‘Istayed only a short while in the little garden above what was once the basement of horror, but it was long enough to get what I went to collect. Together, we – me and the part of me that had been left down in that basement for so long – drove to the beach and, at last, with deep and heavy sobs that only very recently have begun to properly come out, I flung each and every gymnastics medal I had ever won, one by one, into the sea. I didn’t ever want to see them again. I never looked at them anyway. They were beyond tarnished. I needed no extra reminders of that chapter of my life.”
It has taken Emma Webb (not her real name) 40 years to speak publicly about the abuse that she alleges has crippled most of her 52 years. She claims the abuse started not long after she had started at primary school, and went on until she was 12 when she managed to escape the clutches of her alleged abusers. She says her experience has led to years of battling complex post-traumatic stress disorder, and thousands of pounds spent on therapy. Webb has connected with others who allege they were abused by the same man. She says they lean on each other and are in contact with others who identify as victims of abuse within gymnastics from around the world. Webb is ready to talk, but she also isn’t. She skirts and dances around the details of the abuses she says she suffered. She swings close, then veers away.
It was the same when she shared her experience with the police, who were brought in after she gave her account of the alleged abuse to an art therapist she was working with and then with her consultant and therapy team, in 1993. By that time she was 22 and in an eating disorder unit in London. Initially, she could muster little more than head shakes and nods to a barrage of questions before the full extent of what she alleges to have happened to her was laid bare.
In our interview, she struggles to not disassociate as she has so many times over the past 40 years. She says she has not been able to move on, to truly escape; that everywhere there are triggers that take her back to a warehouse basement in Poole. “Being triggered for me can just be driving down Ashley Road, hearing the word gymnastics, Olympics, hearing the word Olga, it can be a smell of a sports centre,” she says. “I can’t even look at a bar of Dairy Milk chocolate. Because that’s what was given to me. That’s how I was rewarded. Just seeing the purple wrapper on a Cadbury’s bar … can you imagine how hard life is sometimes?”
Webb has taken the decision to put her story out there now, after all these years, because engaging with the Sport England and UK Sport co-commissioned Whyte review into allegations of abuse in gymnastics last year left her frustrated and, she says, retraumatised. When she first heard of the review she says she was filled with relief that finally something was being done. Webb submitted details of her experience, but the timeframe fell outside its 2008-2020 scope. Nevertheless, the review asked British Gymnastics to look into the contents of her submission. Webb’s experience of British Gymnastics, who she says took months to address her concerns after she was told by the British Athletes Commission that it had been made aware of them, has been of an organisation swamped by the volume of allegations and investigations necessary, one which she says did not initially take her seriously and which she has no confidence can support those who report allegations of sexual abuse.
She felt the publication of the Whyte review itself did, however, validate her experiences. While most complaints focused on physical and emotional mistreatment, there were 30 sexual abuse allegations included in the review. “Nothing in the report surprised me, everything I read of, I knew. What is sad is that I thought that was normal, all of my childhood was that.”
Webb, who is working on a book about the abuses that she alleges she and others suffered, was born in 1970. Four years before her birth, her alleged abuser, Brian Phelps, was cleared by magistrates in Blaydon, near Gateshead, of exposure. The former Olympic diver, who won bronze at the 1960 Rome Games and gold at the Commonwealth Games in 1962 and 1966, was 22 and was alleged to have stood at the top of a staircase and exposed himself to a 14-year-old girl and her friends at Dunston leisure centre. Phelps was married to the British gymnast Monica Rutherford. His defence counsel argued that “the result [of the case] could have a deadly effect on a man who has dedicated his life to diving. It will not affect his marriage, but it will affect his career.”
Phelps and his wife moved to Dorset and founded the Olga Gymnastics and Trampolining Club, first in Lagland Street in Poole, then a new site on Ashley Road.
“In this warehouse there was a basement dressed up to host parties and things, but it was where all the worst abuse took place,” says Webb. “It was a horrific basement. The stone walls were painted white, it always had a really distinctive smell. They called the basement Happyland, which was painted in arched red writing on the white wall, Disneyland style, in a kiddie-friendly font, with Disney, cartoon and TV characters all around – characters from Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs.” Webb says she still grapples with that imagery and what it meant to her. “Disney and kids’ TV characters including Wonder Woman adorned the walls of the party basement where I felt powerless to fight. I used to just stare and count them, then sometimes name them – Snow White, the Dwarfs, the birds … I would escape into their fantasy with them and wait for my nightmare to be over.” Both Brian and Monica Phelps vehemently deny the allegations. In a statement, Monica Phelps said: “There is no foundation whatsoever on the personal accusations stated.”
