Gymnastics historical sex abuse case: More women come forward over Brian Phelps claims

Warning: This article contains references to rape and sexual abuse

More women have come forward after a survivor of historical child sexual abuse at the hands of a former trampoline coach spoke out.

Last month, BBC Sport reported the account of ‘Emma’ – her name changed for anonymity – who claimed she was another survivor of convicted paedophile and former British Olympic diver Brian Phelps.

Phelps, who won a 1960 bronze medal at the Rome Olympics as a teenager, became a trampolining coach at a gymnastics club after his career finished.

But he was later jailed in 2008,, external aged 64, after admitting a string of historical indecent assaults against three children aged between six and 15, in the 1970s and 1980s.

Emma told BBC Sport that she was one of several further victims and claimed she was raped and abused from the age of five to 12 in the mid-late 70s and early 80s by Phelps in the Olga gymnastics gyms he ran with his wife.

Emma said there were 15 further survivors from her conversations with other women which began after she read about Phelps being jailed in 2008 – and she said she always believed the number could be even higher.

She also accused British Gymnastics of “catastrophic failures” in what she claims is the biggest case of sexual abuse in the governing body’s history.

Read more here https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/gymnastics/64967644