“Across 306 pages of her landmark report, Anne Whyte paints a shocking and often sickening picture of the culture at British Gymnastics at the grassroots and elite level from 2008 to 2020. This was a time when it was an essential part of Team GB’s medal factory, receiving more than £38m in UK Sport funding. But behind the scenes there were numerous abuses taking place.”ž
Review received 30 reports of sexual abuse
“This was investigated by British Gymnastics. “The issues raised ranged from reports of grooming and sexual assault to sexual remarks and inappropriate relationships between coaches and gymnasts,” Whyte says. “Other examples of the behaviours reported were gymnasts being tickled, touched on the bottom unnecessarily during gymnastics moves, threatened with being kissed as a punishment for not following instructions and sexualised comments of a personal nature.”
However, she adds: “None of these behaviours appeared to be systematic or condoned in the sport during the period of review, in the way emotional and physical abuse appears to have been.””