‘They were trying to silence me’: Ex-gymnast says she was sanctioned for speaking out
One year on from the publication of a landmark report highlighting ‘systemic’ abuse in gymnastics, ITV News Sports Editor Steve Scott hears from a former gymnast who says the sport's governing body tried to silence her after she posted online about her ex-coach’s misconduct.
The only reason former elite gymnast and now aspiring British Gymnastics coach Jess Daykin said she felt the need to tell her story publicly, was the governing body’s policy of secrecy when it comes to sanctioned coaches.
Multiple complaints about Jess’s former coach had been upheld by an independent panel who concluded she had “created a culture of fear amongst staff and gymnasts” at the gym where she worked.
The coach was sanctioned, instructed to take several safeguarding courses, and had to be supervised for a year before being allowed to coach independently again.
Some other UK sports do ''name and shame'', but because of British Gymnastics' policy never to identify suspended or sanctioned coaches, the outcome of Jess’s complaint wasn’t made public.
“It just looks like I’ve lied or I’m making it up. It can’t be that bad, if no one knows about it'', she says.
Jess used a series of TikTok videos to highlight what she’d been through, but intentionally did not name her coach.
Before too long she was contacted by British Gymnastics, told she had brought the sport into disrepute and was instructed to take down the videos.
She said: “There was a lot of emails coming in, so I guess they were harassing me to make sure I did take it down.
“I got one email saying they were concerned for my welfare because I hadn’t moved on from what happened and I was still sharing what had happened to me and my journey.
“They were trying to silence what I’d been through; it was quite a threatening tone. They said if I didn’t take them down, it could affect my qualification to be a level one coach.”
Jess was accused of “bullying and harassment” but never offered the opportunity to challenge the allegations she faced or to contribute to the disciplinary process against her.
She was sanctioned by British Gymnastics with a first formal warning but not offered an opportunity to appeal.
Jess' account of her experience comes a year after the sport’s day of reckoning, with the publication of the Whyte Review, which laid bare the extent of systemic abuse in gymnastics.
It was supposed to be a significant turning point for the treatment of gymnasts, and the sport’s overall culture.
But according to critics of the organisation, it has been anything but.
Remarkably, still only one civil case from around 40 has been settled by the sport's governing body, which is yet to publish a register of banned coaches, despite promising to do so.
That register of interest could well be up and running in a week’s time though, if the British Gymnastics board agrees it at their next meeting.
A spokesperson for campaign group Gymnasts for Change said, on Friday, the Whyte Review anniversary was “a painful reminder to many victims of abuse that they are still living with unresolved cases due to an inept and dysfunctional system administered by British Gymnastics.”
The group’s view is that “the wheels of change appear to barely be turning” and that “too little has been done to engage with survivors and assure whistle-blowers and parents that their children are not currently being harmed by participation in the sport.”
British Gymnastics says it has now dealt with more than half the 1300 “concerns” it had to investigate after gymnasts first began to speak out about their experiences of abuse in 2020. But it admits it is struggling to speed through a smaller number of much more complex and serious cases.
It revealed last month it was spending £1 million a year on welfare and safeguarding because of the abuse scandal; four times the amount it had set aside for the same issues in the mid 2010s.
Today, British Gymnastics said it would not comment on individual cases, but harassment of its members is something it would never tolerate, and it would deal with it if it happened.
Addressing criticism of the lack of progress under its Reform '25' initiative, designed to make the sport a better place, a spokesperson for British Gymnastics told ITV News: “We know that today will be a tough day for many and want to reiterate our wholehearted apology to the gymnasts who have suffered and recognise again the bravery of those who have spoken out and ultimately driven the change in our sport. It is because of them that the progress we are seeing today is being made and gymnastics is now in a better place than it was before the review.
"We continue to engage with those who have raised complaints and survivors of abuse to help make the sport better, including survivors of abuse being part of our Gymnasts’ Representative Group and working collaboratively with us on a regular basis over several months to help shape the development of new policies on things like stretching, hydration and weight management to prevent abuse and make the sport safer. We continue to be open to anyone who wants to engage with us to help keep the sport safe for all involved.
"After the publication of the Whyte Review we committed straight away to adopting and actioning all of Anne Whyte KC’s recommendations without exception, and have gone beyond these by listening to our community and collaborating to create Reform ’25. This is not a ‘tick-box’ exercise and at its heart are actions to deliver long-term systemic change to reform the sport and create safe, positive and fair experiences for all in gymnastics. Our recent 6-month update showed the extent of the actions we have taken and the progress we are making to deliver on this and put the care of people central to everything we do. ''
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