When Samantha Medel, distracted by the death of her grandmother, hesitated and then failed to complete a vault in training, she knew what was coming next.

As expected, her coach began screaming at her so loud that the entire gym could hear, Medel and her mother Linda recalled.

“Get your fat ass over the vault! You’re too fat to get over the vault!” the Medels recalled the coach screaming.

The coach was Anna Li, an alternate on the 2012 U.S. Olympic team and named to USA Gymnastics athletes’ council last month.

The selection of Li to represent athletes with USA Gymnastics, the sport’s embattled national governing body, shocked several athletes who have trained under Li at Legacy Elite Gymnastics in Aurora, Illinois, and the gymnasts’ parents.

“I can’t think of anyone who’s ever been a fan of Anna’s,” Samantha Medel said. “Why would USA Gymnastics want the meanest, most narcissistic person to represent athletes?”

Li and her mother Jiani Wu, also a coach in the gym, are routinely emotionally and, in the case of Wu, physically abusive toward young female gymnasts, Legacy gymnasts and their parents allege in interviews, confidential formal complaints to USA Gymnastics, and emails to a USA Gymnastics national team sport psychologist obtained by the Southern California News Group.

Li, a former UCLA All-American, and Wu, an Olympic medalist for China, are both being investigated by USA Gymnastics for verbal and emotional abuse of young gymnasts, according to six people familiar with the investigation.

The investigation was prompted by a complaint filed with USA Gymnastics this month, according to two people interviewed by the investigator.

Li and Wu “adamantly and vehemently deny” abusing young gymnasts, said Sam L. Amirante, an attorney representing the women.

“They’re really sweet people. I’ve never seen anything like (abuse). They really care about the kids and are great coaches,” continued Amirante, who said his daughter has trained at Legacy. Amirante first gained national attention while representing serial killer John Wayne Gacy. Amirante is author of “John Wayne Gacy: Defending a Monster.”

The gymnasts and their parents allege that Li disparaged gymnasts in front of their peers on a “daily basis,” regularly called girls fat, pressured injured athletes to train or compete, and threatened to make negative comments to college coaches recruiting them if they struggled in training, were unable to train or compete because of injuries or illness, or appeared in Li’s opinion overweight, according to interviews with multiple gymnasts and parents and four formal complaints filed with USA Gymnastics.

Wu on multiple occasions pulled young gymnasts by their hair when she was dissatisfied with their training, including at least one occasion when Wu allegedly pulled a girl by her ponytail all the way to the ground, according to interviews and three complaints submitted to USA Gymnastics.

“Hair was pulled and girls were constantly body-shamed,” a parent wrote in a formal complaint to USA Gymnastics this month.

Another parent in a complaint with USA Gymnastics said she witnessed “Hair pulling under the guise of physical coaching.”

Carmen Scanlon said Wu pulled her 10-year-old daughter by her hair off a balance beam to the floor when the girl didn’t perform a skill to her satisfaction.

“Jiani yanked her off the high beam, pulled her to the ground, grabbed her by the arm and dragged her to some mats and then sat on her back,” Scanlon said. “I was there. I saw it. I was stupid. I didn’t know what to do. We should have left (the club) that day. We left a month later.”

As alarming, gymnasts and parents said, was Li and Wu’s practice of steering gymnasts to be treated by former U.S. Olympic and women’s national team physician Larry Nassar at Michigan State’s sports medicine clinic where he was employed. Nassar is currently serving a 60-year sentence in federal prison for possession of child pornography. He was sentenced in 2018 to between 40 and 175 years and 40 and 125 years after pleading guilty to a total 10 charges of sexual assault in two Michigan state cases.

At least four Legacy gymnasts were sexually assaulted by Nassar, according to three people familiar with the cases including an attorney for multiple Nassar victims. One parent said their daughter was treated by Nassar but was not sexually assaulted by him.

