Gymnasts to demand action from governing bodies after abuse scandals

A global alliance of gymnasts will demand the sport’s governing body and the International Olympic Committee make major reforms to prevent further shocking abuse scandals, the Guardian has learned.

Advocacy groups representing abused gymnasts have joined forces to call on the Fédération Internationale de Gymnastique (FIG) to review the minimum age for athletes to compete, introduce significantly stronger welfare standards and establish an international register of banned coaches.

The groups – which include Gymnasts for Change in the UK, Gymnasts Alliance in the US, and others in Australia, New Zealand and Canada – believe the FIG and the IOC have failed to address the underlying issues exposed by Athlete A, the Netflix documentary about the former USA Gymnastics team doctor Larry Nassar, the Whyte review into British Gymnastics and other major scandals.

As things stand, female gymnasts can compete internationally as young as 16 – which requires them to specialise at a very young age and also pushes them to train for long hours when their bodies are still developing. However, many believe that increasing the age to 18, the same age as male competitors, would allow them to step up their training when they were older.

Gymnasts in multiple countries have also reported shocking stories of sexual, physical and mental abuse as well as fat shaming and cultures where medals take precedence over athlete welfare.

The Whyte review, which was published on Thursday, also revealed that coaches would sit on girls as young as seven in a bid to improve their flexibility while some gymnasts would hide food in their knickers and in hotel ceilings because they were so starved by their coaches.

Kevin McKeever, the communications director of