British Olympic gymnast Ellie Downie left angry after complaint over weight-shaming was dismissed following allegations she was told to lose 6kg and send pictures in her underwear
British Olympic gymnast Ellie Downie has revealed her dismay after seeing a complaint she made about weight-shaming dismissed.
Downie had alleged that when she was 14 she was told by a nutritionist to lose 6kg in two weeks, provide food diaries and send daily pictures of her in her underwear.
The nutritionist, who is employed by the English Institute of Sport , was suspended while the allegations were investigated. But that has now been lifted after Downie's complaint was not upheld.
Gymnast Ellie Downie was left angry after seeing a complaint about weight-shaming dismissed
Downie, who won a bronze medal at last year's World Championships and is set to be in Team GB's squad at the Tokyo Olympics and, said the outcome highlighted why she had not come forward earlier.
In a Twitter post on Tuesday night, she wrote: 'Sometimes you may need nutritional help to improve your performance, but that's not what this was! And it CAN'T continue. But honestly this is why we haven't spoken before.'
The EIS said in a statement: 'All relevant individuals were interviewed by a senior EIS member of staff and the subsequent report was submitted for a full review to an external independent investigator, who has experience of investigations within high performance sport.
'The conclusion from this process is that the complaint was not upheld.'
Downie alleged that when she was 14 she was told by a nutritionist to lose 6kg in two weeks
Downie's Rio 2016 team-mate Amy Tinkler also saw the complaint she made against British Gymnastics dismissed last month, raising concerns that such outcomes may put other gymnasts off coming forward.
Becky Downie, who competes for Team GB with her younger sister Ellie, tweeted: ‘Will always support you sister. People need to remember this was NEVER a sport where you had to make weights to compete!
‘This was driven by coach obsessions trying to keep gymnasts the size of a prepubescent child. It’s extremely damaging and unrealistic.‘