In gymnastics, another scandal erupted. The channel ITV has released a series of interviews in which British athletes told about the abuse by coaches. Girls were beaten, publicly humiliated, forced to starve, to train and attend tournaments with injuries. The artistic gymnastics Federation of great Britain announced an independent investigation. One of the characters interviews, participant of Olympic games in Sydney Lisa Mason, demanded the resignation of the head of the Federation Jane Allen.Participant of Olympic games in Sydney Lisa Mason demanded the resignation of the head of the Federation of sports gymnasts of great Britain Jane Allen. This happened after several British athletes, Mason in particular, said in an interview with British TV channel ITV that had been subjected to abuse by their coaches for many years.The main culprit of what is happening Lisa Mason thinks Jane Allen. “This woman holds the position of head of Federation of sports gymnastics for over ten years, and she took it when in 2017 Dan Keatings first spoke about the cult of fear in the British gymnastics”— quoted by Mason in The Guardian. Now about the cult of fear talking again, but in a completely different scale.”Beaten and Starved” (“Beaten and emaciated by hunger”) was the title of a series of interviews ITV. Gymnasts, mostly already retired, talked about how shocking it often takes the brutality of coaches towards athletes. In an interview with Lisa Mason said she began to be subjected to criticism because of excess weight from an early age. One day during training, Mason was forced to undress and walk in front of other athletes in only underwear. “To see what I’m fat”— said the gymnast. She also remembered how he trained under the painkillers and danced competitively with a stress fracture of the leg.Mason reported that current athletes preparing for the Olympic games in Tokyo, are also subject to violence from teachers: “They are silent because they are afraid to be excluded from the team. Threaten them saying that we should not rock the boat before an important competition”.Another girl, 19-year-old Katherine Lyons, remembered as a coach forced her to starve for weeks and was regularly beaten with a stick. Gymnast, won the European championship among juniors in 2014, could not withstand such psychological pressure and ended his career. Then the girl took half a year to recover from anorexia.In the same way was the fate of the other British gymnasts — Nicole Pavia. Throughout her career the girl was forced to weigh in every day. In 14 years in the gymnast started bulimia, and three years later nand the background of the depletion Pavia was forced to stop playing in the competition. The consequences of eating disorders she struggles still. “As an adult, you realize how much all of this affected you: from eating disorders and chronic pain do you Wake up every night from nightmares and never feel good enough”— quoted by Nicole Pavie BBC.Referring to the gymnasts and their parents, who wished to remain anonymous, the BBC cites a number of cases of violence against girls. And, most importantly, these girls trained under the guidance of different mentors represented different sports clubs. Gymnasts locked in the cabinets, if they started to cry during class, beaten on the legs with a wooden stick and forced to train despite the injury. One of the girls told the BBC that he broke a rib in training but was afraid to report to their coach. The result is a punctured lung. Another gymnast broke her wrist during class — as soon as the girl removed the tire, the coaches began to force her to perform heavy exercises using the injured hand. The youngest athlete to be confronted with physical violence, was eight-year-old Paige Southern-Rizon. In seven years, she told ITV her strapped to the crossbar and left hanging in this position, despite the cries of the girls.In the national Federation of gymnastics announced the independent inquiry. “The behavior of coaches, which we have heard in recent days, contrary to safety standards and has no place in our sport”,— quotes the official website of the organization Jane Allen.
The statement said that “the organization investigates any allegations”, which become known, after which the attitude of the coaches is subjected to disciplinary measures.This case is reminiscent of another big scandal involving American gymnastics. Numerous athletes — there were several hundreds, including Olympic champion Ali Reisman, Simon Bails, Mackayla Maroni, had experienced sexual violence by the national team doctor Larry Nassar. For Nassar, the involved in several criminal cases, was sentenced to more than 200 years of imprisonment, and the leadership of the gymnastics Federation of the United States, which ignored the numerous complaints addressed to the doctor, then had to resign.Ekaterina Remizova
