Gymnastics review recommendations 'very difficult' to action

Abusive coaches, body image issues and eating disorders; children left in tears and a fear of retribution.

The findings of a report into the culture of Gymnastics New Zealand have laid bare the abuse and a raft of recommendations have been made, but some people were not happy about how the three-month long investigation was carried out.

From poor physical and mental well-being, worries about body image, eating disorders and limited access to medical treatment; being forced to train on injuries and wear leotards - which made them feel vulnerable or embarassed - the negative influence of decades of foreign coaching methods, many of them abusive, became normalised.

As former Commonwealth Games gymnast Olivia Jöbsis detailed - it went well beyond being the best at a sport.

"This is not about a few young gymnasts who don't want to work hard, this is about worthlessness that's being ingrained in children from two to five years old, this is isolation from your family, this is food being restricted very very severely, this is being told on a daily basis you're not good enough."

Some former gymnasts have criticised the review for lacking athletes' voices.

In a sport that has 36,000 participants - most of them young - only 70 athletes contributed to the investigation.

The remainder of submissions came from adults in the role of coaches, judges and parents.

Many athletes said they did not feel the review was safe or set-up in a way that had integrity.

Gymnastics New Zealand chief executive Tony Compier said it needed to change the adult-centric view to dealing with athletes so young people felt comfortable coming forward with complaints.

A long list of recommendations has been made - including a restorative process for abuse survivors, an independent and confidential complaints process, more transparency in judges scoring and a national register of coaches.

Lincoln University academic Roslyn Kerr, who is part of an International Socio-Cultural research group on Women's Artistic Gymnastics that is calling for global change to gymnasts welfare - gave some context of where New Zealand sits.

"To be blunt some of the problems in New Zealand aren't as severe as some of the problems internationally for example there are places internationally where gymnasts have to sign contracts agreeing to things that in New Zealand we just wouldn't find acceptable in terms of giving up their own rights."

However, Kerr said the recommendations from the New Zealand review are in line with what other countries were grappling with around abuse in the sport.

"In terms of having this independant body and in terms of having people who are available to listen, those kinds of recommendations come through in a lot of countries and a lot of countries have tried different versions of those at different times, it always comes down to that issue of the implementation being very difficult."

How successful New Zealand would be in implementing the recommendations would come down to some vital factors, she said.

"One of the things in gymnastics, and in anywhere really, is who has the voice people will listen to and so if this committee is made up of people who aren't respected by people in the gymnastics community, including some of the most prominent judges and coaches, then it's porbably not going to be able to achieve a lot," Kerr said.

"Particularly in terms of those recommendations around cultural change and changing how we do things."

Gymnastics New Zealand planned to have a seven-member steering committee in place by March to help them action the recommendations and former Commonwealth Games gymnast Georgia Cervin said those invovled would need to be carefully selected.

"It does need to involve ex-athletes as well a current athletes, I think it's really important that there is opportunity to ensure that these dialogues are representative and not people handpicked by the exisiting authorities," she said.

Sport New Zealand chief executive Raelene Castle said the issue now would be how Gymnastics New Zealand resolved the problems.

"Many things in sport that have happened in years gone by is not acceptable in the modern society and to have those things called out and identified is important," Castle said.

"Now we need to make sure those things that are raised are dealt with and we can be a modern and contemporary sport as gymnastics moves forward."

Sports Minister Grant Robertson said the way gymnastics was run was no excuse for what the athletes had suffered.

"Gymnastics is staffed by people, many who are volunteers, but it's quite clear that historically there have been things that have happened that have been unacceptable and they have to be addressed and I believe Gymnastics New Zealand understands that."

He said the review was a warning for other New Zealand sports organisations - which he thought would be paying attention.