The euphoria experienced during and after the Olympics was burst asunder by a scandal involving the revered Spanish synchronized swimming team. it seems that the ex-coach, Anna Tarrés, applied US Marine-type psychology on her charges.

Anna Tarrés was the coach for the national selection for 15 years and churned out a team of young women, whose swimming skills provoked nothing but admiration. On the 6th of September she was replaced, after she had just won the bronze at the London Olympics.

Whereas outside training hours she was convivial and sociable, by the pool side she was considered a steely dictator, some claim. On one occasion, one ex-team member accuses, a young girl of about 14 asked to be able to leave the pool because she was going to vomit – she was told to swallow it by Anna and continue. She allegedly told another 14-year-old, “Don’t come Miss Prim and Proper, if you have shagged everything that moves.”

What provoked this scandal was a letter signed by 15 ex-members of the national team, denouncing the coach for her ‘brutal methods,’ which produced 55 medals for the team during her time as the national coach.

However, her deputy coach, Beth Fernández, denies that Anna had ever used such terms and that the accusations, included in a letter, were merely the desire to take revenge after not having made the level to continue in a top national team. She also says that only five of the girls that signed the letter actually trained under Anna Tarrés

(News: Spain)