UK gymnasts start legal action in fight for justice on ‘abuse’ claims
Seventeen gymnasts, including three Olympians, have taken the first step in legal action against British Gymnastics, alleging “systemic” physical and emotional abuse.
Nearly nine months since the first bombshell allegations of a “culture of fear” at the heart of British Gymnastics, the governing body has now been served notice of a group claim demanding financial compensation and substantive change within the organisation. The list of gymnasts involved includes London 2012 gymnast Jennifer Pinches and twotime Olympian and Commonwealth champion Hannah Whelan.
All 17 claimants are women aged 15 to 43. Abuse is alleged to have happened when claimants were as young as six. Those involved expect more to join the action.
The “letter before action” sent to British Gymnastics, while not a claim in itself, is the first part of civil proceedings for personal injury claims. It aims to encourage a resolution be found before the case moves to a court of law, and British Gymnastics has until March 25 to respond. In the letter, the gymnasts allege that British Gymnastics has been negligent in its duty of care, by fostering a “winning at all costs” mentality above the psychological and physical needs of individual athletes, many of whom were minors. British Gymnastics confirmed it had received the letter yesterday, but said “it would not be appropriate” to comment.
In the letter, the gymnasts allege physical and emotional abuse suffered in British Gymnastics settings, including a “cavalier” approach to injury from coaches, unhealthy weighing techniques and “widespread inappropriate use of physical force by coaches”. Some gymnasts reported “sexually inappropriate behaviours” which included “touching”, “requests to undress” and sleepovers with coaches employed by British Gymnastics.
Claire Heafford, the former elite gymnast who, with Pinches, last year set up campaign group Gymnasts
for Change, is one of those leading the claim and described yesterday as a “landmark moment” for their fight for justice.
Pinches added: “For too long we have seen British Gymnastics prioritise podiums over people which has led to untold damage to the lives of young people.”
In consultation with Gymnasts for Change and the Gymnasts Parents Alliance, the gymnasts are going to set out specific proposals for British Gymnastics from the personnel on the board of BG, through to safetyled concerns around apparatus and education for coaches. The group also want a sport ombudsman.
At the end of August, it will be the 60th anniversary of the inaugural Cowestorquay powerboat race, the Grand National of the sport.
However, following the death last week, at the ripe age of 94, of Lady Violet Aitken, powerboat racing has lost its first lady.
“Vi”, who eventually came to live in the horse racing village of Lambourn, was from a family as sporty as it was aristocratic.
Her father, Sir Humphrey de Trafford, bred Alcide, the Lingfield Derby trial winner in 1958 who was nobbled before Epsom, being found in his stable with a broken rib. He recovered to win the St Leger and the following season’s King George. Sir Humphrey did not have to wait long for Derby compensation, winning it in 1959 with Parthia.
In 1951, Vi had married Max Aitken, son of the first Lord Beaverbrook, the newspaper baron who became Winston Churchill’s minister of aircraft production and, unlike many modern politicians, got things done.
While he had the production lines singing, his son flew the end products fearlessly and had a staggering record as a fighter pilot in the Second World War, even managing to shoot down two enemy aircraft when he was officially non-operational – a feat which seems all the more courageous after a year of Timid-19.
After the war, he followed his father into newspapers and renounced his title three days after inheriting it (saying that there would only be one Lord Beaverbrook in his lifetime).
Max and Vi were on holiday in Florida in the 1950s when former US fighter pilots, in order to replicate the buzz they got from flying in the war, had started racing powerboats, instigating the Miami-nassau race.
The Aitkens were smitten, took part in an early running as driver and co-driver, and returned home to set up the sport in Britain.
With a house in Cowes and, conveniently, a holiday home on
the “British Riviera”, the Cowestorquay made perfect sense. In Express Newspapers, they had a backer for both it and the Boat Show. Back then, it was a one-way trip and finished with a big party at the Imperial Hotel.
Vi’s co-pilot on one trip was the Grand National-winning jockey Dave Dick, who was a bit of a prankster. Having spotted on their arrival a fisherman who had just landed a shark, it inevitably ended up in the swimming pool of the Imperial on the night of the post-race party.
In 1969, Vi finished fifth in the gruelling round-britain race. She rarely finished out of the top 10 in any race and won numerous ladies prizes.
The other great female powerboat driver at the time was Lady (Fiona) Arran who was known as the “fastest woman on water” after clocking 103mph on Windermere. Once stopped for going too fast on the recently opened M1 by a policeman, she said, “Fast? Hop in, officer, and I’ll show you what fast is.”
The only occasion they raced together as the self-styled “two old bags in a boat” was in the London to Monte Carlo. On the third leg, in the dark just south of Brest, they started to sink. Having spent all their lives wanting to send out a mayday signal, now that the moment had arrived the first few minutes of the emergency were taken up arguing about who should have that honour.
In one of Vi’s last races, a particularly rough London-tobrighton event, she drove with her daughter Laura (Levi), who is now club secretary of the British Powerboat Racing Club. It was fine up the Thames, but in the Channel they headed directly into a force-six gale.
“It’s worse than childbirth,” complained her daughter above the roar of the engine.
“You should have taken a bigger swig of the hip flask back at London Bridge,” replied the driver.
All of which leads me to conclude that, as we say goodbye to one of the last links to another era, they made them a little bit different in those days.