British Gymnastics: Campaign launched to monitor alleged abuse
- Published
Jennifer Pinches competed for Great Britain at the 2012 Olympics in London
A new campaign group for gymnasts wants to see the creation of a body to monitor abuse claims in the same way doping is controlled.
Gymnasts for Change has been set up in the wake of allegations of abusive coaching practices in the sport.
British former Olympic gymnast Jennifer Pinches and campaigner Claire Heafford are behind the new group.
Pinches, who competed at London 2012, said it is time "to make sure real change happens".
The 26-year-old told BBC Sport she would like a body similar to the World Anti-Doping Agency to be set up to record emotional and physical abuse claims, which she says are not "recognised or monitored on that scale yet".
Gymnasts for Change aims to improve athlete welfare following the mistreatment allegations and has called for a formal apology from British Gymnastics.
It comes after British Gymnastics set up an independent complaints process to oversee allegations of mistreatment.
The review into allegations of abuse within British Gymnastics, led by Anne Whyte QC and co-commissioned by Sport England and UK Sport, began in August after several gymnasts - including Olympians such as Amy Tinkler - alleged there had been a culture of mistreatment in the sport.
A support helpline set up for gymnasts by the British Athletes Commission and the NSPCC received more than 120 calls in its first five weeks.
"It's really important this doesn't become a 2020 moment and then forgotten about," said campaign director Heafford. "A seismic change within gymnastics is long overdue."
She added: "Lots of other sports, when it's been revealed that those sports are not safe for the competitors, those sports have autocorrected. They've taken the opportunity themselves to change the formats, to change the competition rules and to put in place safety measures.
"We really feel now we need to prove legally the ways in which this sport is damaging gymnasts in order that we can establish some red lines that in the future will not be crossed."