“That’s a huge piece,” said one former Legacy elite gymnast, who alleges in court filings she was sexually assaulted by Nassar. She asked that her name not be used because of the nature of her abuse. “You were told not to go to any doctor but Larry Nassar. Larry Nassar was the only doctor they trusted so they made you drive up to Michigan State. I got hurt so they sent me to Larry. (They said) ‘If Larry says you’re hurt, OK.’ But if another doctor said you were hurt (Li and Wu) would always say the doctor is wrong. They always said the other doctors don’t know what they’re talking about. Go see Larry.”

USA Gymnastics said in a statement “Athlete safety and well-being are top priorities for USA Gymnastics, and all misconduct complaints and concerns are taken very seriously. The athlete-safety process is confidential, and USA Gymnastics only comments on a membership matter if and when the resolution involves a public-facing result.”

Former USA Gymnastics athletes’ council member Jessica Howard, however, described Li’s selection as “appalling” and emblematic of a dysfunctional and tone-deaf national governing body and the culture within the sport that nearly three years after the Nassar scandal became public still hasn’t made “athlete safety a priority.”

“I think it’s absolutely dangerous,” said Howard, a former U.S. women’s national rhythmic team member and a Nassar survivor who trained in Jacksonville, Florida. “To not only make this single decision to have (Li) on the athletes’ council but I believe fully that this move, this decision is indicative of exactly the problems we’ve been trying to avoid that last three years.”

A Washington state investigator hired by USA Gymnastics has contacted at least four families with daughters who trained under Li and Wu at Legacy Elite Gymnastics, according to four people familiar with the investigation. The families were asked about allegations of verbal and emotional abuse, four people said.

But Legacy parents said USA Gymnastics’ national headquarters in Indianapolis has ignored complaints about Li and Wu since 2014. One parent said he has left at least 15 messages with USA Gymnastics but has never been contacted by the organization or a representative of the NGB.

“USA Gymnastics doesn’t want to know what’s going on,” said Ed Fitzgerald, a former Legacy parent. “That’s why they hired a bonehead like Anna Li. They just want to win.

“As long as we’re turning out top gymnasts who are having success at the international level, you really don’t want to know what’s happening. They don’t want to know because we’re succeeding, so you turn a blind eye.”

Li was selected by the USA Gymnastics Athletes’ Council in June to join the 10-member group that represents athletes with the governing body’s board of directors.

Athletes’ Council members are essentially the voice of athletes with USA Gymnastics. Members of the council share concerns of athletes with the national governing body. Council members are expected to be accessible to athletes and provide a sounding board for concerns and issues. Members also communicate information from USA Gymnastics directly to elite athletes, USA Gymnastics said. Council members also serve U.S. Olympic and national team selection committees and other committees with the organization.

The Athletes’ Council has taken on greater importance in the wake of the Nassar sexual abuse scandal. Survivors said Nassar’s sexual abuse of them was enabled in part by their isolation and a lack of allies and a voice at the top levels of USA Gymnastics.

“Athletes deserve someone in that role that is truly capable of protecting them and not someone who is a consistent offender of the very acts that they seek refuge from,” a Legacy parent wrote in a complaint to USA Gymnastics.

Li replaced Terin Humphrey, an Olympic medalist, who was voted off council by its members in May after controversies including drawing widespread criticism for a meme she posted on her Facebook page.

“What Champions consider coaching is what the entitled consider abuse. Parents if your son is gonna be great he will take some (expletive) chewing along the way. Get ready!” the meme said.

Li will complete Humphrey’s term, which expires this year, with the option of running for a full term.

USA Gymnastics has been plagued by a series of missteps in hiring decisions in the wake of the Nassar scandal.

Steve Penny, the organization’s CEO since 2005 was forced to resign in March 2017 amid allegations that he covered up Nassar’s abuse. Penny was later arrested after being indicted in Walker County, Texas on evidence of tampering charges related to the Nassar case. Penny has denied any wrongdoing.

