WAIS refers historic allegations of gymnast mistreatment for SIA review
The Western Australian Institute of Sport (WAIS) has referred historic allegations of mistreatment of gymnasts at its former high performance Women’s Artistic Gymnastics Program (WAG) to Sport Integrity Australia (SIA) for review.
WAIS can confirm that the allegations of mistreatment are not of a sexual nature and go back some 30 years.
WAIS was approached by a small group of former athletes representing up to 20 ex WAG gymnasts in September last year, a month after Gymnastics Australia had engaged the Australian Human Rights Commission to conduct an unrelated independent Review of the culture of the sport nation-wide.
WAIS Chief Executive Officer, Steven Lawrence, said that the institute was treating the complainants’ allegations of body shaming, punitive coaching methods and bullying with the utmost seriousness.
To that end, Mr Lawrence said that WAIS had requested SIA conduct a thorough and independent review into the former athletes claims.
“Since being approached the institute has taken all appropriate measures to pursue these allegations of mistreatment and to ensure they are investigated appropriately and independently,” Mr Lawrence said.
“Under its legislation, SIA is responsible for investigating threats to sport integrity, including the review of ‘the abuse of children and other persons in a sporting environment’ and ‘the failure to protect members of sporting organisations and other persons in a sporting environment, from bullying, intimidation, discrimination, or harassment’.”
Mr Lawrence said they had hoped that the review would commence in February as planned, however this process had been delayed as they have been trying to work with the group to ensure they were comfortable with the terms of the review – a process which remains ongoing. Mr Lawrence said he remained hopeful that agreement could be reached in the near future.
The WAIS high performance gymnastics program trained more than 500 gymnasts over 28 years. The centre produced nine Olympians, 10 Commonwealth Games representatives and several World Championship medals before the difficult decision to close the program was taken by the WAIS board in 2016 due to a lack of financial viability.
“We have been engaging regularly with the group concerned and understand their desire for a quick resolution to this matter, however the seriousness of their allegations, combined with the fact that some date back 30 years, means that a thorough independent review is critical to determine the most appropriate way forward.”
Mr Lawrence said that WAIS as an organization is committed to making decisions that are at all times considerate of athlete mental and physical wellbeing and safety.
The AIS Mental Health Referral Network (MHRN) is available for both alumni and current high performance athletes, coaches and staff, as well as their families of all NIN members, if they wish to seek any additional support throughout this process. Contact details for the MHRN are below.
AIS Mental Health Referral Network
(02) 6214 1130 (Monday – Friday 9am-5pm AET)
mentalhealth@sportaus.gov.au
Statement Revised: 2 May 2021