Anne Whyte’s independent review concludes British Gymnastics allowed a culture of physical and emotional abuse to proliferate within the sport in the UK. The report highlights the catastrophic safeguarding failures and ‘lack of cultural stewardship’ meant wellbeing & welfare were not a central feature of the organisations activities. The report outlines how BG failed to provide a safe environment for gymnasts, with children body-shamed, belittled and abused. Her £3m review decribes desperately hungry gymnasts hiding food in socks, knickers or hotel ceilings to escape coaches checking their rooms “army style” – and suffering eating disorders as a result. “One wonders how many sporting scandals it will take before the government of the day appreciates it needs to take more action to protect children who participate in sport. An ombudsman is an obvious step in the right direction.”

As current and former elite Canadian gymnasts, we have been and continue to be subject to a toxic culture and abusive practices within Canadian gymnastics. We are and have been members of the Olympic Team, the National Team, and other competitive programs. For almost a decade, the fear of retribution has prevented us and scores of other athletes from speaking out. However, we can no longer sit in silence. We are coming forward with our experiences of abuse, neglect, and discrimination in hopes of forcing change. We ask Sport Canada to take action to ensure the next generation of Canadian gymnasts is not subject to the physical and psychological trauma that we have had to endure

During the course of this Review, Sport Integrity Australia identified several key themes of concern. Some gymnasts described being subjected to a culture of fear with no adequate way to raise a complaint. A number of gymnasts spoke of the verbal and physical abuse they experienced, unnecessary frequent and traumatising skinfold testing, weight-shaming, the expectation to train and compete with injuries, the extreme training load and little or no aftercare after leaving the Program. Gymnasts for Change’s Georgia Cervin & Alison Quigley highlight the key findings and ask if justices has really been done.

A Gymnastics Australia Hall of Fame coach who said she would "lock [teenage athletes] in their room and feed them peas and carrots under the door" has been sanctioned but not stood down from the sport. The National Sports Tribunal found Peggy Liddick, Australian women's artistic team boss from 1997 to 2016, guilty of harassing two-time Olympian Georgia Bonora. Liddick, described by several former gymnasts as "the most powerful person in the sport of gymnastics", was given a suspended four-month ban and made to apologise. Read a summary of the tribunal here.

Allegations by former elite female rhythmic and artistic gymnasts of intimidation, humiliation and abuse at the Swiss Gymnastic Federation’s national performance centre in Magglingen repeatedly made headlines in summer and autumn 2020. A culture of silence and fear prevailed at the performance centre. The athletes said they felt constantly watched and controlled. Because they were afraid of being expelled or having their careers ended, they either did not confide in their parents or doctors or told them to remain silent about the situation. Even at a young age, athletes suffered from anxiety and eating disorders, depression, PTSD and suicidal thoughts. Federal Counselor Viola Amherd, who leads the Federal Department of Defence, Civil Protection and Sport, commissioned the investigation and that the law firm Rudin Cantieni AG in Zurich was given the assignment. Read the press release on proposed reforms here.

The U.S. Department of Justice (Department, DOJ) Office of the Inspector General (OIG) initiated this investigation based on allegations that Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) employees in the FBI’s Indianapolis Field Office mishandled allegations of sexual abuse of athletes by former USA Gymnastics physician Lawrence Gerard Nassar. Nassar was employed as an Osteopathic Physician and Associate Professor at Michigan State University’s (MSU) Department of Family and Community Medicine, where he treated patients from 1996 through 2016. For most of that time, Nassar also was employed as the USA Gymnastics National Medical Coordinator and a treating physician for gymnasts. Among the places where Nassar treated athletes was at the USA Gymnastics National Team Training Center in Texas. In addition, Nassar worked in Michigan as the team physician for the Twistars USA Gymnastics Club and at Holt High School.

Placing the voices of children and young people and their families at the centre, this report outlines the Commission’s key findings and presents 12 recommendations for whole of sport change. Gymnasts For Change’s Alison Quigley, a former gymnast and advocate for change, outlines how Australia got to where it is today and takes us through some of the recommendations from the Change the Routine report.

Dutch report finds athletes subjected to ‘constant threats of humiliation, insults, negative criticism, yelling, manipulation, intimidation, isolation, scolding, force, blackmail, control and expected to train on injuries’, inciting – ‘unhealthy – loss of weight and overall culture of fear’.

On 10 February 2021, Gymnastics New Zealand released a report detailing the findings of an independent review commissioned in August 2020 into past incidents of alleged abuse towards gymnasts within the sport. The review, conducted by David Howman (formerly Chief Operating Officer at the World Anti-Doping Agency), Lesley Nicol and Rachel Vickery, identified concerns in ten key areas including athlete well-being, coach education and complaints procedures. The report made a total of 50 recommendations for extensive improvements needed in the sport. Read our full response to the inadequacies of the review here. You can also read Dr Georgia Cervin’s full response here.

In her interim report published in February 2021, Anne Whyte stated that she had received over 400 submissions and conducted 230 meetings with current and former gymnasts, coaches and parents in the UK. Submissions to the review covered over 90 clubs and 100 coaches, confirming the scale of the problem in gymnastics and the urgent need for the swift and meaningful reform of the sport. She identified that she had received information relating to ‘bullying, belittling, extreme weight management, regular over-stretching, use of excessive force, training on serious injuries, gas-lighting, coercive control and a lack of opportunity to raise concerns. Furthermore, ‘In a significant number of cases, the individuals sharing their experiences with the review continue to be impacted by their experiences in gymnastics, in some cases many years later’.