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One of the MANY problems parents have with reporting suspected abuse is protecting the privacy of their children.
It’s more common than not that they decide to stay quiet, rather than risk later consequences for their child.
ProPublica is one of the best news organizations in the world.
Abigail Kramer from that site reflects on her experience:
Returning to Canada from Europe, I was finally able to watch the full documentary on Crave TV, a Canadian subscription service.
And it was even more damning that I expected from seeing the trailer.
The documentary is well produced. Shared the experience of a number of gymnast victims from a number of different clubs. We should consider this a small sample, not any kind of comprehensive review of all Canadian clubs.
My first takeaway is to admire the courage of the gymnasts, their parents and one coach willing to tell their stories to try to improve things for kids in the future.
Next, was to get more insight into just how difficult it was for families to lodge a complaint about a coach with Club, Provincial Federation and Gymnastics Canada.
Certainly document anything you see right from the beginning. Email or letter. Months or years later you may need to present specific incidents, times and dates.
If a coach or anyone else breaks the law, call the police. Simple.
The dilemma for a family is when misbehaviour at Gymnastics falls short of a crime: bullying, psychological abuse, emotional abuse, etc.
None of the coaches called out in this documentary were willing to be interviewed. Included were:
Have things changed for the better in Canada? Or is the system still protecting abusers?
The McLaren Global Sport Solutions Report should arrive January 2023 — a review of Ethics, Safety & Culture.
Critics are suspicious that McLaren might not be critical nor strong enough as it was commissioned by Gymnastics Canada. Having been interviewed myself, I’m optimistic that it will deliver a good list of recommendations.
We were hoping that Sports Canada would additionally launch a multi-sport investigation into Ethics and Safety. It seemed the Prime Minister and Minister of Sport were onboard for that — but it hasn’t happened yet.
I do recommend you watch the 90 minute documentary for yourself. If you can find a way to do so.
Personally, I can’t see any way to fairly allow some athletes who represent Russia to compete in Paris 2024, while disallowing others.
For example, Nikita Nagornyy could SAY he does not support Putin’s invasion of Ukraine. Compete Paris. Then return to Russia to continue his work for Putin, laughing at IOC president Thomas Bach.
That would be worst case scenario. The IOC would be humiliated.
The IOC should give Putin a deadline to withdraw from Ukraine, or have his nation and Belarus officially banned.
Russian athletes who do not endorse their country’s war in Ukraine could be accepted back into international sports, competing under a neutral flag, IOC president Thomas Bach said in an interview published Friday. …
IOC looks for ways Russian athletes ‘who do not support war’ could compete as neutrals
American coach Jim Holt has coached 14 World Championships, with 7 different nations (BAR, BOL, ECU, IND, IRI, NAM, YEM).
He knows as well as anyone the benefits of having developing nations compete at the highest level.
In this post, Jim responds to Hardy Fink’s recent article on the unintended negative consequences of FIG increasingly making it more difficult for new nations to compete at Worlds.
Jim agrees with Hardy and adds specific examples from the past.
Working with the FIG dues paying Bermuda Federation, I can tell you it’s getting near impossible for any gymnast training there to compete at Sr. Worlds.
The career would have to go perfectly through the PAGU qualifying system.
Hardy Fink has attended more Worlds and Olympics than anyone. He feels that the restricted-access World Championship in this quadrennial and the next are a mistake. In an effort to make Worlds shorter, we’ve reduced the opportunities for elite gymnasts from developing nations. And for specialists worldwide.
In the case of Bermuda, for example, should the Federation continue with FIG? I’d still say YES for Commonwealth Games and PanAm Games, but there is an argument for withdrawing from FIG competition completely.
Read Hardy’s detailed analysis:
I’m surprised.
Minister of Sport Pascale St-Onge seemed to welcome groups representing Hockey, Gymnastics and others. Yet an investigation was not approved.
24 November: Yesterday, a motion was tabled in the Canadian House of Commons to initiate a national inquiry into abuse in sport. We, representatives of Global Athlete and Gymnasts For Change Canada, were in the gallery as this motion was presented. To witness it fail was devastating.
We are deeply disappointed to see politics impacting an issue that should be entirely non-partisan. Child and athlete abuse is not political and every day that federal leaders fail to act is a day that another athlete is at risk of abuse.
We call on our Canadian political leaders to show a unified front in eradicating abuse from sport and to initiate an independent third-party judicial inquiry to deliver the safety, justice, and accountability that every Canadian athlete, child and survivor deserves.
Global Athlete
Having been to Riyadh a number of times myself, I have doubts.
Women’s sports are not respected in the Kingdom in 2022 — why should we believe they will be welcomed and treated fairly in 2034?
Federations — including Gymnastics — should be up front right now on what’s required in order to participate.
On the other hand, they have the money to lose on this event. And that women’s soccer final stadium looks awesome. 😀
Click PLAY or watch it on YouTube.
A former gymnast, circus performer, former Gymnastics coach, today Andrew runs a business consulting strength and conditioning for athletes (mostly gymnasts).
He has some radical ideas:
Read part 1 of his post on Medium:
Gymnastics Canada brought in McLaren Global Sport Solutions to review Ethics, Safety & Culture.
Richard McLaren, who led investigations into Russian doping and corruption in the International Weightlifting Federation, is well respected in the field.
I first filled out McLaren’s online survey. Better than most of those fill-in-the-blank forms.
At the end of that survey, I was asked if I would be available for an in-person online interview. Of course I was keen to do so — and that happened NOV 8th.
About 90 minutes long, I felt McLaren was very open to hearing everything I had to say regarding culture. We spent most of the time talking recommendations for the future.
For example, I was asked what 3 changes I’d make first IF I was suddenly in charge of Gymnastics Canada.
I did call McLaren out on independence and transparency. And left convinced GymCan will have no influence on their findings.
McLaren Global Sport Solutions and those within it are completely independent of Gymnastics Canada, its sponsors, and other stakeholders.
MGSS has been contracted by Gymnastics Canada to independently, and without any interference or dictates from the sport, develop a Roadmap to a Culture Review and a Safe Sport Policy Review.
Roadmap to a Culture Review & Safe Sport Policy Review terms of reference
For example, the McLaren Report of Canada Soccer published July 2022 was scathing.
I told my interviewers they should do exactly the same with Gymnastics if that’s what the investigation finds.
I’d recommend spokespeople from Gymnasts for Change Canada have interviews with McLaren. They will listen.
The documentary BROKEN – The Toxic Culture of Canadian Gymnastics was released this week.
Canadian victims can contact Gymnasts for Change:
I don’t pay much attention to scores when watching routines. The current FIG system is foolish, execution scores “boxed” too narrowly between best and worst.
BUT there were fewer complaints about judging at Worlds than usual.
And my gut feeling is that fewer blatant mistakes were made. Panels more willing to award a fair score to less well known gymnasts.
No doubt number crunchers will be looking more closely over coming days.
Gymnastics Coaching.com 