UK SPORT IN DOCK WITH CLAIM THEY KNEW OF ‘DISTRESS’

THE body responsible for Olympic funding were allegedly aware of athlete welfare concerns around British Gymnastics more than a year before they came to light. It has emerged that UK Sport carried out a ‘Walk the Floor’ visit at the under-fire organisation’s Lilleshall base in May 2019. They learned of the unhappiness of some gymnasts in the elite set-up and were due to interview Olympic bronze medallist Amy Tinkler, only for her to leave a day before their appointment because of distress at what she alleges was mistreatment by head coach Amanda Reddin. Tinkler made a series of claims relating to Reddin in Sportsmail yesterday. The 20-year-old accused the celebrated coach of frequent weight-shaming and bullying behaviour. In August, Reddin, previously cleared of a complaint made by Tinkler in December 2019, temporarily stepped aside from her role amid an investigation into claims from other athletes, which she refutes. One source has indicated that the Walk the Floor group had heard about the discontent of some athletes. Tinkler told Sportsmail: ‘They were there that week in Lilleshall and we were told it was part of a project called Walk the Floor. ‘They (UK Sport) come in and have a look, see what is going on. ‘We met with them as a group, but nobody wanted to say anything as we were all scared to speak out as we’d be punished (by figures within British Gymnastics). ‘I was meant to be meeting them the next day one-on-one to talk but I left before we could meet. I’m gutted that I didn’t get to speak with them as I would’ve told them everything. I was too broken by that point. ‘I heard the report wasn’t great and that a lot of my complaints were in it, but no one has heard any more about it, and nothing has been done or changed. The same people are still there. If they don’t listen to these reports then what’s the point in having them?’ The visit occurred 14 months before some British gymnasts went public with attacks on the culture within the sport. Those included scathing criticisms of how British Gymnastics handled welfare complaints from multiple levels of the sport and also involved claims about the environment within the elite set-up, most notably from Tinkler and world medallist Ruby Harrold. When asked by Sportsmail about the findings of the 2019 Walk the Floor report and whether Tinkler’s allegations were included and what recommendations were then made to British Gymnastics, UK Sport declined to comment, citing the ongoing Whyte Review into the issue.