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Marco Knippen @MarcoKnippen

He is the personification of abuse in Dutch gymnastics. “And quite rightly so,” admits Gerrit Beltman, “because my behaviour simply cannot be condoned in any way.” It is the reason why he now wears a hair shirt, but at the same time, there is something that concerns him. Beltman resents the lack of full disclosure with respect to the malpractices of the Royal Dutch Gymnastics Federation KNGU. “I was and am, not the only one – the opposite is true. The chances that a female gymnast – and I’m talking about those at the top – leaves the sport traumatised, are greater than that come out unscathed.”

If anyone can make such a claim, it’s Beltman (64), who has been coaching gymnasts since the beginning of the 1980s and is an established name in the sport. He worked with Olympians, World Championships contenders and European Championships hopefuls, he is considered to be the driving force behind Dutch progress on the international gymnastics scene and in more recent years he has set his sights abroad: Belgium (Flanders), Canada, back to Belgium (Wallonia) and currently Singapore.

Beltman coached Renske Endel, for instance, until a year before the young Dutch athlete’s uneven bars routine won her silver at the 2001 Gent World Championships. But she was also a victim of his terror regime, as were others like her predecessors Stasja Köhler and Simone Heitinga, the duo who in 2013 gave a graphic description of his abuse in their book De onvrije oefening (Unfree Practice).

You abused the girls physically, you intimidated, ignored, isolated and manipulated them. Systematically. You put them on scales every single day; these are serious allegations.

“I’m very deeply ashamed of myself. It was never my conscious intention to beat them, to yell at them, to hurt their feelings or belittle them, to gag them or make constant derogatory remarks about their weight. But it did happen. I went far too far, thought that was the only way to instil a winning mentality in them. I hate myself for my failures in this respect.”

Your moral compass was deactivated?

“I was passionate, obsessed even. I simply had to win, whatever the price. That’s no justification or excuse or mitigating circumstance, merely an explanation. A lack of social-pedagogical knowledge has certainly been one of my very serious shortcomings.”

Why did you think you were on the right track?

“When I started, gymnastics in the Netherlands didn’t amount to very much. I had no frame of reference and looked abroad, to Eastern Europe, in particular. That’s where the champions came from. I copied their approach blindly, and it was one that pulled no punches. It was very naive of me and objectionable, of course, but I thought I was doing the right thing.

“So I took a hard line: what I say goes and I don’t tolerate contradiction. I refused to make any kind of concession or compromise whatsoever.’’

How did you justify that to yourself?  

“I didn’t see my mistakes, never fully understood that I was overstepping the mark. Indeed, I saw the same going on all around; I never stopped to think about the sharp edges. Performance was improving, so I’d convinced myself that I was doing things right.”

Did you never notice what it was doing to the gymnasts, the trauma it was causing the girls?

“I didn’t see them as individuals, but treated them as a means to an end, as I now realise. I wanted to go to the Olympic Games. I had my eyes set on European and World Championship medals. The end justified all means and I failed to understand that I was abusing their talents for my own gain. I never considered the flipside, never asked myself, ‘Is this what they want, too?'”

When did you realise that you were too authoritarian?

“When Renske Endel suddenly said to me out of the blue, ‘I’m leaving you.’ I hadn’t seen that coming. I was shocked, I thought, ‘But we’re on a mission together, aren’t we?’ That break-up got me thinking, although the change of heart wasn’t immediate. I needed a period of self-reflection before everything sunk in. The transformation took a while.”

How could the malpractice have gone on for so long?

“I was never criticised during those first decades. Nobody took the trouble to exchange ideas with me in any way that could be called in depth, let alone demonstrate to me how things should be done and give me the tools to do so.

“The Federation lacked corrective capacity; there was never a mention of pedagogy. I wish somebody who knew what they were talking about had confronted me and said, ‘Listen, my friend, that’s not how we do things.’
“It wasn’t until later, when I was working abroad, that I was forced to look in the mirror. I was pushed to be more transparent. Among other things, that was because practice, like in Canada, was more open for parents to watch, and I was told in no uncertain terms that I had to start communicating more clearly.”

