Gymnastics: ‘I’ve put all my medals and trophies away’

“I’ve put all my medals and trophies away because I can’t actually look at them, because gymnastics reminds me of a bad time.”

BBC Sport is sitting down with five former gymnasts – Sophie Jameson, Olivia Williams, Abbie Caig, Georgina Clements and Amber Leyland have agreed to tell their stories, in light of the widespread allegations of abuse that have rocked the sport in recent weeks.

This summer, Olympic dreams should have been realised. Instead, multiple claims – including from Olympians such as Becky and Ellie Downie, and Amy Tinkler – of a culture of fear across gymnastics in this country have been made by those who feel they can no longer stay silent.

They are nervous. Caig admits she nearly backed out, but all of them are united in the importance of speaking out.

“I’d suppressed the emotions and buried them away,” Caig adds. “I feel like speaking out now is going to allow me to get everything I want off my chest and I can finally move on.”

The five women, now aged from 18 to 23, trained at the City of Liverpool Gymnastics Club for differing periods between 2008 and 2019.

Read more here https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/gymnastics/53401847