Swim England to ban weighing of children

Swim England is to prohibition the weighing of children astatine its clubs aft swimmers spoke retired astir suffering eating disorders and intelligence wellness issues.

The governing assemblage said the caller argumentation would tackle "disordered eating, anxiousness and depression".

Several swimmers person told the BBC they were harmed by weighing regimes and body-obsessed coaches.

Commonwealth Youth Games golden medallist Phoebe Lenderyou said she had suffered bulimia for 5 years aft being repeatedly weight-shamed arsenic a young athlete.

Swim England introduced guidelines astir weighing successful November 2021 but announced connected Wednesday it would go argumentation that "all affiliated clubs and coaches indispensable comply with".

The organisation's main enforcement Jane Nickerson has apologised to swimmers who had suffered and vowed to alteration a bullying civilization successful the sport.

Patten said determination had been "too galore instances successful the past of unacceptable behaviour astir weighing athletes and this argumentation sets retired the parameters to forestall that inappropriate behaviour happening successful the future".

"Performance is simply a cardinal portion of an athlete's improvement but we besides request to prioritise their intelligence wellness and wellbeing," she added.

"This argumentation besides ensures determination is the acquisition and enactment successful spot to assistance trim the risks of athletes perchance processing an eating disorder/disordered eating, oregon different intelligence wellness concerns."

Patten, who won a bronze medal successful unfastened h2o swimming astatine the 2008 Beijing Olympics, has been appointed to Swim England's caller oversight committee which volition assistance to negociate safeguarding and payment crossed the sport.

The argumentation states those connected the "talent pathway" - athletes who are identified arsenic having Olympic, Paralympic and Commonwealth imaginable - tin beryllium weighed but this should "only beryllium undertaken with intelligibly documented reasoning, circumstantial to that athlete, and with the athlete's optimal semipermanent improvement successful mind".

Athletes aged implicit 18 tin besides beryllium weighed utilizing the criteria.

The argumentation has been produced successful consultation with British Swimming, Scottish Swimming and Swim Wales.

The argumentation states: "We recognise that successful immoderate situations, wherever the due policies and procedures are successful place, weighing athletes tin beryllium a utile instrumentality to lend to tracking changes successful health, growth, aiding show and progression.

"However, the request for this argumentation is to forestall imaginable areas of interest owed to immoderate of the related intelligence distress which whitethorn travel from weighing athletes, specified arsenic disordered eating, anxiousness and depression."

Swim England precocious published its Heart of Aquatics plan, successful which it sets retired its purpose to enactment safeguarding and payment astatine the bosom of the athletics pursuing respective swimmers coming guardant to accidental they had been harmed.

If you person been affected by the issues raised successful this article, assistance and enactment is disposable via BBC Action Line.