how do we explain athlete abuse with Dr Natalie Barker-ruchti

Dr Natalie Barker-Ruchti discusses her research and considers the significance of the transition gymnastics went through in the late 1960’s, from a sport dominated by calisthenics and dance, performed by women with women’s bodies - to the acrobatisation of gymnastics in the 70’s & 80’s, where the sport became characterised by risk & difficulty and was performed by prepubescent girls.

The era of acrobatisation, was accompanied by assumptions that difficult moves could only be learned in childhood and could only be performed by children - ushering in a new ideal of the female gymnast as a submissive child with no voice who needed to be dominated by the control of their coach.

During this time, training volumes increased and the gymnast’s body became objectified. Coaches saw their role as being to shape and mould the gymnast ready to be consumed by a public hungry for glamorous, perfect, pixies; masking the violent reality of what actually went on in the training facilities from which the gymnasts came.

Violence was built into this model from the start - and the belief that women’s bodies were not capable of performing difficult acrobatic moves created a pressurised time frame of around 10 years, from the age of 6-16, in which a coach needed to be ‘tough’ in order to waste not one minute - all creating the conditions for abuse.