21 February 2024 , 23:10
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An ex-neighbour of a British Gymnastics coach at the centre of sex abuse allegations claims in a shocking TV documentary he also interfered with her.
Jess, who does not want to give her surname, says she visited the home of former Olympian Stan Wild when she was eight and explored his daughter’s fancy dress box. On the show, she recalls walking into the garden in a tutu and claims Wild asked if she had wet herself, before patting her privates.
She claims: “He asked if I needed to get changed. I remember feeling really embarrassed. It was then he crouched down and touched me. He was breathing strangely and quivering. As an adult I understood he was turned on.”
Now a mum of two, Jess says she is speaking out after reading an article by another of Wild’s alleged victims, ex-gymnast Nikki O’Donnell. “I read Nikki’s story and my blood went cold. I knew in my heart who it was. I felt physically sick. He stole my innocence. Everything changed when that happened to me,” she tells tonight’s ITV1 documentary Gymnastics: A Culture Of Abuse?.
Ex-Gymnast Nikki O’DonnellThe programme chronicles the fight for justice by former gymnasts who claim they were physically, emotionally, or sexually abused as children by their coaches. Nikki has alleged she was sexually assaulted many times between the ages of nine and 14, but says despite complaints, Wild was allowed to carry on coaching for years.
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Nikki tells the show: “I noticed as I got older that where he was putting his hands wasn’t normal. He wrecked my life, emotionally, mentally.” The programme also details allegations of how Wild, now 79, touched two of his pupils inappropriately at a gym in York, and how another coach plied a gymnast with booze on tour.
Wild denies all the allegations, including Jess’s, and no charges have been brought by North Yorkshire Police. He comp-eted in two Olympic Games and founded the York City gymnastics Club in 1974. He was banned by British Gymnastics in 2021 for “safeguarding” reasons.
Jess and Nikki share an emotional meeting in the documentaryThere are other claims in the film, with shocking allegations made against other coaches which claim to uncover a culture of abuse that has been allowed to permeate the sport for decades. Stuart Woods, a former private school teacher and gymnastics coach was jailed in 2021 for 11 years. He sexually abused a pupil and groomed two others. Harrowing details from one of the boy victim’s impact statements read out in court describe the devastation caused by the abuse.
“Not only did Stuart deprive me of my dignity and my virginity, but he poisoned my perception of my parents, my friends and my family while convincing me the only person that would be there for me was him.” Anne Whyte KC carried out a much broader two-year inquiry into the sport and her damning report found “systemic” abuse and a “coach-led culture of fear” in gymnastics.
Gymnastics coach Carlton Webster warns: “Today, in a gym right now, some kid is being verbally abused, physically abused, God forbid it, sexually abused. Today. Fact.” In the film, Nikki claims the abuse led to anorexia, with her weight down to 6st when she was 5ft 7in, as well as alcoholism.
Claire Heafford, founder Gymnasts for ChangeShe says: “I started drinking at 14, by 16 I was dependent. I would have a drink before school and have spirits in my water bottle at school. By the time I went to college I was an alcoholic.”
British Gymnastics told ITV it is “half way through an extensive programme of action to make gymnastics safe, positive and fair for all. The reforms are a joint effort involving experts and abuse survivors, who have been a vital part of the development of new safe sport policies. Abuse, mistreatment and harm have no place in gymnastics. We urge anyone with concerns to come forward.”
- Gymnastics: A Culture Of Abuse?, ITV1 and ITVX at 9pm on Thursday.