Gabby Douglas told Oprah Winfrey that she had a different experience than her fellow gymnasts when she used to train in Virginia—and not in a good way.
But the head of her former gymnasium in Virginia Beach and the people she trained with maintain that they have no idea what Douglas is talking about.
'Gabby's remarks were hurtful and without merit,' Excalibur Gymnastics CEO Gustavo Maure said in a statement to E! News in response to the 16-year-old's claim that she felt 'bullied and isolated from the group,' possibly because she Is black.
Everything you need to know about Gabby
'We've had more African Americans in elite and on the national team than any other gym in the country (5, 2 of them in Olympic Trials or Olympic Team Camp),' Maure continued. 'Her African American former teammates will answer this serious accusation. (1st statement untruth, she was not the only African American gymnast training in the gym) We are good people. We never were knowingly involved in any type of bullying or racist treatment, like she is accusing Excalibur.'
Another athlete who trained at Excalibur for eight years (two of them alongside Douglas, she said) stated that Douglas' comments were 'absolutely ridiculous.'
'The accusations that are being made against the gymnasts and coaches are just sickening,' Randy Stageburg wrote to Gymnewstics.com. 'I watched [head coach .