Kerry Perry, a marketing executive, replaced Penny in December 2017. She was forced out in September 2018, just four days after USA Gymnastics asked veteran coach Mary Lee Tracy to resign as the organization’s elite development coordinator after just three days on the job.

Tracy’s forced resignation came after USA Gymnastics officials said she improperly contacted Olympic champion Aly Raisman, who is suing the organization.

Former congresswoman Mary Bono resigned as CEO in October after just four days on the job. Bono generated more than $1.5 million in lobbying fees over a three-year period for a firm that, according to emails and court filings consulted with Penny while he and USA Gymnastics allegedly covered up Nassar’s sexual abuse.

Li Li Leung, a sports marketing professional and former NBA vice president, in February was appointed USA Gymnastics’ fourth president and chief executive officer in 23 months.

Leung’s first major hire was Edward Nyman Jr. as USA Gymnastics’ first full-time sports medicine and science director. But Nyman was fired in April after just one day on the job for failing to disclose athlete safety complaints against his wife and others at the Ohio gymnastics club she owns. USA Gymnastics officials have been aware of allegations of verbal and emotional abuse by coaches at the club since at least the summer of 2017, an SCNG investigation found.

The recent personnel moves at USA Gymnastics show, Howard said, that the organization is “not only fine with the status quo, they’re going full speed ahead with no intention of changing direction or the culture or making USA Gymnastics a place where the safety of athletes is a priority.

“(Li) is a complete ‘yes’ person for USA Gymnastics. Their (priority) right now is getting a medal at the 2020 Olympics and proving that they haven’t totally fallen apart in the wake of the Nassar scandal and getting sponsors back.”

Legacy is one of the top elite gymnastics clubs in the nation, producing current U.S. national team member Gabby Perea. At least 15 Legacy gymnasts since 2017 have gone on to compete at NCAA Division I programs.

The gym is owned by Li’s parents, Wu and her husband Yuejin Li. Wu earned a bronze medal with China in the team competition at the 1984 Olympics. She later served as a U.S. national team assistant coach at the World Championships. Yuejin Li in 1981 became China’s first world champion on the floor exercise and was a member of China’s silver medal men’s team at the 1984 Olympics. He was China’s national team coordinator when China swept the men’s and women’s team gold medals at the 2008 Games in Beijing.

Anna Li primarily coached female gymnasts at the elite level, the sport’s top level.

Several of the families said they were attracted to Legacy because of Li’s success. Li, an alternate on both the 2011 World and 2012 Olympic champion teams, was a local girl who made the big time.

“These little girls idolized Anna,” Fitzgerald said. “She’s your hero. She’s your everything. So when someone like that verbally abuses you that’s pretty hard.”

Parents said Li and Wu warned them that life at Legacy would be difficult for their daughters.

“(Li and Wu) tell you when they first meet with the parents, ‘Your kid is going to come home crying every day, that’s how you get better, so you better just get used to it,’” Fitzgerald said.

But the parents said Li and Wu’s tactics regularly cross the line between demanding and abuse.

“And they cross the line over and over and over again,” Fitzgerald said.

If Li was angry with you “the threatening, screaming, verbal abuse” would be “daily,” said the gymnast who was abused by Nassar.

“Anna completely mentally destroys kids,” Fitzgerald said. “She’s screaming (things like) ‘You suck, you don’t belong here, I never should have invited you here, you should go back (to a lower level training group). You’re no good.’

“When she’s screaming that stuff at you for 20 practices in a row it’s pretty hard on a kid.”

Fitzgerald, echoing other parents, also blames himself for keeping his daughters in the gym after he said it was clear they were being verbally and emotionally abused.

“Your kids are just disposable items to (Legacy), just someone whose parents pay the tuition so they can pay the bills and keep the lights on,” Fitzgerald said. “But there are times when I ask myself ‘What is wrong with me?’ I got caught up in the culture and wanting my kids to be great.”

Li and Wu were obsessed with gymnasts’ weight, parents and gymnasts said. A scale found in the dumpster of a nearby medical facility was placed in the center of the gym. Some gymnasts were weighed five times a practice, a gymnast said.

