Thanks to campaigning groups such as Women’s Aid, domestic abuse in the form of coercive control was made illegal in 2015. This legislation brought adult women, suffering in emotionally abusive relationships, greater recognition, protection and potentially the opportunity for redress. The campaign and subsequent legislation highlighted the fact that abuse needn’t be overtly physical in order to be extremely damaging.
For myself however, the most shocking aspect of hearing about coercive control was the stark similarities I saw between it and the culture of abuse and control that exists in so many gymnastics clubs. The main difference being that the gymnastics victims are, for the most part, children.
According to Women’s Aid, coercive control is:
“an act or a pattern of acts of assault, threats, humiliation and intimidation or other abuse that is used to harm, punish, or frighten their victim. This controlling behaviour is designed to make a person dependent by isolating them from support, exploiting them, depriving them of independence and regulating their everyday behaviour.”
“Coercive control creates invisible chains and a sense of fear that pervades all elements of a victim’s life. It works to limit their human rights by depriving them of their liberty and reducing their ability for action. Experts like Evan Stark liken coercive control to being taken hostage. As he says: “the victim becomes captive in an unreal world created by the abuser, entrapped in a world of confusion, contradiction and fear.””
To illustrate my point, here are some of the main features of a coercively controlled relationship (adapted from the Serious Crime Act 2015), and how they correspond to gymnastics control culture:
Isolating a person from their friends and family
Competitive gymnasts typically train double (or more) the number of hours recommended by experts (which, incidentally, is 1 hour per year of age). The result is that, from a very young age, children quickly become isolated from other friends and activities. They are also typically forbidden from going to birthday parties or other social events and from participating in other clubs or sports. The gym, the coach and the other children they train with literally become their world. The child may well spend more waking hours with their coach than their parents.
Taking control over aspects of everyday life, such as where they can go, who they can see
As above. From very young, say 6 or 7, young gymnasts’ lives will become dominated by gymnastics and the decisions of their coach. Holidays are discouraged and opportunities to develop in other ways foregone.
Monitoring Social Media
Although younger children may not have social media whatever their parents put out will be closely monitored and children may be punished for perceived misdemeanors. Once children have their own accounts they will be watched carefully. Often coaches will use the children to contact other children on behalf of the coach (coaches are not allowed to directly message under 16s).
Depriving them access to support services, such as specialist support or medical services
Gymnasts and their parents are often actively discouraged from seeking proper medical attention for injuries and pain. In fact, gymnasts are often too afraid to mention that they are in pain in case they are belittled and mocked. Many develop chronic, debilitating affects due to untreated gymnastics injury.
Repeatedly putting them down such as telling them they are worthless
This is the entirety of many gymnasts’ lives. The standard line is along the lines of “you are nothing without me”. All failure is blamed on the gymnast, all success credited to the coach. An example might also be something like taking competition medals away from a child saying they don’t deserve them.
Humiliating, degrading or dehumanising them
Gymnasts are frequently separated and isolated from their teammates as punishment. Failure to execute a skill is often punished by having to do arduous conditioning exercises, often they are mocked while doing so. They then, exhausted, have to attempt the skill again and if they fail are again punished, a vicious cycle that unsurprisingly often results in injury. Other punishments might include things like vacuuming the entire gym whilst being subjected to taunts and mocking. I have also seen gymnasts forced to sit apart from their teammates (as isolation punishment) as they do the rounds at a competition. This list could be endless.
Making threats or intimidating them
Many gymnasts feel under constant threat of either physical or emotional abuse. Threats may be direct, where they fear they’ll be hit, or indirect where they feel they’ll be forced to do something likely to result in pain or injury.
Assault
Sadly, gymnasts are assaulted by their coaches as documented by the Guardian newspaper in 2017. I even know of an incident where a BG coach, sent by Lilleshall to work with a GB squad gymnast, viciously pinched the gymnast’s leg to ‘correct’ an error on beam. This was a considerable disappointment to the child’s and other squad parents who had hoped the visiting coach would notice the abusive culture in the gym and put a stop to it.
Reputational damage
When a gymnast dares to be ill for example, they will often be mocked and critisised by the coach to their teammates and even to other parents. Children are afraid of being seen as “weak”, “lazy” or a “faker” and will attend gym. Coaches will often also ‘bad mouth’ their gymnast to other coaches and gymnasts at competition. Children are very afraid to be seen in bad light and will do what they can to conform to the group’s norms.
Stockholm Syndrome
The concept of coercive control also explains another phenomenon i.e. the question of why abused gymnasts often want to stay with their abusers and, topically, why one might hear different accounts of life in the same gym? As mentioned above, experts such as Evan Stark liken coercive control to being taken hostage. As he says: “the victim becomes captive in an unreal world created by the abuser, entrapped in a world of confusion, contradiction and fear.”
Many of us will have heard of Stockholm Syndrome, “a condition in which hostages develop a psychological alliance with their captors during captivity. Emotional bonds may be formed between captor and captives, during intimate time together, but these are generally considered irrational in light of the danger or risk endured by the victims.” A relatively recent and upsetting example might be that of Natascha Kampusch, kidnapped as a 10-year-old by Wolfgang Priklopil and held in a basement for eight years. She was reported to have cried when she heard her captor had died and subsequently lit a candle for him as he lay in the mortuary. This might go a long way to explaining why some gymnasts will claim everything was fine despite documented, objective evidence that it not.
Finally, I for one, am very thankful that women in abusive domestic relationships now have the full backing of the law and recognition of their real plight, I now just want to know when the same attention and protection will be given to the children and young adults being abused daily in the name of British gymnastics?