British Gymnastics chairman calls for government to establish independent safeguarding body

The chair of British Gymnastics has called for the government to establish an independent safeguarding body across all sports to "show we care as much about athlete welfare as we do about medal table success".

Mike Darcey said national governing bodies have "neither the expertise nor resources" to handle abuse allegations, and that individuals involved in cases "wait too long for justice".

"More needs to be done, and it needs to happen now, athletes and coaches are being let down," he said.

British Gymnastics doubled its spending on welfare to about £1m a year after the bullying crisis that engulfed the organisation.

Last year's landmark Whyte Review detailed "systemic" issues of physical and emotional abuse, with 1,326 concerns raised with the welfare team since 2020.

Darcey said British Gymnastics was making "good progress" but there were "challenges".

"We love to watch our sporting heroes compete and triumph on the world stage, but we also expect that the pursuit of success is accompanied by high standards of athlete welfare," he said.

"Sadly, many sporting bodies are struggling to deliver on these expectations, for reasons of resource, expertise and perceptions of bias. The solution is to establish a new independent body to ensure athlete welfare across all sports.

Darcey said "a backlog of historic complaints" was an "intractable challenge" and that British Gymnastics "is ill-equipped to handle these sorts of cases".

"Gymnastics is not alone, and other sports have similar experiences," he added.

"If investigation and the assessment of culpability for appropriate cases sat with a central body, the problems around perceptions of bias would be solved."

The governing bodies of cycling, swimming and canoeing are just some of the other sports that have had to apologise after inquiries into their cultures in recent years. There have also been investigations into allegations at British Judo, British Bobsleigh, and GB Archery.

UK Athletics has been scrutinised over its past record on child safeguarding after an independent review of its policies found a "lack of precision" in lines of responsibility. It has spent more than £0.5m on welfare cases, exacerbating financial pressures at the organisation.

Funding agency UK Sport has introduced an independent complaints and disclosure system to help improve safeguarding, awarded new funding to the British Athletes Commission, and promised a shift away from its previous "no compromise" approach to achieving medal success, instead emphasising "winning the right way". Others believe more still needs to be done.

"We have moved past the time for words," added Darcey, who said the new body could promote best practice, as well as handle complaints.

"The UK has enjoyed a sustained period of global sporting success. We enjoy the reflected glory, but we agree this cannot come at the expense of athlete welfare," he said.

In 2017, Paralympic legend Baroness Tanni Grey-Thompson recommended a sports ombudsman as part of a duty of care review amid a spate of athlete welfare scandals.

Last year's Whyte review also argued that an independent sports ombudsman was "an obvious step in the right direction".

In a statement, a spokesperson for the Department of Culture, Media and Sport said: "There is no place for abuse of any kind and it is vital that everyone participating in sport feels safe and secure. Any allegations of inappropriate or harmful behaviour should be taken with the utmost seriousness.

"UK Sport and Sport England have taken significant steps to improve safeguarding in sport including the revision of protections for children. The government has also strengthened positions of trust legislation to now include sports coaches.

"We remain committed to ensuring sport is as safe as possible for everyone, and will continue to work with the sector to strengthen the system where needed."

In a joint statement, Tim Hollingsworth, CEO of Sport England and UK Sport CEO Sally Munday said: "The decision to establish an independent safeguarding body is one for government as it would require legislation and its own financing.

"We would be happy to have conversations about this as we work with government to ensure sport is as safe as possible for everyone. In the meantime, we have committed to action across five areas which are designed to support improved safeguarding and wellbeing for everyone involved in sport.

"Based on learnings and insight from the Whyte Review, we outlined 19 commitments in January which span the areas of coaching and workforce support, performance athlete support, good governance, dispute resolution and creating safer environments for participants."