Webb adds: “The molesting started very, very, very early on with Phelps. In the pit after the vault. They’d built this huge foam pit and things happened in there. Being put on to the bars, the isometric bars, and during the trampolining sessions, that was all him. I don’t ever remember feeling molested or anything by Monica, but she was obsessed with female bodies and the dynamics between the two of them were always deeply disturbing. His favourites were not hers and vice versa.
“The weighing too, that was very frequent. And I didn’t like it. There was nothing of me, I was very tiny, and the weighing was a constant.
“So, my earliest memories are of not liking it. I remember hurting a lot physically. And bizarrely, it sounds quite crazy but as a kid you don’t know any different, I felt compelled to do better all the time because I thought then it would not be so bad. I don’t know why I thought that, but I did. So, I got as good as I could and I was going at least three times a week.”
She says the better she got, the harder it was to leave. “By the time I got to the elite squad, there was no chance of me leaving,” she says. “I hadn’t worked out that that was how it was playing out. The better I got, the more my parents liked it. My parents were fiercely competitive. My father was very successful, he was a misogynistic human, who got on very well with Brian Phelps, and my mother was kind of vicariously living through me. Obviously, this is with hindsight, but home was not a happy place for me. And it was certainly not a place where I ever could just go: ‘Something feels wrong here.’”
Instead, she says that when she asked to leave, she would be called ungrateful and accused of wasting the time and money that had been put into her gymnastics. “But I never told them exactly why, I just said I didn’t like it. I never went into details. Because I wasn’t allowed to talk about it. But by the time I was 12 things were just beyond horrific.”
By that stage, as part of the elite squad, there were regular one-to-one sessions and she claims that the abuse, which included rape, was “very, very often”. She adds: “You feel really stupid, because I look back now and think: ‘How did I not know that that was wrong?’ I knew the sexual part was wrong. And when I finally started my period when I was 12 I thought: ‘Oh my god, I’m going to get pregnant. What do I do?’ Then I just refused to go back. I point blank refused. My parents were furious. ‘We’ve invested all this money, you’re so good. You’re throwing everything away, you’re throwing your life away, blah, blah,’ but I wasn’t, I was saving my life.
“I was told repeatedly I’d never be able to have children. After I was in hospital recently, to have an emergency hysterectomy, seven hours of surgery through the night, the doctor asked me about my MRI: ‘Have you ever had a lot of trauma? What we can’t understand is how on earth you managed to conceive a pregnancy, hold on to it and deliver a child – it is absolutely unbelievable.’”
Brian Phelps told the Guardian that he had visited the basement only once, before it was opened as a party venue, and questioned why Webb and others had not come forward in 2008 when a child protection team sought out “lots of children who were closely associated with me though sport, looking for victims who had ‘slipped through the net’ with zero response”. The statement insisted that Monica Phelps did not weigh any of the gymnasts while at Ashley Road.
At 22, 10 years after she had left Olga, Webb says her experience of alleged abuse came pouring out to her art therapist. She had been anorexic for much of that decade, which led to her being admitted to the eating disorder unit. She says: “Still now I struggle, when I’m really badly triggered. And it is not about weight control or anything else, this is more about oral trauma, and not physically being able to put food, solid food, anywhere near me. I don’t think that will ever go.” She says that after she had shared her experience about her time at Olga, a police liaison was brought in and she was encouraged to press charges. “My immediate response was: ‘No, I don’t want to. I can’t face him. I never want to see him again. Either of them. I can’t face going through it.’ They couldn’t have me getting any thinner. So they respected my wishes.”
In 2008, Phelps was arrested and charged with abusing three girls from the mid-1970s, with the first victim having come forward in 2003. He pleaded guilty to 11 counts of indecent assault and eight charges of indecency against one of the girls from when she was six until she was 15, admitted to 10 charges of indecent assault and eight charges of indecency against a second girl when she was aged between six and 14 and pleaded guilty to four charges of indecent assault and one of indecency against another when she was aged between nine and 12. Phelps denied, in court, four rape charges and one attempted rape, denials which were accepted by Bournemouth crown court. The Bournemouth Daily Echo reported that he told police he was “a high calibre sportsman” and “an awesome character” and disclosed that he had struggled with the pressure involved in his early success. Phelps reportedly described himself as “a bit of a sex addict”.
The defence barrister Iain Ross said: “He regards this period of his life as very shameful. For 20 years or so after these events, he worked blamelessly.”
According to the report Phelps also told detectives: “The girls never said ‘no’ or ‘stop’.” He was sentenced to nine years, of which he served six.
In his statement to the Guardian, Phelps added: “I pleaded guilty to all but two of the charges and my plea was accepted. Because of the nature of my crimes I remain a target to be shamed for the rest of my life by anyone who chooses to do so.”
