Gymnastics Australia breached human rights of girl with broken back, report finds
In short:
An international ethics body has found Gymnastics Australia breached the human rights of a 12-year-old girl who broke her back while training in excruciating pain.
The body's report found that an investigation into a complaint lodged by gymnast Trinity de Lance did not interview key witnesses.
ABC Sport has contacted Sport Integrity Australia for comment.
A report by an international ethics body has found that Gymnastics Australia (GA) breached the human rights of a 12-year-old girl who broke her back while training in excruciating pain.
The damning report by the Disciplinary Commission of the Gymnastics Ethics Foundation said GA did not interview key witnesses after a complaint was brought forward by the gymnast.
The report found GA failed to ensure that gymnastics was free from non-accidental violence and ignored the girl's reports of abuse.
Trinity de Lance, now 17, was an elite young Melbourne gymnast in 2020, training up to 32 hours per week and competing in state and national championships.
However, her coach asked her to do a series of backwards walkovers — Trinity estimated between 30 and 40 — despite suffering from back pain.
Trinity de Lance, now 17, broke her back in training at the age of 12. (Supplied)
Subsequent scans found Trinity had chipped her vertebra with blunt force injury by repeatedly arching her back so much that her vertebrae were touching.
Trinity de Lance and her mother, Stieve, lodged a complaint to GA in 2021, which was heard by Sport Integrity Australia (SIA).
An independent investigator found the de Lances' complaint was "neither substantiated or unsubstantiated."
However, the report from the Disciplinary Commission of the Gymnastics Ethics Foundation, an independent oversight body set up by global gymnastics organisation Fédération Internationale Gymnastique (FIG), has found SIA's independent investigator did not interview key witnesses.
"Through its failure to appropriately delegate, GA ignored reports of abuse and failed to be supportive of a gymnast who was reporting abuse," the report said.
ABC Sport contacted SIA for comment.
The report comes after a four-year journey for justice by Trinity and her mother.
"This win means more to me than others could possibly imagine; however, it is bigger than just my case," Trinity said.
"All gymnasts and athletes deserve to have their voices heard and their rights respected."
Trinity de Lance competed at state and national championships when she was younger. (Supplied)
The mother-daughter duo lodged their complaint in 2021, in the aftermath of a damning report by the Australian Human Rights Commission into a "toxic" culture of physical, emotional and sexual abuse in gymnastics.
The de Lances submitted doctors' and specialists' letters, X-rays, MRIs and physiotherapists' reports, showing the extent of Trinity's injuries from gymnastics.
At the time, Ms de Lance said her daughter could barely walk.
They were interviewed by an SIA investigator and found the process to be "quite competitive, combative, it was definitely like a police interview", according to Ms de Lance.
Gymnastics Australia delivered the findings of the investigation in a letter that said the complaints were "neither substantiated or unsubstantiated".
Their case was taken up by the advocacy group Athlete Rights Australia, which eventually resulted in the findings by the FIG's ethics committee.
In the report, the Committee's Disciplinary Commission found SIA's independent investigator declared medical evidence was not conclusive, despite not interviewing the doctor who examined Trinity.
It found that the investigation breached three key FIG codes: the Code of Discipline, Code of Ethics and its Safeguarding Policy.
"The independent investigator failed to interview the doctor who examined the gymnast and failed to interview relevant witnesses and concluded that the medical evidence was inconclusive as to how the injury was sustained," the report found.
Trinity de Lance (left), pictured with mother Stieve in 2021, says all athletes deserve to have their rights respected. (ABC News: Marty McCarthy)
The panel's report found GA failed to ensure that gymnastics was free from non-accidental violence by not properly instructing and supervising the independent investigator.
It found the investigator failed to use a "trauma-informed approach" to interviewing the then 13-year-old.
"Through its failure to appropriately delegate, GA failed to respect the gymnast's human right to have her complaint adequately interviewed," the report found.
In response, Trinity said GA ignored the minimum requirements of the investigation.
"By doing so, the process subjected not only myself but others to being re-traumatised by something that was meant to grant closure and justice, yet failed to do so," she said.
"This win ensures that, going forward, we can voice our wants and needs, be heard, and not be denied any longer," de Lance said.
'We need to protect children'
Ms de Lance told ABC Sport the case had caused ongoing trauma for her daughter.
"This whole process continues to be not only an emotional nightmare, but triggers actual nightmares," she said.
"Whilst we have had jurisdictional acknowledgement, we've had no justice because justice requires not only a judgement, but also a sanction.
"No one has paid any penalty; the only people who paid penalties are the children who have been involved."
Ms de Lance said that in four years, GA had never checked in with Trinity or apologised.
"The silence is not only deafening, it's harmful," she said.
ABC Sport asked Gymnastics Australia a series of questions on why the original investigation by SIA breached three FIG codes.
ABC Sport also asked GA why it had not reached out to the de Lances to apologise or check on Trinity's welfare and whether GA acknowledged Trinity's accusation that she had suffered trauma because of the incident and ongoing investigation.
In a statement, GA responded that it acknowledged and accepted the findings of the Gymnastics Ethics Foundation Disciplinary Commission.
"The complaint handling processes considered by the GEF were conducted independently, reflecting Gymnastics Australia's commitment to impartiality and procedural integrity," the statement said.
Athletes Rights Australia co-founder Alison Quigley, who took up the case for the de Lances, described the original SIA investigation on behalf of GA as a "derelict" process.
"Key witnesses not interviewed; key evidence not examined; [a] lack of trauma-informed protocols," Ms Quigley said.
"Rather than being an investigation — a meaningful engagement of both parties, and the presentation of evidence from both sides — this was just taking the coach's word over the athlete without following any leads.
"We need to protect children from being subjected to processes like this that just don't hold up.
"They can create even more harm than the original abuse."
The report was originally published in January, but Quigley and the de Lances are speaking up now because the maximum time for an appeal by GA has lapsed.
"The case has significant implications within gymnastics," Ms Quigley said.
"This is a milestone determination — key witnesses and key evidence must be considered, or it's breaching the codes.
"It's also a message to the broader Australian sporting community that SIA's methods must be robust, and also that national sports bodies, if they are given notice of a derelict process, cannot simply hide behind SIA's lack of workmanship."
A number of other cases taken up by the Gymnastics Ethics Foundation, but not substantiated, are being pursued in other jurisdictions.