What effect did that have?

“I see things completely differently now. It’s no longer about me, it’s about the girls. I facilitate them, I assist and offer support. When they’re young, I explain to them what they need to do and as they grow older I give them advice – a subtle but important difference. It’s their career, I just try to keep them on the right track.

“Results are a lot less important to me now, it’s more about the satisfaction the gymnasts draw from their achievements. So if they want a day off every now and then, say for a birthday party, then that’s within the realms of possibility – that one day isn’t going to impact in any significant negative way. And if I see a painful grimace or tears, I ask what’s the matter – always with a fundamentally positive attitude. After all, emotions have underlying reasons.

“That interaction gives me my pleasure and motivation, while in the past only sporting success gave me satisfaction. I had become insensitive back then, I felt lonely and displaced.

“Without it being their fault, the girls probably felt abandoned. That’s something for which the parents can’t be blamed. In many cases, I was responsible for sidelining them. The only one to blame is me.”

Why have you sought publicity now?

“I can’t turn back the clock, but I can try to contribute to a safer environment. Because things are still going wrong at the front end, not just in other countries, but also here in the Netherlands. The chances of lasting damage are simply too great.

“It is a fact that girls can work towards an objective with exceeding purpose and can tolerate more pain at a young age than the boys. But that shouldn’t translate to unnecessary pain.

“These athletes start at a very young age and miss out on an important part of their childhoods. It’s quite a sacrifice. Fun and passion should therefore come first, at least until puberty. Practice and training should be playful. Things should progress more gradually. And we need to ask ourselves whether it’s desirable to spend up to 30 hours a week in the gym at such a young age. Maybe such workloads are more appropriate at a later stage.

“The system needs to completely change; a cultural shift is a matter of bitter urgency. The arch of tension can’t be taut all the time from too early an age; it causes burnout and injury. They need to be fully fit and developed when they’re seniors, not before then. We need to rid ourselves of that stifling atmosphere where only results count, the judgemental culture, at too young an age.”

Do you understand the former gymnasts, victims of your reviled approach, who say they feel there should be no place for you in a gymnastics hall?

“I fully understand, from their point of view. And in a sense, they’re absolutely right. What I did was unpalatable. I can’t change that, only express my regrets. And I did that in a personal conversation with Stasja Köhler, Simone Heitinga and Renske Endel. And I’m prepared to do the same towards others.

“Only, I’m not the same man I used to be. I often think, ‘Damn, why was I one of those assholes?’ The lessons I’ve learned don’t mean that I feel comfortable about my past behaviour, but they have made it possible to continue coaching, adopting a looser approach.”

Publicity will reopen old wounds, but you’ve taken a very conscious decision to do so anyway. Why?

“What bothers me, is that one other coach and myself are constantly singled out. That doesn’t do justice to the exceedingly undesirable situation in the sport. There were, there are, other coaches who behaved and continue to behave the way I did. I stood beside them in the gym and saw them doing precisely what I was doing and what I now know for what it is: mental and physical torture. One of them, for instance, is still involved in the Olympics effort. That person hasn’t had to answer for his actions. People in the federation are fully aware, but no action has been taken. That’s arbitrary and it frustrates me.’’

The Dutch gymnastics federation KNGU says that it wants to play a leading role in a worldwide culture change.

“I very much want to believe that their intentions are good. But if gymnastics as a whole needs a thorough pedagogical wash, as KNGU director Marieke van der Plas recently said, then perhaps she should do her own washing first. And that’s not happening, because full disclosure of all the abuse has never been given and today’s coaches are still being protected.

If, as an organisation, you want to adopt a pioneering role, then you should first clean up your own act. Anything less is mere symbolic gesture and window-dressing.”

Response Renske Endel, Stasja Köhler and Simone Heitinga:

By maintaining that it was all never his intention, Gerrit Beltman is downplaying his inhuman behaviour. He wasn’t tough as nails, but insane. He lacked all empathy. Otherwise his cruelty would not have gone on for 30 years.