“There was a lot of body-shaming going on,” Linda Medel said. “(Li) is always saying you’re overweight, too heavy. Telling you people aren’t going to want you for college because you’re too fat. Anna Li screaming ‘get your fat ass over the vault.’”

Another parent also described in a complaint to USA Gymnastics the pressure Li and Wu placed on girls to lose weight.

“Gymnasts are consistently told they were fat and needed to lose weight. I remember witnessing one gymnast running on the treadmill in a ‘fat suit,’” the parent wrote. “Other times, this would be a topic of conversation amongst the girls in my carpool. One parent complained openly about this before she ended up leaving the gym. One very young gymnast was body-shamed at the mere age of about 12. She was told by Anna Li that she was ‘jiggly’ and had cellulite. She was less than 100 pounds.”

Samantha Medel recounted the toll the alleged body-shaming by Li and Wu had on her in an April 2018 journal entry on VSCO, a social media platform.

“If you don’t know, I am a gymnast and I have been my whole life,” Medel wrote. “I used to say that I struggled with my weight but to be honest, no I didn’t. It was put in my head that I was too heavy to be a gymnast since I was in 7th grade. Yes, you read that right, at 12 years old I was getting told I was overweight ‘for a gymnast.’

“I remember stepping up on the scale and seeing the number 96 lbs pop up. I was 5’3 at the time and my young self was starting to believe what I was being told. I looked myself in the mirror and said to myself ‘I’m too fat for a gymnast’ because of what my coaches would tell me daily. I put myself on countless diets and ended up still getting told I was too fat ‘for a gymnast.’

“I had gone through a depression due to losing a close loved one. During the depression, I had gotten injured. I had gained about 8 lbs. I pushed myself to still walk through those gym doors even with getting pulled aside to get told on a weekly basis, “if you don’t lose this weight no college is going to even look at you or consider you for their team with you being this big.

“And in my head, I started going crazy. I would cry everyday walking in those doors. I resented everything about gymnastics. I started to hate the sport over comments that we’re being made to me.”

Li even blamed two shoulder injuries on Medel’s weight, Medel and her mother said.

“I had tore both of my labrums from a skill on bars due to a mat not being pushed in for me by my coach,” Samantha Medel wrote in the journal. “I got pulled to the side and told ‘you wouldn’t have hurt yourself if you weren’t too fat for a gymnast.’ I ended up getting two surgeries to fix both arms. I still would look at myself and think that I was too fat, not even just for a gymnast anymore, but for a normal girl.

“I left that gym and now am starting a new one. And now without that getting put into my head, I’m finally realizing after all these years I was never heavy, overweight, or too fat ‘for a gymnast.’ I was and am muscular, strong, and now finally, happy. Like I said before I posted these pictures on here for a reason, and that reason is I’m finally happy with how I look for the first time in 4 years. And to anyone else who has gone through this or is going through it at this moment, I am sorry for what they may say to you, but ‘for a gymnast’ I think we all look pretty damn good.”

It wasn’t just weight that set off Li and Wu.

Not learning a new skill fast enough, expressing nervousness about trying a new skill, being unable to train because of injury, not performing up to Li and Wu’s expectations at competitions could all prompt tirades, parents and gymnasts said.

“If you get injured, if you disappoint them, if you don’t perform well, their wrath will be vicious,” Fitzgerald said. “You do not embarrass Anna and Jiani at meets.”

Punishment, gymnasts and parents said, included girls as young as 10 or 11 being made by Li and Wu to hold handstands for 10 minutes sometimes even after parents specifically told the coaches not to subject their daughters to the drill. Girls who did perform the handstands frequently complained of suffering broken blood vessels near their eyes and complained of severe headaches, according to parents, gymnasts and complaints filed with USA Gymnastics.

