British Gymnastics calls in top coaches as it braces for potentially devastating report into abuse

British Gymnastics, already bracing itself for a potentially devastating report into abuse in its sport, has called a series of meetings with top-level coaches on Tuesday, ITV News understands.

These meetings will allow the coaches of national squad gymnasts to ask in detail how the sport intends to deal with the fallout from what is likely to be a damning assessment of an abusive culture in gymnastics in the UK.

Officials are also holding a series of briefings with concerned gymnasts and parents.

British Gymnastics has written to the wider gymnastics family warning that it expects the Whyte review, due to be published on Thursday, to be critical of the sport’s leadership.

The former CEO of British Gymnastics, Jane Allen, retired last year and is now living in her native Australia. 

British Gymnastics predicts the review will focus on coaching practices, the way many complaints were handled, as well as the culture within the sport and the organisation itself.

Over the course of two years, the Whyte team has investigated submissions from more than 90 clubs and 100 coaches.

 In its communication on Tuesday, British Gymnastics admits it has made mistakes: “We want to put right the things that went wrong and want to move forward positively.” 

As well as making a commitment to implement the recommendations in the review, British Gymnastics also pointed to the “significant changes” it had already put in place, including increasing the size of the integrity team, new complaint handling systems and making changes at board and leadership levels.