It is incorrect to say that the culture was to blame, Beltman was the culture; he set the tone in the Netherlands. Others followed his example (but are individually accountable for their transgressive behaviour).

Moreover, the ‘expression of regret’ is directed too specifically towards us. We are not the only victims, on the contrary. Many other girls suffered the same fate.

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In a response to the wave of disquiet and disgust, Jane Allen, CEO of British Gymnastics has stated, “Whilst we acknowledge there have been inadequate practices along the way, we have worked tirelessly to try and eradicate them.”

I must admit that I just laughed when I read this, but, to be fair, let’s consider the recent evidence:

2017 was also a dramatic year in gymnastics circles. Nassar was on trial, senior American gymnasts were speaking out on abuse, and even British gymnasts, such as the enormously respected Dan Keatings, began to find their voice. The Guardian newspaper published several shocking articles detailing emotional and physical abuse in British gyms and the serial failure of British Gymnastics to deal with it. A culture of fear, of bullying and manipulation, was beginning to be laid bare.

All this came on top of abuse scandals in other sports, football, tennis, cycling, swimming and the Select Committee for Culture Media and Sport launched an investigation. As part of proceedings the committee invited the then Under-Secretary of State for Sport, Tracey Crouch, to report to them.

This meeting was televised (you can watch the full proceedings here). After some discussion of the situation in other sports Damian Collins (Chair) asked about British Gymnastics:  

Dan Keatings had only been retired for a few months at that point. Crouch had somehow been convinced that Jane Allen was ‘new in post’, the implication being that Dan Keatings experience happened under a different ‘watch’ and that Allen, as a ‘new broom’ would sweep BG’s house clean of abuse. The inconvenient truth is however, that at the time of this statement, Jane Allen had been CEO of British Gymnastics for 7 and a half YEARS, a period that included all of Keatings’ elite career (and certainly the period he describes as the worst), and all of the accusations laid out in the Guardian’s series of articles.

Senior coaches who spoke to the Guardian had also made their thoughts on the matter of Jane Allen very clear. They called for Allen’s resignation, claiming her “appalling leadership” has created a “culture of fear” where people are afraid to speak up about athlete welfare failings for fear of reprisals.

I felt dreadful for Keatings. I understood what it had taken to blow the whistle, and what I’m sure had been his  greatest fear had come true. His complaints were summarily dismissed and nothing was going to happen. Worse, as I am sure Keatings also realised, this would further discourage others from coming forward.

But what about since then? Fast forward to the latest British Gymnastics WAG Performance Pathway Symposium that took place in late February this year, not long before Corona virus brought everything to a halt. The PP symposiums are headline events described by BG as “practical and theory sessions designed to provide coaching insight to deliverers from across the community”. So, who did BG invite to set the tone for the new decade? Ex National Coach for Gymnastics Australia, Peggy Liddick.

For those of you who don’t know, Liddick stepped aside from her 20-year-long stint as National Coach for Gymnastics Australia at the end of 2016 having previously coached, assisting Steve Nunno, American superstar Shannon Miller. The 1990s were a ‘heady’ time in American gymnastics. The now notorious Karolyi’s were in their ascendency, as was an increasingly brutal culture of abuse. Joan Ryan’s 1995 expose Little Girls in Pretty Boxes: The Making and Breaking of Elite Gymnasts and Figure Skaters paints a chilling picture including explicit criticism of coaches Bela Karolyi and Steve Nunno. An image corroborated by accounts in Claudia Miller’s 1999 book Shannon Miller: My Child, My Hero.

Now, far be it from me to try to tell you what sort of a coach Liddick might be and the reputation she might have, so I thought I would leave it to two highly respected international gymnastics commentators, Spencer Barnes and Jessica O’Beirne of the podcast GymCastic. In this podcast from June 2018 (#310), Spencer and Jessica are discussing who might be selected as the new USA National Team Coordinator. Jessica has heard on the grapevine that Liddick is being considered. This is their reaction:

Spencer Barnes: You don’t want anyone who is even vaguely associated with the old school, Peggy Liddick is very old school….it is the way things used to be done [i.e. culture of abuse], and the most important thing is that you bring in someone who is not tainted by the mistakes of the past.

