On Feb. 3, after months of delays, USA Gymnastics opened a hearing to determine whether Maggie Haney, the internationally renowned coach of Olympic and world champions, had verbally and emotionally abused young athletes.

Following 13 days of often heated and tearful testimony over the course of two months, USA Gymnastics officials earlier this month told parties involved in the case that the hearing panel would issue a ruling in the case on April 22.

So with Haney and her supporters on one side, and dozens of young gymnasts who allege they were abused by Haney or bullied into competing or training while injured and their parents on the other, everyone waited all day and into the night Wednesday for a phone call or an email from USA Gymnastics. One more day of anxiety and tears before a controversy – which began in the days following the 2016 Olympic Games – would finally be resolved.

But Wednesday came and went without a ruling from USA Gymnastics. No emails. No calls. Nothing.

So what happened?

Apologetic USA Gymnastics officials told the parties Thursday they had made a mistake when they originally said the hearing panel ruling would be announced April 22.

USA Gymnastics general counsel Mark Busby said the organization actually meant it would have a ruling by April 29 but gave the wrong date because of a calendar error, four people familiar with emails from Busby and USA Gymnastics Safe Sport staff told the Southern California News Group.

“They apologized,” said Russell Prince, an attorney for Haney, referring to an email from Busby. “It was a misread calendar issue.”

The mistake is the latest misstep by USA Gymnastics, the Indianapolis-based national governing body that has stumbled through a series of controversies and public-relations debacles in the wake of the Larry Nassar and Don Peters sexual abuse scandals.

USA Gymnastics is currently fighting for its financial life in U.S. Bankruptcy Court, with nearly all of Nassar’s 517 survivors telling SCNG they would vote to reject USA Gymnastics’ $217 million settlement offer that divides survivors into four tiers.

“USA Gymnastics does not determine when a hearing panel will render a decision,” USA Gymnastics said in a statement Thursday. “We understand that the panel is continuing to deliberate in order to ensure that their decision is thorough and inclusive of the thoughts of all panel members.”

The delay has added to the anxiety of the Haney’s alleged victims and their families, said Judie Saunders, an attorney for the families of several of the gymnasts.

“My clients, especially the young ladies, are frustrated and ready for some type of closure on this,” Saunders said. “Delays I know occur. But the not knowing, not having information is what’s causing their angst.”

Haney was suspended by USA Gymnastics on Feb. 3, the first day of hearings in which 2016 Olympic gold medalist Laurie Hernandez testified against her longtime coach and 2018 world champion Riley McCusker wrote a letter critical of Haney to the hearing panel.

Prince said Haney was also frustrated by the delay.

“Miss Haney is upset,” he said. “She’s been upset going through this for one year.”

Prince added: “I believe the panel is attempting to do a 100 percent thoughtful and thorough job.”

Haney, 42, considered one of the world’s top technical coaches, came to global prominence for coaching Hernandez and McCusker at MG Elite Gymnastics in suburban Monmouth Junction, N.J., 45 miles from New York City. But Hernandez and McCusker joined at least a half-dozen families in filing complaints against Haney with USA Gymnastics.

Haney is alleged to have screamed, sworn at, threatened, bullied, and harassed gymnasts on a regular basis, according to USA Gymnastics documents and interviews with six people familiar with the national governing body’s investigation. Haney has also reporteddly told injured gymnasts to remove boot casts and other protective devices to continue training and competing, according to USA Gymnastics documents and interviews.

Haney supporters, including several NCAA Division I gymnasts and former U.S. national team coaches, have defended the coach. They maintain Haney is tough, and at times abrasive, but not abusive.

USA Gymnastics placed Haney on interim suspension pending the outcome of the hearing during the first hour of the Feb. 3 hearing, according to three people familiar with the hearing. Under the terms of the measure, Haney was prohibited from “Suspended from All Contact with Minors,” according to USA Gymnastics.

