Milan (Italy) - Italian rhythmic gymnastics has been rocked by serious allegations of abuse against former head coach Emanuela Maccarani (58) for three years. Now she has been dismissed without notice. However, the reaction of the athletes is surprising.

The girls and young women are said to have burst into tears when they found out about the dismissal on Wednesday. They were still unable to train on Thursday.

Martina Centofanti (26), five-time world champion and bronze medallist at the 2024 Summer Olympics in Paris, wrote on Instagram that she and her team members "found out without any communication from a member of the federation, a member of the council or, above all, a representative of the athletes, that our coach would no longer be training us from tomorrow, a week before we set off on our first international assignment with the new team".

She complained that the team had found out about the dismissal of their coach on the messaging service "Telegram" and that no one had spoken to the athletes either before or after.

Maccarani has been pilloried since 2022 after her former athlete Nina Corradini described in a book that the coach had set strict fasting schedules and had also mocked her athletes. Although she has been warned so far, she has never been convicted.

Now he has been dismissed without notice following a personnel change in the association. The new president Andrea Facci (40) is said to have made the decision. He is now also in charge of the team - at least on an interim basis until June 30.

Maccarani worked as technical director and head coach for 30 years. "The newly elected president did not take the time or interest to introduce himself to the new team, although he had several opportunities to do so," Centofanti continued in her Instagram story.

"After three years, we find ourselves in an even more destabilizing and detrimental situation for us athletes and for the sports planning of the entire national team. All of this will of course have a big impact on the work, on the emotional state of each of us and on the 'well-being' that was missing," the 26-year-old continued.

At the beginning of March, it was announced that the coach would be charged with abuse again. She and her former assistant Olga Tishina had initially been acquitted in previous proceedings before the sports court. However, the Italian National Olympic Committee requested a retrial as it was of the opinion that testimonies in favor of the coaches were favored over critical testimonies, as reported by"Open Online".

Even the public prosecutor's office had requested that the charges against the two trainers be dropped. The investigating judge in Monza granted this in the case of Tishina, but Maccarani is now being charged again.