During the case, BBC South found that the council had received a complaint alleging child abuse in 1999 which was investigated but the council deemed there to be insufficient evidence. Webb says she had raised her alleged abuse with the police and council in 1993 after she had disclosed it to her art therapist, even if she didn’t pursue a criminal case.
The borough of Poole became independent of Dorset county council in 1997 before combining with Bournemouth and Christchurch in 2019. A Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole council spokesperson said: “We absolutely recognise that these crimes and allegations continue to have resonance many years later.
“Borough of Poole ceased to exist in 2019 and we are unable to comment further on any historic statements issued by them.”
Webb says: “In 2008, when the news broke, I was utterly horrified. I threw up. I said to my friend: ‘Oh my god, no. He’s done it to others.’ But I’m also not quite sure what else I could have done. I didn’t hold back how horrific it was in 1993. I didn’t hold back on where it was in the building. I didn’t hold back what had been happening there. So, I think I gave them enough to do their job [then], but they chose not to, because children aren’t credible witnesses. That is very destructive, and it is why people stay silent.”
The Metropolitan police said it was unable to respond to the specific alleged case. However, in a statement, the force said: “We take all reports of abuse, recent or non-recent, extremely seriously. Specially trained officers will support victim-survivors and we will work to seek justice for them wherever possible. Action is being taken to rebuild trust in the Met so that victims are confident to report to us.”
Olga gym continues to operate under new management with no links to Brian or Monica Phelps. There is no suggestion of any safeguarding issues at the gym affiliated to British Gymnastics and run by Everyone Active in a council-owned building.
Webb complained to British Gymnastics and the council last year to express her disappointment about the continued use of the Olga name given the actual and alleged abuse at the gym in the past, saying she felt traumatised as “Olga is expanding and building new satellite Olgas around me”. Her request has now been acted upon.
A statement from British Gymnastics said: “We are truly sorry for all abuse that has taken place in our sport, and continue to say this publicly and privately. This case concerns allegations of historic abuse, and an individual who was convicted and imprisoned for related historical offences.
“Through the expanded and highly qualified safeguarding team British Gymnastics now has in place, we have and continue to provide extensive, direct support to the individual gymnast in this case, including working closely with the leisure operator to facilitate the name change of the club. This support has taken the form of a significant number of hours of dedicated one-to-one support through online sessions, phone calls, an in-person visit, emails and messages over several months.
“Our Reform ‘25 action plan published last year clearly sets out how we have learned from the past, together with the major changes we are implementing over the next two years to transform gymnastics now and, in the future – including development of restorative support.”
In a joint statement, BCP Council and Everyone Active said: “Olga Poole has a long legacy, but also a history which continues to have an adverse resonance for some of its former members many years later.
“We have liaised closely with British Gymnastics to facilitate the club’s name change to Poole Gymnastics & Trampolining Club. We are working closely with everyone involved to make the transition as smooth as possible.”
Gymnasts for Change, a campaign group set up to support athlete welfare in the wake of allegations of mistreatment, backs Webb’s view that British Gymnastics has more work to do. “Gymnasts for Change believe testimonies are important and will give other current and former gymnasts the confidence to come forward in reporting their own experiences of abuse. Without testimonies the sport can not reform.
“Even now, post Whyte review, Gymnasts for Change believe British Gymnastics has not yet meaningfully engaged to transform the coaching cultures and have, on occasions, continued to dismiss critical testimonies from gymnasts.
“Labelling abuse as ‘historic’ and therefore not relevant to current cultural safeguarding concerns within the sport, means British Gymnastics is failing to learn from its past mistakes despite the damning Whyte review. This does not give current or recent complainants of physical, emotional or sexual abuse in gymnastics the confidence they need to come forward and report.
“A mandatory reporting law is urgently required to overcome people’s hesitancy to report the ‘recognised indicators of abuse’ that they observe.”
Webb, who says she has had to fund all her therapy, says she knows of others who have been destroyed by the alleged abuse at the Phelps-run Olga and in other gyms around the world. “My abuse is repeatedly described as historic but the ongoing trauma isn’t historic,” she says.
“I have been severely damaged, but a tiny little flame never got extinguished. There was a bit in me that held on to a healthy defiance. A bit that keeps me going, that mostly holds hope, hope that British Gymnastics will be held to account for all of their failings, both historic and current, and help gymnasts so damaged under their watch come to terms with the abuses they have endured.”
• The NSPCC offers support to children on 0800 1111, and adults concerned about a child on 0808 800 5000. The National Association for People Abused in Childhood (Napac) offers support for adult survivors on 0808 801 0331.
