SYDNEY (Reuters) – Gymnastics Australia has apologised to athletes under its care who experienced abuse and vowed to investigate all matters of misconduct after the Australian Human Rights Commission published an independent review on the culture and practices of gymnastics in the country.
Australia’s human rights watchdog commissioned the review of the country’s gymnastics program in August last year following complaints of physical and mental abuse.
Former Australian gymnasts shared their accounts of being assaulted by coaches and made to train and compete while injured.
Gymnastics Australia said it will adopt all 12 recommendations made in the report, which also included strengthening coach engagement and accountability, and broadening the sport’s understanding of child abuse and neglect.
“Gymnastics Australia unreservedly apologises to all athletes and family members who have experienced any form of abuse participating in the sport,” Gymnastics Australia said in a statement on Monday.
“The Board of Gymnastics Australia will oversee the response to the report.
“The Gymnastics Australia Integrity Committee, that was established last year, will provide oversight of the implementation of the recommendations.”
The review said Gymnastics Australia’s current coaching practices created a risk of abuse and harm to athletes.
It added that the country’s gymnastics federation was not adequately addressing complaints of abuse and harm and not effectively safeguarding children and young people.
The report said a focus on “winning-at-all-costs” and an acceptance of negative and abusive coaching behaviours led to the silencing of athletes along with an increased risk of abuse and harm with significant short and long-term impact on gymnasts.
The mistreatment of gymnasts came into the spotlight last year after the release of Netflix documentary “Athlete A”, which was based on a newspaper investigation into the abuse of American athletes that led to the jailing of long-time USA Gymnastics team doctor Larry Nassar in January 2018.
(Reporting by James Redmayne in Sydney; Writing by Manasi Pathak in Bengaluru, editing by Ed Osmond)
