The Gymnastics Federation says it has joined the centralized discipline of serious ethical violations in sports.
The Finnish Gymnastics Federation published a press release on Friday, in which it said that it absolutely condemns all inappropriate behavior in coaching.
– We are sorry that the goal of gymnastics as a safe hobby has not been realized for everyone. As the Gymnastics Federation, we must always strive to ensure safe exercise, the release states.
According to the gymnastics association, it has recognized the need for a cultural change in the sport and told about the measures it is taking to speed up the change.
– We are making clear rules with which we outline more concretely how to protect body peace in coaching. As part of the implementation of the rules, we will hold training on the subject for instructors and coaches in early 2023, the association informs.
– We have joined sports’ joint centralized discipline of serious ethical violations. We will make a proposal for changes to our own disciplinary rules for the regular meeting to be held in March. The aim of the changes is to improve the processing of disciplinary processes.
According to the gymnastics association, it has challenged its member clubs to implement the club’s own responsibility program.
Suspected inappropriate behavior
Urheilu reported last week that he worked as the head coach of the Finnish rhythmic gymnastics national team until the beginning of 2022 Laura Ahonen and another coach is suspected of having acted inappropriately towards young, even minor, national team gymnasts for years. The gymnasts interviewed by Urheilu talked about humiliation, bullying, serious health problems and being forced to lose weight.
Read more: The former head coach of the Finnish national team is suspected of years of improper activity – gymnasts report constant dieting and eating disorders
According to Ahonen, he has never commented inappropriately on the weight of the national team’s athletes and, according to his own words, he would never intentionally do anything as a coach that would endanger an athlete’s health.
Centralized discipline started at the beginning of 2022
Executive Director of the Gymnastics Association Maria Laakso specifies that the union held an autumn meeting on November 19, where it was decided to join the centralized disciplinary system for serious ethical violations.
This year, the joint disciplinary committee for ethical violations started its activities. The Sports Ethics Center of Finland (Suek) is responsible for investigating violations under these disciplinary regulations and submitting disciplinary claims. Investigations of serious ethical violations are only carried out in connection with events under the jurisdiction of sports associations committed to disciplinary regulations.
In the new system, Suek can also independently start investigating the case. The method is based on the disciplinary rules for serious ethical violations in sports drawn up by the Finnish Olympic Committee. Suek cannot open an investigation into incidents that occurred before this year.
The gymnastics association also intends to make refinement proposals to its own disciplinary rules for the regular meeting to be held in March. Suek only investigates serious cases. Suek’s investigation does not include, for example, such cases that are individual in nature and can most appropriately be resolved by the aforementioned entities’ own regulations.
Executive Director Laakso said that the refinements the union is considering to its own disciplinary rules are related to, for example, the composition of disciplinary boards and what kind of disciplinary matters can be disclosed to the public.
The gymnastics association’s case ended up in Suek, when the Capital Region’s sports academy Urhea made a request for an investigation into Laura Ahonen’s activities in the spring and winter of 2021 after being concerned about the health and mental endurance of the national team gymnasts.
After the preliminary investigation, the Gymnastics Federation made a request for an investigation to Suek in June 2021. Suek submitted the report to the Gymnastics Federation in December 2021, after which the federation took the case to its disciplinary committee. Now the case has been in the disciplinary committee of the Gymnastics Association for almost a year.
Minister of Science and Culture responsible for sports Petri Honkonen (central) told Urheilu that he is waiting for an explanation of the events from the Gymnastics Federation.
– It is clear that these processes must be much faster. Of course, I expect measures from the sports association to put an end to this kind of activity, Honkonen stated.