Two coaches at Legacy Elite Gymnastics in Aurora, both former Olympians, have been temporarily suspended from participating in any official gymnastics programs or events after a years-long investigation into allegations of physical and verbal abuse. Anna Li, an alternate on the 2012 U.S. Olympic team, received a nine-month suspension while her mother, Jiani Wu, a former Chinese Olympic gymnast, received a 12-month suspension, according to their attorney, who maintained that the allegations against the two are false. The U.S. Center for SafeSport, a nonprofit organization tasked with responding to and preventing sexual, physical, and emotional abuse in sports with an Olympic connection, led the investigation and issued the suspensions on Wednesday. According to the U.S. Center for SafeSport’s Centralized Disciplinary Database, the two were suspended for “physical and emotional misconduct,” but a SafeSport spokesperson said that they “cannot speak to the details of individual cases to maintain the integrity of the investigative process.” The decision is still subject to appeal, according to the disciplinary database. In 2019, the Chicago Tribune reported that multiple gymnasts who were coached by Li and Wu alleged that the two coaches were verbally, emotionally and physically — but not sexually — abusive toward athletes they coached. The Tribune obtained copies of complaints filed with USA Gymnastics, which handed the investigation over to the U.S. Center for SafeSport because of a possible conflict of interest, that alleged the coaches humiliated athletes, told them to work through complaints of pain and made negative comments about athletes’ weight. The suspension prevents the two women from participation, in any capacity, in programs, activities, events or competitions that are sponsored by, organized by or supported by the U.S. Olympic & Paralympic Committee, national governing bodies like USA Gymnastics or their local affiliated organizations, according to the 2024 SafeSport Code. Since Legacy Elite Gymnastics in Aurora is a USA Gymnastics-affiliated club, Li and Wu are going to be “stepping away” from the gym until the suspensions are over or are overturned through an appeal, according to Russell Prince of Prince Sports Law in Florida, who is the attorney for Li and Wu. However, the gym will not be closing now or anytime soon, Prince said in a phone call on Thursday. The gym has “tons of elite-level, high-level coaches” and has “other Olympians who are looking to come in and help out in the transition,” he said. Legacy Elite Gymnastics coach Jiani Wu watches a gymnast compete during the Illinois State Level 10 Meet at Redbird Arena on March 17, 2023, in Normal, Illinois. (Stacey Wescott/Chicago Tribune) Prince said during Thursday’s phone call that he plans to appeal SafeSport’s decision through arbitration, which will be the first independent review of SafeSport’s investigation into the claims made against Li and Wu, he said. The process will likely take 10 to 12 weeks, and he believes that the “entire sanction, top to bottom, will be dismissed.” A lawsuit against SafeSport is also “forthcoming,” according to Prince. He said while SafeSport is necessary, it is currently not protecting the interests of those who file claims or those who the claims are filed against. “We need the U.S. Center for SafeSport. Our kids deserve it. Our athletes deserve it,” he said. “They need that protection, but they need a system that is fundamentally fair and fundamentally lawful, and right now their system is broken from top to bottom.” Carmen Scanlon, a Chicago parent who filed a claim against Wu, also expressed frustrations with the way SafeSport handled the investigation and with its outcome when she spoke to The Beacon-News on Thursday. Despite being one of the parents who made a complaint, Scanlon said that she did not hear about the suspension result from SafeSport because she wasn’t included in “all of the emails supposedly that they were going to be sending.” She heard emails were sent to other parents, but not to her, which made her upset, she said. Now that Scanlon has heard about SafeSport’s decision, she thinks the suspensions are not enough, especially for Wu, whom she contends physically abused her daughter. “It would be great if they would actually listen to the parents, listen to the girls and do something that is conducive to the actions and behavior of the coaches, but SafeSport doesn’t care. They don’t care, and it shows,” she said. According to previous reporting by the Chicago Tribune, Scanlon alleged in her complaint that Wu was once unhappy with the way a gymnast performed a skill, so she pulled the girl by her arm off a beam and pushed her into the splits. When it looked like the girl could not hold the move any longer, Wu pushed her back down and sat on her back, the complaint alleged. “She was ruthless, so I don’t think 12 months suspension is enough,” Scanlon said on Thursday. A different former gymnast told the Chicago Tribune in 2019 that the coaches failed to push mats under her while she was performing skills, leading to a moderate concussion and a shoulder injury that she believed required two surgeries. After receiving the concussion, the gymnast was told to go back to practicing, she told the Tribune at the time. 2012 Olympian, Anna Li, left, and her mother, Jiani Wu, a 1984 Olympian, watch gymnasts during practice at Legacy Elite Gymnastics in 2012. (Stacey Wescott/Chicago Tribune) On Thursday, Scanlon said she was upset that it took SafeSport around six years to come to a conclusion on the matter despite the number of complaints that were made against Li and Wu. Prince had similar complaints about the length of the investigation, saying in a later written statement that there is “no other organization in the United States that can leave a person or business under this type of cloud for years without an opportunity to fully resolve the matter.” It took SafeSport more than a year to formally notify Li and Wu about the complaints, according to Prince. The two coaches then participated in the investigative process “without reservation” even though “the allegations are categorically false,” but their interviews with SafeSport investigators were completed three years ago, he said. When asked about the length of the investigation, a SafeSport spokesperson referred to a statement from SafeSport CEO Ju’Riese Colon that acknowledged the investigation “simply took too long.” “The center takes every matter seriously and works to ensure investigations are thorough, trauma-sensitive and expeditious,” according to the statement. “There are instances when it’s perceived a matter is taking ‘too long’ when in fact it’s just the nature of this complex work. “Then there are times, such as this, when it simply took too long, and I am sorry that it took nearly six years to bring answers to athletes and the gymnastics community. “We are continuing with recently implemented systems—providing monthly updates to participants in our process, merging our legal and investigative teams to enhance collaboration, and tripling our legal team to meet the growing volume of cases— to ensure this doesn’t happen moving forward,” Colon said in the statement. [email protected]