Gymnast from age 4 to 18 here. I competed at county level.
I absolutely adored the sport. But yes, I would now say we endured physical and emotional abuse.
We were weighed every training session (at one point i trained 5 times a week) and if we were even 1lb over target weight we were called "chubby", "fat", "out of shape".
My key skills were floor, vault and tumble. I've trained on loads of injuries. They just tell you it's in your head and you arent hurt like you think you are. I once twisted my ankle in training and couldn't bear weight on it. They made me finish my tumble session. I went to the doctors afterwards and it was badly sprained. They even x-rayed it. When I called to skip training the following session I was told I needed to be back the one after or they wouldnt let me compete in a competition in 4 weeks time.
I also once twisted my back coming out of a tumble and I ended up going to lay down on the cold tile floor in the girls toilet as it hurt so much. One of the coaches came in, said "5 mins on an ice pack and that will be fine" and put me back on the track.
To this day my ankles, knees and back suffer. In the cold weather they actually hurt sometimes and I know it's from battering my joints and training on injuries.
Luckily, my principal coach was nothing like that. He was an amazing bloke and I loved him to bits. But I dreaded training with other coaches as some of them were just downright nasty.
It's funny but you dont realise the situation at the time. You think its standard. You dont question it. It's not until years later you realise.