Pressuring and succeeding?

Recently, about two months ago, I read a series of articles in the newspaper DN. Here's the first article. It's about how gymnasts were pressured way too hard at practice and in life. Their coach made them cry, telling them they weren't good enough and wouldn't accept it if somebody thought something was too scary to execute. If you wouldn't do it, you could quit. There were other things their coach did to make them "succeed" that you can read about in the article.

I can just not understand this. Apparently those who train gymnastics nowadays do it for 30 hours a week. I can just not understand that. I think at one point it doesn't matter how much effort you put into it, because you're going to be so exhausted that you won't be able to perform well. I find it unbelievable that a coach doesn't know that.

But my main concern is the parents. Where were they? The gymnasts were probably not saying anything because they didn't know any better. When you practice that much, it becomes as normal as eating and sleeping. That's when parents have to be there. I'm guessing they were either very competitive as well or didn't have a clue what was going on. The first is more likely. Who doesn't go to see their child at practice once? I don't have a good answer for this, and this post is mostly for asking questions. I've practiced figure skating for most of my life, and I have never heard of a coach that would do that to the athletes. I'm just very surprised of what I read in this article.