But USA Gymnastics’ handling of the Haney case further fueled widespread criticism in the wake of the Nassar and Peters sex abuse scandals that the organization, driven by Olympic and international success and corporate sponsorship, is more concerned about protecting the reputation of high-profile coaches, officials and the organization than young athletes.

Hernandez reported complaints against Haney to Rhonda Faehn, then-USA Gymnastics senior vice president for the women’s program, shortly after the 2016 Olympic Games. The verbal and emotional abuse by Haney and other coaches at MG Elite continued, according to documents obtained by SCNG and interviews. At least a dozen gymnasts said they were verbally and/or emotionally abused by Haney after Hernandez complained to USA Gymnastics in 2016.

Haney has been under investigation by USA Gymnastics since at least August, according to four people familiar with the investigation, as the result of several allegations.

Gymnasts, some as young as 10, were screamed at when they made a mistake in practice or struggled to learn a new skill, according to MG Elite parents. Parents also said they witnessed Haney “fat shame” young girls. Other times gymnasts were kicked out of practice when they disappointed Haney, parents said. Gymnasts who were injured and unable to train or compete were humiliated and bullied by Haney, according to documents and parents.

Some gymnasts were reportedly so concerned about being screamed at, bullied or humiliated in front other girls that they suffered anxiety attacks.

Haney has not responded to multiple requests for comment from SCNG. Prince, her attorney, described the allegations as “patently false.”

Victoria Levine, a coach and co-owner of MG Elite, was also placed on an interim suspension by USA Gymnastics last month and prohibited from having any unsupervised contact with minor-age athletes while the organization investigates allegations of verbal and emotional abuse against her.

The Levine investigation was prompted by allegations made by parents of MG Elite gymnasts, as well as testimony from USA Gymnastics’ on-going hearing on verbal and emotional abuses against Haney. Levine did not respond to a request for comment.

Under the U.S. Center for SafeSport code it is a “violation for a Participant to engage in emotional and/or physical misconduct, when that misconduct occurs within a context that is reasonably related to sport, which includes, without limitation: 1. Emotional Misconduct, 2. Physical Misconduct, 3. Bullying Behaviors, 4. Hazing, 5. Harassment.”

Emotional abuse, according to the code, includes “(a) Verbal Acts, (b) Physical Acts, (c) Acts that Deny Attention or Support, (d) Criminal Conduct, and/or (e) Stalking. Emotional Misconduct is determined by the objective behaviors,”

Verbal acts are defined as “Repeatedly and excessively verbally assaulting or attacking someone personally in a manner that serves no productive training or motivational purpose.”

Hernandez won a gold medal in the team competition at the 2016 Olympic Games and added a silver medal on the balance beam. But the relationship between Hernandez, her family and Haney broke down in the weeks immediately after the Rio de Janeiro Games. Hernandez took more than a year off from the sport, appearing on “Dancing With the Stars.”

She returned to gymnastics in 2018 and is training at Gym-Max in Costa Mesa. Hernandez has participated in at least two U.S. national team training camps in recent months in which Haney has been present. She was invited but declined to attend a national team selection camp in February after the Haney hearing began.

McCusker won a gold medal with the U.S. squad in the team competition at the 2018 World Championships and is considered a contender for multiple medals at next summer’s Olympic Games in Tokyo.

McCusker’s relationship with Haney began unraveling during the FIG World Cup individual all-around March 23, 2019, in Birmingham, England.

Haney allegedly berated McCusker for a poor performance on the vault, according to two people familiar with the investigation. McCusker finished second to Russia’s Aliya Mustafina despite finishing ahead of Mustafina in three of the four events. But McCusker’s vault score of 13.133 was 1.233 less than the Russian’s and was the difference in the final standings.

McCusker, however, continued to train with Haney. She missed the World Championships last fall because of a muscle ailment frequently linked to overtraining.

McCusker recovered and resumed training with Haney but left MG Elite shortly after Haney’s interim suspension. She is currently training at Arizona Sunrays in Phoenix, where she is coached by Brian Carey, father of multiple World Championships medalist Jade Carey.