Jessica is particularly forthcoming…

Jessica O’Beirne “I would say that if you even interviewed Peggy you should be fired. That’s how strongly I feel about Peggy (being considered ), you have no clue what you’re doing, and you have never talked to a gymnast who was coached by her in the last five or ten years. That’s just the truth…..bring back Marta (Karolyi) over Peggy Liddick! That’s how strongly I feel about Peggy Liddick and her recent coaching style.”

At the very least then, having Peggy Liddick to speak was a, how do I put this, controversial choice for an organization seeking to move forward, but it is perhaps easier to understand when you discover that Jane Allen was CEO of Australia Gymnastics from 1997 to 2010 and that she and Peggy Liddick were therefore close colleagues for 13 years.

So…not the best look perhaps, but what did Liddick actually have to say to our coaches? Needless to say I wasn’t there (although I do welcome anyone who was or BG itself to offer a video or transcript of the event). However, concerned coaches were and revealed some of what they heard. I will focus on the part of Liddick’s presentation entitled “Adversity”. Adversity, in all shapes and forms is part of life and is something that all athletes must face and overcome, and you can imagine how vital the input of a psychology-informed, positive coach might be, so this seemed like a great topic for BG coaches.  However, it was here that Liddick regaled her audience with details of how she and fellow coach Nunno overcame ‘adversity’ in the form of ‘managing’ a number of injuries sustained by their athlete, Shannon Miller. For example, in an accident on bars, then 15 year old Miller dislocated her elbow and fractured a small segment of bone that is the attachment point for the ligaments that stabilise the elbow during stress. A potentially devastating injury with the 1992 Olympic trials only weeks away. Various treatment options were offered by the orthopedic consultant. Miller’s coaches’ preference was for a particular type of surgery involving a small metal screw. Under considerable pressure (according to Liddick) Miller’s father finally acquiesced to the coaches and surgeons, however, said Liddick, Shannon’s mother still not convinced (something Liddick attributed to her religious beliefs) decided to take a short break to think and get some coffee. Now we come to Liddick’s proud teaching moment, they grabbed that chance to rush Shannon into surgery before her mother could come back to possibly stop them. It was made clear that this was in keeping with their philosophy of coaching. Another incident was also detailed where a scaphoid fracture was treated as a mere inconvenience, it was strapped (and never properly treated) and the competition went on. At no point, I am informed, did Liddick qualify her statements, the takeaway was to be that you, as the coach, need to do whatever you think you need to do to get your athlete (almost invariably a child) competing when you want them to.

Seriously. How can this example be touted at a premier BG coaching event as a standard for overcoming ‘adversity’? It belongs in a talk on “Horrors of The Past We Must Never Repeat”.  All the worse because this EXACT culture is alive and well in British Gymnastics gyms and it is a culture that comes down from the TOP. By the way, this attitude was not at all shocking to me, nor will it be to many of you. I have many stories I could tell you (and HAVE told to BG) of such practice. It is commonplace in many gyms to have children training and competing on injuries, including fractures, either because they are directly forced by their coach or because the child is too frightened to say they are in pain.

Finally, back to Jane Allen’s response. Wishy-washy statements about “inadequate practices” simply won’t cut it. British Gymnastics, and its leadership, has for years knowingly sustained a culture that they believe is vital to their success, but that results in untold, often life-long, physical and emotional damage to children and young adults. British Gymnastics needs to be very clear about exactly which practices and which cases they now feel they dealt with inadequately. They need to openly and cleanly part ways with the “Culture of Fear” which they have repeatedly denied exists, not least because in doing so, they are in effect, gaslighting thousands of former and current gymnasts who have suffered, and continue to suffer.

In the years I have spent trying to ensure that no more children suffer as mine did, I feel I have learned to understand British Gymnastics and its leadership. Its decisions, its statements, its actions only make sense when you understand that it will do anything to sustain itself as an organization. It has no real interest in the gymnasts it purports to represent (at any level) other than them being the means to sustain itself. Please, please do what you can to seize this moment, it really is time for change.

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