The report, "", is the first study to examine what happens to women survivors of coaching abuse after their sporting careers end.
Published by 四虎影院 University, Kyniska Advocacy, and Leeds Beckett University, the study draws on in-depth, trauma-informed interviews with eleven former elite female athletes across six sports.
The research documents six overlapping forms of maltreatment: emotional abuse, manipulation, ethical maltreatment, physical harm, discrimination, and sexual abuse – demonstrating that lasting harm does not remain within the boundary of sport.
Authors are now calling for national governing bodies, policymakers, and performance sport organisations to take urgent action as Leanne Norman, Professor of Women in Sport, 四虎影院 University, explains:
"This research shows that the effects of coaching maltreatment do not end when an athlete leaves sport. For many of the women in this study, the impacts continued for years and, in some cases, decades, affecting their mental health, relationships, sense of self, and trust in others. What is particularly striking is that many only fully recognised the harm they had experienced once they had retired and gained distance from the high-performance environment.
“The findings challenge us to think beyond individual incidents and individual coaches. They point to the importance of examining the gendered cultures, structures, and power dynamics that allow harmful practices to become normalised. Safeguarding cannot begin and end with incident management. If sport is serious about athlete welfare, it must place prevention, accountability, and long-term support at the centre of its approach."
Findings showed that the abuse experienced by athletes reshapes every aspect of survivors' lives, for years, sometimes decades, after they leave. Participants also experienced Complex PTSD, chronic anxiety, depression, and eating disorders, symptoms that often went unrecognised for years and were triggered only by life transitions such as parenthood or career change.
“I went from being mentally healthy to ill. The coach’s constant berating made me develop an eating disorder. The whole ordeal was emotionally and physically draining.” Athlete testimony
“Letting my guard down is a real challenge; I assume everyone is out to hurt me." Athlete testimony
“When I reported my coach to the NGB, they told me they’ve known about him being a problem since the ‘80s.” Athlete testimony
Researchers also found that relationships were profoundly fractured, including how deliberate isolation engineered by abusive coaches did not end when the coaching relationship ceased, but impacted on survivors' ability to trust in professional, social, and intimate contexts for years afterwards.
Many participants described a complete estrangement from sport. Several said they would actively discourage their own children from pursuing elite sport. And every financial cost of recovery (legal fees, private healthcare, lost sponsorship) was borne entirely by the athletes, not by the institutions responsible for their welfare.
Kate Seary, Co-founder and Chief Policy Officer, Kyniska Advocacy, said: “We already knew the harm was happening. What this research shows, and what has been invisible until now, is what it costs women for the rest of their lives. The sport system causes this harm, and the sport system must pay to fix it.
“This research shifts the conversation from incident response to systemic accountability. The long-term impacts documented here are not incidental, they are the result of structures that have consistently prioritised performance and reputation over the safety of women athletes.”
Chloe Woodhead, Research Assistant in Sport and Exercise Psychology at Leeds Beckett University, said: "I was incredibly honoured to be invited onto this project by Professor Leanne Norman to support the analysis and reporting of these athletes’ experiences of coach maltreatment and its long-term impact. This research not only amplifies women’s voices but also underscores the profound and lasting effects of these traumatic and stressful experiences.
“By using composite narrative vignettes, we were able to present these stories in a vivid and accessible way, without compromising the anonymity of those who shared them. I hope that this work, alongside Kyniska’s advocacy on maltreatment towards women in sport, sparks important conversations and encourages further exploration in this area.”
The report also exposes the structural conditions that enable maltreatment to occur and persist: male-dominated governance at every level, self-policing institutions with no independent oversight, peer cultures engineered to silence disclosure, and a performance ideology that normalises harm as a pathway to excellence.
As part of the study, the research team outlined seven recommendations. These include:
- Extend sporting organisations’ duty of care beyond the point of retirement
- Embed gender-informed safeguarding across all policies, training, and leadership
- Restructure talent and performance systems to reward ethical, athlete-centred coaching
- Centre survivor voice, through trauma-informed advisory panels, as a core principle of safeguarding reform
- Establish a dedicated, independently administered survivor support fund
- Fund specialist, long-term trauma-informed services for former female athletes
- Prioritise prevention: ring-fenced safeguarding funding, RSE in schools, extended ‘positions of trust’ legislation to age 25
To read the full report, visit: