joining us is katherine star, two-time olympian and current president of safe for athletes.n chicago, john little an attorney who handles many sexual abuse cases for olympic athletes. and mitch abrams a sports psychologist who has worked extensively with athletes who face these abuses. welcome even to "the stream." katherine coaches push athletes to try harder. that's their job. they yell, and put you through growling workouts. but at whatting point does hard core tough coaching become abusive? >> one of the things about being an elite athlete is you excel on your own. and you have an balanced relationship between your coach and yourself, and if you are in a dynamic where the coach is saying they made you, then you have really lost both your -- the equality in that relationship. and then you create a dynamic that is extremely dysfunctional, and moves into that extremely abuse environment. >> talk about what that environment was like for you. >> well, i mean for me the abuse was psychologically abusive, mentally abusive, and i had to deal with -- my -- my family -- my father

they say a winning at all cost is making it less likely for athletes to report abuse. >> katherine star, 2-time olympian and president of star. and john little, an attorney who handles many sexual abuse cases and dr mitch abrahams, a sports psychologist working with high performance olympic athletes. >> coach's push athletes to try harder. they yell and put you through workouts. at what point does hard core tough coaching become abusive? >> one of the things about being an elite athlete is you excel on your own, and it's having a balanced relationship between your coach and yourself. if you are in a dynamic, they are pushing. then you have lost your - the equality this that relationship. and then you create a dynamic that is dysfunctional, moving to the extremely abusive environment. >> talk about what the abusive environment is like for you? >> well, i mean for me the abuse was psychologically abusive, mentally abusive, and i had to deal with - my family, my father was an amazing man. he supported me as a swimmer. it was amazing. and to go to him with my - you know, like you're suppose

joining us with an inside look is katherine star, two time olympian and current president of safe for athletes, a support network. in chicago john little, an attorney that handles many sexual abuse cases for olympic athletes and a doctor who has worked extensively with high performance and olympic athletes that face these abuses. welcome to the stream. coaching push athletes to try harder. that's their job. they yell and put you through grueling workouts. that's amplified with the olympics at stake. at what point does hard-core tough coaching become abusive? >> one of the things about being an elite athlete is you excel on your own, and it's having a balanced relationship between your coach and yourself. if you're in a dynamic where a coach is saying they made you, it's all their pushing, then you've really lost your -- the equality in that relationship. then you create a dynamic that's extremely dysfunctional and an extremely abusive environment. >> talk about what that abusive environment was like for you. >> well, i mean, for me the abuse was psychologically abusive and mentally ab