“Many girls including my daughter were forced to do 10-minute handstand holds as punishment,” a parent wrote in a complaint to USA Gymnastics. “On one occasion, (her daughter) was forced to stand against the wall by herself for 2 hours and was told she wasn’t going to be coached or talked to. Jiani told all of the other girls in her group that if anyone talked to (the daughter), they would have to stand against the wall too.”

Li and Wu formed a circle out of mat piles in the middle of the gym next to where they kept the family dog tied to a pole near the balance beam. The circle became known as the “Donut of Shame” to gymnasts and their parents.

Girls who balked at performing new skills they thought they weren’t physically or mentally ready for, who were unable to perform a skill in training or disappointed Wu or Li in some other manner were told to sit in the center of the “Donut of Shame.”

Sometimes a gymnast would be forced to sit in the circle for two hours. Over the years, Li and Wu used similar methods to punish gymnasts, parents alleged in interviews and complaints to USA Gymnastics.

“Girls were made to sit in an inflatable pool toy in the corner of the gym as punishment for not working hard or not making corrections,” a parent wrote in a complaint to USA Gymnastics. “On one occasion, a girl was made to sit in the corner in the floatie for 5 hours. Girls were also made to sit out in the waiting room in front of parents as punishment if they were crying, not making corrections or not working hard enough.”

“They thrive on humiliation,” Fitzgerald said.

In a complaint to USA Gymnastics, a parent writes that they saw coaches “Taping kids’ mouth shut. … One gymnast had Asthma so this could have turned bad very fast but Anna and Jiani wanted to ensure the girls did not talk.”

Fitzgerald also reported in his complaint to USA Gymnastics that a “Child had tape placed over (her) mouth for 2 hours.”

Parents and gymnasts also said they witnessed or experienced even more physical abuse from Wu.

“Kids being pushed off beam under the guise of physical coaching – parents set up meeting with the coaches,” read one complaint to USA Gymnastics about Wu. “Coaches claimed physical coaching. Gymnast was adamant that the sentiments were consistent with pushing and not physical coaching. This is still happening.”

Li and Wu would also isolate and ignore gymnasts they were upset or disappointed with, parents and gymnasts allege.

In a 2016 email to Alison Arnold, a sports psychologist for the USA Gymnastics women’s national team, a parent outlined how Li and Wu treated her daughter so poorly after the girl, then 9, became hesitant at performing a potentially dangerous new skill on the beam. Arnold online and on social media often refers to herself as “the mental toughness coach for USA Gymnastics since 1997.”

The girl had been training with a top group which practiced 32 hours a week but was demoted and other gymnasts and coaches were discouraged by Wu and Li from associating with the girl.

“Her old group was afraid to even come near her and the other girls in the evening group in her level were kept separate from her,” the parent wrote Arnold, referring to Li. “Many times if coach tried to work with her and get a skill back that she once had, the coach who had removed her from her group would come up behind her and tell her to stop working on it immediately. Three days before her regional competition that same coach threw her out of practice for not doing her beam series and was told to go home after screaming at her the entire time, she had only been at practice that day for an hour before it happened.”

Li and Wu often ignored parents and/or doctors’ orders for girls not to train because of injuries, including back fractures, or concussions, parents and gymnasts said.

Gymnasts were required to attend every practice whether they were physically able to train or not.

“Coaches thought they were above the doctors,” a parent wrote to USA Gymnastics, referring to both Wu and Li. “They told the girls that they know more than the doctors do because of the length of time they have been in the sport. They said they never needed lists from doctors, that they knew how to manage all injuries. Therapy lists were torn up and thrown in the garbage. Girls were never believed when they were hurting, in pain or had injuries. Girls were told that they were faking the injury because they didn’t want to do a certain skill or they were afraid. Coaches also blamed real injuries on growing.”

Fitzgerald recalled dropping his daughter off at Legacy while she was wearing a boot cast to protect an injury. He said he told Li the girl had to keep the boot on per doctor’s orders.

“Twenty minutes after I was gone,” he said, “Anna made her take the boot off and had her practicing.”