Former gymnastics coach charged with child sex offences in Western Australia

A former gymnastics coach has been charged with child sex crimes by police in Western Australia, following allegations he indecently dealt with two girls aged 12 and 13 while coaching them.

7.30 can reveal Child Abuse Squad detectives charged the 34-year-old man — who cannot be named for legal reasons — with eight offences against the two girls, which allegedly took place between February 2019 and December 2020.

It follows the release of a damning investigation by the Human Rights Commission into gymnastics in Australia, which found a ‘toxic’ culture of physical, emotional and sexual abuse in the sport.

Sports Integrity Australia (SIA), a new agency that investigates issues such as doping, child abuse and match fixing in Australian sport, passed details of the complaint to WA Police earlier this year, and detectives laid charges on March 16.

“We identified elements we felt were relevant to a criminal investigation, and as part of having law enforcement embedded within our agency to be able to deal with these issues effectively, we passed those matters to the Western Australia Police,” SIA chief executive David Sharpe said.

SIA has received 35 complaints of misconduct and abuse in the sport of gymnastics, but this is the only one that has resulted in a criminal charge.

Mr Sharpe said the agency will conduct child protection audits into all sports, at all levels of competition, over the next three years.

“It is incumbent on us to protect children in sport at all levels and it doesn’t matter whether they are elite or not,” he said.

“So whilst gymnastics at a high performance level [usually involves] younger athletes, we have got to also protect kids that just want to turn up on a weekend and play sport through different structures.”

More athletes expected to come forward

The Human Rights Commission’s review found sexual abuse was common in the sport, with one gymnast telling the commission that during stretching sessions her coach would “have an erection, which I would feel him pushing repetitively on my hips or back”.

Interviewed gymnasts also reported to the commission incidents of “sexual misconduct and abuse that occurred during training sessions, in both public and hidden spaces”.

Another athlete told the commission that fellow gymnasts would sometimes warn each other about certain coaches, with comments like “he’s got wandering hands today, try and avoid him if you can”.

The report also found that parents were discouraged from watching their children train, which enabled “perpetrators [to] seek out opportunities to abuse in environments where there is little supervision”.

Human rights commissioner Kate Jenkins said the independent review she conducted into gymnastics in Australia looked at “system issues” in the sport, and did not investigate specific allegations of abuse or misconduct.

However, Ms Jenkins said she expected more athletes to now come forward with complaints.

“I expect athletes will come forward and feel more vindicated to come forward and raise complaints if they believe there are still issues that need to be resolved,” she said.

“If they need to seek support I would encourage them to do that.”