Funds cut after gang rape

‘‘It was horrible and I’ve really struggled over the last six months. I’ve been really low and being made to feel like that and being made to feel so worthless was awful.

British paralympic snowboarder Cassie Cava

Officials in the United Kingdom have launched an investigation after a Paralympic medal prospect had her funding cut while receiving mental health treatment following a gang rape.

Cassie Cava, 26, who competed in New Zealand at Wanaka in September winning a silver medal, was also kicked off the British para-snowboarding team.

She had been expected to make the podium at the Winter Paralympics in March, but had to withdraw from the selection process at the start of January citing suicidal thoughts and what she called a lack of support from British Parasnowsport, The Telegraph reported.

‘‘They say that opening up about something and not getting support is the second trauma or the betrayal,’’ Cava told The Telegraph.

"They really made me feel that what had happened meant I couldn’t go on and do anything. They made me feel really bad for opening up about my mental health and talking about it.

‘‘It was horrible and I’ve really struggled over the last six months. I’ve been really low and being made to feel like that and being made to feel so worthless was awful.

Cava was the victim of a gang rape when she was travelling in Europe in 2013.

While she has tried to put the incident behind her, Cava told The Telegraph that the maledominated environment in her team started to make her feel unsafe at the end of 2016.

That’s when she told her coaches about the incident, and she alleges one senior figure asked her if she wanted ‘‘to hang yourself’’ after she brought it up.

She was in hospital when she was informed her UK Sport funding had been cut due to ‘‘behavioural issues’’.

Cava attended a World Cup meet in Wanaka in September as an independent athlete, having been turfed out by the UK, claiming a silver medal.

That result bettered anything a UK athlete had achieved throughout the season.

While her funding was reinstated in October, the atmosphere in the camp didn’t change and when she was denied the request to stay in the company of another female, she felt ‘‘horrible’’.

‘‘That really confirmed to me that they weren’t going to support me in any way because it was a big thing on my first day back in that environment. I had been very unwell, but they weren’t going to prioritise me at all.’’