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| "This isn't tough coaching and slight mistreatment, this is child abuse of athletes at a very young age," Nicole Pavier told BBC Sport. Writing on Twitter on Thursday, Becky Downie said the Review's release marked "an important day" for the future of the sport. (Photo by= Getty Images) |
[Asia News = Reporter Reakkana] A "damning" report detailing mistreatment of gymnasts in Britain shows that "child abuse" of athletes was taking place, says a former gymnast. The Whyte Review said issues of physical and emotional abuse within gymnastics in Britain were "systemic", BBC Sports reported.
It heard from athletes who were made to train on broken bones, punished for needing the toilet, sat on by coaches, and subjected to excessive weight management. During the period of the review (2008-2020), more than 75% of British Gymnastics' members were children under the age of 12. The 306-page Whyte Review, led by Anne Whyte QC, and co-commissioned by UK Sport and Sport England at a cost of £3m, received more than 400 submissions of evidence.
Of those, more than 40% described physically abusive behavior by coaches, more than 50% reported an element of emotional abuse, some 30 submissions included allegations of sexual abuse and more than 25% included reference to excessive weight management. Pavier was one of the first gymnasts to speak to BBC Sport in 2020 about her experiences in the sport and said in the two years since it had "put a lot of stress" onto the athletes who went public with their allegations. London 2012 Olympic gymnast Jennifer McIlveen (nee Pinches) said the Whyte Review laid bare the extent of the "institutional betrayal of gymnasts" in Britain.
