incomplete at best.”
Eaker, an Olympic alternate in 2020 and a two-time All-American on beam, wrote in an Instagram post that her “physical, mental and emotional health rapidly declined” as a result of her treatment as a Red Rock. The U. asked investigators to look into Farden in June after multiple women met with a student-athlete advocate to report concerns about the coach’s treatment of them.
Eaker described “loud and angry outbursts” in which her coach allegedly cursed at her. In her post, Eaker wrote that she tried to tell her coach yelling was not effective in helping her improve and was met with “the false defense” that she’d only been yelled at once in two years, and was forced to agree that was “fair.”
“To say I was shocked would be an understatement and this is a prime example of gaslighting,” Eaker wrote. “So therein lies the problem — the surrounding people and system are complicit.”when the allegations were first brought against him. They described him as a tough and demanding coach, but one who did not cross the line with them.