A FORMER elite gymnast has become the first to win a civil case brought against British Gymnastics for the abuse she received as a youngster in the sport.

According to a BBC report, the governing body have reached a settlement with Eloise Jotischky, who has also received an apology from the organisation’s chief executive.

Jotischky, who is now 19, said that coach Andrew Griffiths forced her to undergo inappropriate weight management techniques and verbal harassment at Heathrow Gymnastics Club, and British Gymnastics have now admitted full liability.
 
She is understood to be the first of a claimant group to agree a settlement as part of a review process intended to avoid the need for legal action.

A spokesperson for Gymnasts for Change explained: “As part of our group claim against historic abuse under the British Gymnastics regime, we agreed a pre-action claims review process with the aim of reducing the stress on claimants as they continue with their struggle for justice.”
 
But despite Jotischky receiving a letter in March confirming British Gymnastics has admitted liability, Griffiths acted as a Great Britain coach that month at the World Acrobatic Championships in Baku. 

British Gymnastics have said he is now not permitted to coach and Heathrow have also told the BBC that he no longer works for them. 

 Jotischky trained with Heathrow between the ages of 10 and 14, up to 25 hours a week. She competed at national and international level but has now given up gymnastics because of her experiences of abuse.

She said Griffiths put her on a diet of just 800 calories for a non-training day and about 1,200 on a training day — the NHS advising teenage girls to consume between 2,200 to 2,500 calories every day — and Griffiths would “weight shame” her with Saturday weighing sessions, prod her and tell her that she looked dreadful.

“We’d have to line up and step on the scales with everyone else there, and sometimes they’d announce our weight or tell us to step to the side if they weren’t happy with our weight so that they could have a conversation with us afterwards,” Jotischky told BBC Sport. 

Griffiths would also allegedly shout and scream at gymnasts if he was not satisfied with their weight. “We were sitting on the sofa just physically shaking,” Jotischky said. “Having a grown man scream over you, it was terrifying.”

According to the BBC report, Griffiths previously served a British Gymnastics suspension for inappropriate practices before he coached Jotischky — but was allowed back to the sport early on appeal.

Griffiths has so far failed to respond to the BBC’s allegations.

The Whyte report, an independent investigation into allegations of abuse within British gymnastics, is due to be published this week.