Olympic Gymnastics Coach Maggie Haney Probed For Bullying: Report

MARLBORO, NJ — Maggie Haney, a nationally known women's gymnastics coach who trains numerous Olympic hopefuls at a gym she owns in the Morganville section of Marlboro, is currently under investigation by USA Gymnastics for verbally and emotionally abusing athletes, according to a report in The Ocean County Register.

Haney, who trained 2016 Olympic gold medal winner Laurie Hernandez, is also accused of pressuring athletes to practice while they were injured, according to the report.

This is according to emails obtained by the OC Register between USA Gymnastics president Li Li Leung and Mark Busby, USA Gymnastic's in-house counsel.

Haney's contributions to the field of U.S. women's gymnastics cannot be overstated: She trained Olympic winner Hernandez out of MG Elite, a warehouse gym off Rt. 18 in Morganville.

In addition to Hernandez, Haney is currently coaching Riley McCusker and Olivia Greaves, both Olympic hopefuls. MG Elite was just profiled last week by the Asbury Park Press as a quietly-operating powerhouse in the field of U.S. women's gymnastics. MG Elite stands for Monmouth Gymnastics Elite, but Haney told the newspaper she prefers to think of the initials as "Maggie's Girls."

Nobody picked up the phone when Patch called MG Elite Tuesday morning. The gym is located at 300 Campus Drive at the intersection of Newman Springs Road and Rt. 18.

Haney, 41, lives in Freehold. A former college gymnast herself, she's been operating MG Elite for the past twelve years. Haney owns the team; Victoria Levine is the assistant coach at MG Elite and she owns the gym itself. Haney is married to David Stringer, the son of Rutgers women’s basketball coach C. Vivian Stringer, according to the Asbury Park Press.

The allegations include that Haney screamed, threatened and bullied the gymnasts she trained, according to the OC Register report. She is also accused of telling injured gymnasts to remove boot casts and to continue training, according to the emails. The allegations were made by at least four families and they were made some time prior to March of this year.

Some parents also said USA Gymnastics is not investigating the complaints with enough urgency, according to the report.

USA Gymnastics declined to comment directly on the Haney investigation to the OC Register.

Hernandez, who grew up in Old Bridge, has been training with Haney since she was 6 years old. However, after she won Olympic gold Hernandez left MG Elite and now trains at a Costa Mesa gym in California. Hernandez hopes to return to the Olympics on the 2020 U.S. women's team.

Here is a video of Haney discussing her training of Riley McCusker, who is on the short list for the 2020 U.S. women's gymnastics team: