Developing welcoming and safe environments for our athletes and players

Too many cases of abuse of athletes and players are giving sport a bad name – let’s clean up and change the culture

I am sure that most people who are reading this believe that sport and physical activity can have a great, positive impact on people’s health and well-being, improve their lives and build better communities. But, and it is a big but, there are too many cases where mainly elite athletes are facing abuse of all kinds.

Right now in the UK, the British Athletes Commission has joined forces with National Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children (NSPCC) to launch a helpline that will support athletes’ concerns of abuse in British Gymnastics Helpline on 0800 056 0566.

The British Athletes Commission (BAC) is the independent body that represents and supports the interests of all British athletes.

The free and confidential helpline follows many current and retired gymnasts bravely speaking out about concerns of bullying and abuse. Staffed by independent, trained NSPCC counsellors, the helpline will offer support and guidance for children and young people or anyone involved with gymnastics who have safeguarding concerns–acting as a single point of contact for individuals to lodge their concerns, regardless of whether they are funded athletes, former funded athletes, community-level athletes or parents. The helpline is also a safe space for any further whistleblowing and will offer athletes the opportunity to input into the recently announced Independent Review at the appropriate time.

This initiative follows on from reports from several gymnasts of having faced abuse from their coaches.

One high-profile gymnast who has submitted a complaint to British Gymnastics is Amy Tinkler, who was Great Britain's youngest medallist at Rio 2016, when she won bronze aged 16 and also won one world medal, three European medals and 10 British titles during her career.

She said: "I'm so proud of my fellow gymnasts who have shared their stories. I know how hard it is and your bravery has been a shining light and inspiration in dark and troubling times for the sport we love.

"I submitted a formal complaint to British Gymnastics in December 2019. It was an account of my experiences as a club and elite gymnast, and the experiences I shared were the reason for my retirement in January, not a physical injury as was suggested by some at the time.

"After eight months, I'm no closer to having any feedback or outcome”.

British Gymnastics announced an independent review will take place following allegations of mistreatment from several athletes in recent days.

Dame Tanni Grey-Thompson, a cross-bench peer and an 11-time Paralympic gold medallist, said: "There's a duty to those athletes to do something to bring about change.

"We love sport in this country, we love seeing them win medals, we don't like seeing athletes broken and to me, there are some simple solutions to make sure we protect them as much as we can.

This situation within British Gymnastics follows on the well-known case from US Gymnastics where coach Larry Nasser who was sentenced to 60 years in prison for assaulting at least 250 gymnasts and where the board of US Gymnastics resigned en masse.

Trouble in the swimming state of Denmark

Also, in Denmark female elite swimmers faced considerable abuse and upheaval during 2003-2012. The Chair of Danish Swimming Lars J?rgensen said: “During that period we had two international coaches and it was a time of big upheaval for Danish national swimming – both for the athletes and for our organisation”.

It was reported says that one of the elite coaches “threw chairs into the swimming pool, spoke degradingly to the swimmers and introduced public weighings, where the swimmers were weighed in front of each other”.

Also, future world champ and Olympic medalist Jeanette Ottesen left the national training centre at age 17 with an eating disorder and depression, and Kathrine Jorgensen, a top swimmer developed anxiety, depression and bulimia and tried to overdose on pain medication in 2008, and Sidse Kehlet, a junior standout who developed bulimia, depression and medication abuse and was told by a doctor to stop swimming at 18 to recover from those conditions.

Lars J?rgensen continues, “When you go into sport – and that goes for swimming, too – it’s about being part of a community, being mobile, developing one’s skills – and above all having fun. This is what sports must stand for – and so does Danish national swimming. The Danish Swimming Union’s elite and national teamwork is a completely different place today”.

Ice skating in Sweden, rugby in Scotland and ice hockey in Canada

But there have also been well-publicized cases of bullying of young athletes in ice skating in Sweden and ice hockey in Canada.

And for the horrifying initiation ceremony at some Scottish rugby clubs, you can read more here. https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-edinburgh-east-fife-41843869

Why a 14-year old boy gave up playing the game he loved

This is from an open letter first published in

“I am a 14-year-old boy from Limerick, Ireland and I want to tell you my story with regards to the GAA and how it affected my life.

It all started when I was six years old playing hurling. I didn’t have much interest in the game but I still played it because all my friends from school were playing it. As time went on, I began to love the game of hurling but it was very competitive. I went to every single training session and tried my best.

But when matches came, I was the one left on the sideline and younger people were getting game time ahead of me.

I was very upset about coming home from every match. I was crying to my parents and saying

“Am I bad at this sport?”

This is the cry from a 14-year old boy from Ireland who gave up plating the game he loved because the coaches didn’t think he was good enough and they and the other players ignored him. 

So, what is happening in your sport, club or centre?

I think we can all agree that these are terrible stories, so what are we doing to stamp it out. Pushy parents on the side-line are not helpful as is the claims from many, particular football academies that they can develop ‘little Johnny’ into a multi-millionaire pro-footballer (0.3% of young boys in Germany’s elite football academies secure a professional contract).

Making everybody feel welcome and safe, that is the first objective for all providers and coaches within sport, also where you are.

Of course, elite sportspeople have to push themselves – but win at all cost, I don’t think so.  

While you are reading this please bear in mind that SMN’s sister enterprise #MoreThanSport Academy is running a workshop called the Welcoming Coach. For more information click here