Expert Insight: Sport needs a cultural shift to ensure athlete safety

There has been a recent outpouring of calls to make sport safer. Athletes are writing testimonials and letters across many sports over allegations of abuse, maltreatment and harm. The most recent development comes from the gymnastics world where 70 former gymnasts penned a letter to Sport Canada calling for an end to the toxic culture in that sport. While gymnastics has been in the news for years, these recent developments seemed to strike a chord across Canadian sport. The calls for making sport a safer, more inclusive and welcoming space are not new, but they seem to be getting louder with too little action being taken by the sport system. As a sports scholar, I find myself in an interesting position. My early foray into research drew upon my love of gymnastics.