Woman underwaterImage source, Getty Images
Image caption, A parent of a swimmer who alleged bullying said their ordeal had been "denied, buried and airbrushed"

The sport of swimming was thrown into turmoil due to the closing of an elite club. Swim England is facing questions about the protection of its young members as swimmers say lessons have not been learnt.

There were 14 golds, 10 silvers and eight bronze medals that came back from the Short Course Regionals.

It was the first competition of the season for the young swimmers at the academy and they traveled toNottingham to compete.

Most of the swimmers that train at the rural school are affiliated to the City of Leicester Swimming Club, which is more than 100 miles away.

The school-run academy has sprung up in place of the school that was forced to shut down due to allegations of emotional abuse.

The national governing body of swimming decided not to affiliates any club that was held at the college in the future. The academy was set up by college bosses and more than 30 of its 45 young members were affiliated to City ofLeicester.

No club would be based at the independent school, but swimmers could still compete for a club in a different part of the country, even if it was not based at the independent school.

The sanction of no affiliation had been "circumvented" and no lessons had been learned, according to some of the people who came forward to say they had been bullied.

Woman at the edge of a swimming pool - stock photoImage source, Getty Images
Image caption, Former Titans members previously told the BBC they had stopped participating in the sport they loved

Danny Proffitt is one of the two coaches who were temporarily suspended as a result of the bullied investigation.

The woman said it felt like a slap in the face because nothing had happened.

Everyone who came forward had to dig up their trauma for something to happen.

It is deflating, there have been no shocks.

The parent of a former swimmer said that their experiences had been "denied, buried and airbrushed" by the college.

The children have never had an apology, despite years of waiting for adults to do the right thing.

Second-placed Alan Bircher, of the 5km Men's Open Waters event of the European Swimming Championships, held on Thursday 13 May 2004, at a reservoir near MadridImage source, EPA/ANGEL DIAZ
Image caption, Alan Bircher, pictured in his competing days, helped to run Ellesmere College Titans

The director of swimming at the time, Alan Bircher, a 10-time British champion and world championship silver medallist, was suspended along with Mr Proffitt.

The nature of the allegations was not made public. Three ex-Titans swimmers told the BBC that they had faced public weighing regimes that left more than one with an eating disorder, were made to swim despite injuries and illnesses, and had a lot of inappropriate comments made to them during training.

The allegations against Mr Proffitt and Mr Bircher have never been made public.

It sparked a debate on social media in which people disagreed on whether emotional abuse of children is acceptable in any sport, school or workplace.

Freya Anderson at a swimming event in 2021Image source, Getty Images
Image caption, Several Titans swimmers, including Olympic gold medallist Freya Anderson, have successful careers

Swim England, which has more than 100,000 members under the age of 18, is facing a number of questions over its attitude to protecting children.

Many coaches are leaving the sport with claims of a growing toxicity in which they feel supported as they try to navigate the challenges of training children.

An independent review is being conducted by Sport England into how it dealt with complaints in the wake of the investigation into the City of Oxford Swimming Club.

The organisation has come under fire from its recently-departed child safeguarding expert, who left after filing a highly-critical report, which described a chaotic picture at the organisation.

The former Metropolitan Police officer said it had failed to tackle a number of issues including the taking of indecent pictures of children in changing rooms.

Swimmer in a poolImage source, Getty Images
Image caption, More than 100,000 members of Swim England are under 18

Mr Oddy, who presided over hundreds of safeguarding cases during his tenure, said that Swim England had been slow to conduct its own analysis into the allegations of mistreatment in gymnastics.

He accused senior management of interfering in cases and said the workload in the safeguarding team had become too much after they were out of work.

He said that the governing body failed to put child protection at the center of decision making.

The report concluded that the protection of children will be put at risk.

Mr Oddy didn't hear from the board after he issued his report.

The entrance to Ellesmere CollegeImage source, Google
Image caption, Ellesmere College gives out scholarships to young swimmers from across the country

The parents of currentsmere swimmers welcomed the investigation.

The Oxford club had five coaches quit in a row with management in 2021.

The committee had begun investigating complaints made by swimmers, but coaches said they were being bullied by the people in charge.

Swim England didn't give the committee any support, according to the club's chairman.

She said that they never got help.

Kevin Suckling, a former police detective, was appointed as the new head of safeguarding by Swim England.

Investigative journalist Mark Williams-Thomas, who helped to expose Jimmy Savile in an ITV documentary, is thought to be one of the investigators the organisation will use.

Mark Williams ThomasImage source, ITV
Image caption, Mr Williams-Thomas was also recently appointed as newspaper group Newsquest's investigations editor

"We have made significant improvements to our staffing structure and expertise of the team - including the appointment of a full-time head of safeguarding and welfare as well as establishing two further positions within the department."

Under our new structure, we have a bank of experienced and highly qualified independent child protection officers who we use to give us more capacity in this area.

Changes have been made with the safety of our members in mind.

An in-depth piece of work is in progress to assess the approach against the outcomes of the Whyte Review.

Swim England said it would always try to ensure that their coaches' voices are heard but that it would hold their coaches accountable to the highest standards of safe and effective practice.

We are constantly looking for ways to ensure that aquatics coaching is rewarding, because we understand that people will move in and out of the profession.

The governing body said that all swimming clubs were free to accept new members regardless of where they were located. It is believed that the college denied any wrongdoing.

A review of Swim England is underway.

Concerns have been raised about how complaints were handled at a few swimming clubs.

If a complaint is raised, they should be taken very seriously.

We have no regulatory powers in sport, but we can look into the matter.

You can follow the radio station on social media. You can email your story ideas to newsonline.westmidlands@bbc.co.uk.

The BBC is not responsible for the content of external sites.
  • Oxford
  • Ellesmere
  • Long Reads