They might seem unshakable on a beam, heads held high, but their performances hid a deep evil: Canadian gymnasts denounce the “toxic culture” of their sport, physical and psychological abuse, and are suing their national federation.
• Read also: Abused Canadian gymnasts speak out Gymnastics Canada
Public insults, extreme weight control and food deprivation, excessive forced stretching, forbidden tears, inappropriate physical contact… The bodies and minds abused in gymnastics are coming to light in Canada.
In the UK, British gymnasts last year launched a similar legal action. Since the huge sexual violence scandal affecting the American gym, which started in 2015, gymnasts around the world have denounced past physical and psychological violence.
At the end of March, in Canada, a group of more than 70 gymnasts published an open letter asking the government for an independent investigation into the “toxic culture and abusive practices that persist in the world of gymnastics in Canada”. Since then, more than 400 gymnasts, current and former, have signed it, but Ottawa’s response is still pending.
In the Vancouver area, on the Canadian west coast, Amelia Cline dreamed of the Olympic Games. As a teenager, the gymnast devoted thirty hours a week to training.
“The first years of my career were good, but unfortunately were overshadowed by the last three, which were extremely brutal,” the former gymnast, now 32, told AFP, referring to numerous episodes of public humiliation, insults and beatings.
This former high-level athlete in the youth categories filed a lawsuit on Wednesday with others against Gymnastics Canada and provincial federations for having tolerated this climate of physical and psychological abuse in clubs for decades.
“The lawsuit is essentially designed to hopefully hold these institutions accountable for this systemic abuse,” says Amelia Cline.
“It seems logical to us that an independent investigation should take place and that these gymnasts also approve the members of the committee that would be formed to carry out this investigation,” said Micheline Calmy-Rey, president of the Gymnastics Ethics Foundation, created in 2019 by the International Gymnastics Federation following the various scandals.
On Thursday, Gymnastics Canada responded by saying that “the allegations in the complaint describe behavior that is unacceptable in any sporting environment and we take it seriously.”
Amelia Cline says that at 14, she was “constantly checked and questioned about (her) weight”.
As a result, nearly 20 years after giving up gymnastics, the young woman still suffers today from the “long-term effects” of this abuse: difficulties in maintaining healthy eating habits and also chronic pain.
Like many others, the former gymnast laments a “culture of fear and silence” in clubs across the country. “You can’t question what the coaches are doing. They are the experts, and they are the ones who will take you to the Olympics,” she said, red jacket on her back.
This toxic relationship, a former top Canadian gymnast remembers well. “I was always scared. I loved sports, traveling and my teammates, but I was terrified of my coaches,” she told AFP on condition of anonymity.
She also tells of the very strong loneliness felt by gymnasts: in many clubs in Canada, parents are not allowed to attend training. And these very young children were asked never to tell about the methods, the training.
“”What happens in the gym, stays in the gym”, the coaches kept telling us,” says Kim Shore, spokesperson for Gymnast For Change Canada. For this former gymnast, mother of a young woman who has also denounced abuse, gymnastics is a “corrupt” environment where the “culture of domination” reigns.
Reference-www.tvanouvelles.ca