My gymnastics coach Stan Wild held sinister sleepovers with girls in his basement… his creepy games left me broken
THE sound of clapping and cheering rang out as former Olympian Stan Wild proudly carried the Olympic torch through the streets of York ahead of London 2012.
The local celebrity had represented his country twice at the Olympics before setting up his highly successful children’s gymnastics club in the city.
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Hundreds of past and present members gathered to watch him – but for one of Wild’s former students, the jubilant scenes saw her break down.
In a shocking new ITV documentary – Gymnastics: A Culture of Abuse?, airing tonight – Nikki O’Donnell, now 28, claims Stan, 79, sexually abused her as a child.
She claims he kissed and groped her, and even converted the basement of his gym into rooms with bunk beds, where young gymnasts would stay before competition weekends – and he would patrol at night.
Despite other allegations being made against him – which the former coach has consistently denied – no charges were ever brought against Wild, who was expelled from the club. British Gymnasticsthe national governing body for gymnastics in the United Kingdom, in 2020.
Thinking back to that day in 2012, Nikki says in the documentary: “I came home from counseling. The bus stopped.
“I could hear the clapping and cheering so naturally that you look and think, ‘What’s going on?’
“And it was Stan running down the street with the Olympic torch. And I absolutely broke down.
“The fact that people consider him a hero and this great Olympian… you don’t know the real Stan.”
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She adds: “He destroyed my life emotionally and mentally… He touched me in places no little girl should be touched.”
The one-off film chronicles the fight for justice by British former gymnasts who claim they were physically, emotionally or sexually abused by their coaches as children.
It comes after a damning report called the Whyte Review, published in 2022, exposed a systemic culture of physical and emotional abuse in British gymnastics.
Wild represented his country at four world championships and three European Championshipsas well as during the 1968 and 1972 Olympic Games.
He founded the York City Gymnastics Club in 1974 as a small after-school club, before the parents raised money to build a gym in Heworth, with the club later becoming the York City Gymnastics Foundation.
It is reported that over 20,000 children have taken lessons at the club over the years.
Nikki says she was around seven years old when she became interested in gymnastics and trained at the club up to four times a week.
He destroyed my life emotionally and mentally. He touched me in places where no little girl should be touched
Nikki O’Donnell
“It was probably the biggest and best in the whole of North Yorkshire,” she recalls.
Her mother Katrina O’Donnell, who also appears in the film, says of the head coach: “Stan was a local celebrity.”
Nikki claims the abuse started after she hit puberty.
“I noticed that the places where he put his hands were not normal,” she recalls.
“It started with a slap on the butt, as if to say, ‘Good job, you did a good job,’ but then a slap on the butt turned into a pat on the butt, and he would have his hand there. And he held it there and massaged my buttocks.
“I started thinking: this is a bit strange, my mother doesn’t do this to me.”
Sinister sleepovers
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Nikki claims that the older she got, the “braver” Wild became, adding, “As a little girl, I remember the thickness of his mustache tickling my skin. It really started to make me feel sick.”
She claims there are ‘dozens of bunk beds’ in the club’s converted basement, and Wild would stop and kiss the girls on the cheek when they stayed over.
Nikki says: “I stayed over a few times when there was a big match coming up.
I noticed that the places where he put his hands were not normal
Nikki O’Donnell
“All I remember is that Stan was the one who patrolled all night, keeping an eye on the girls, making sure they were sleeping in preparation for the game.
“There was one incident where I saw Stan. He stood next to the bed. He’s doing his rounds. There are three bunk beds and then it’s my turn.
“I could smell the stale breath on me and the hot air, and I made the excuse of reaching out and rolling to the other side, and that scared him and he kept going.
“After that I stopped going to sleepovers.”
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Nikki says she didn’t tell her mother at first for fear she would pull her out of the club.
But Nikki claims she was kicked out after she insisted on wearing shorts instead of a leotard.
She told her mother, who reported the alleged abuse to the police and British Gymnastics in 2008.
Wild denied the allegations and police told Nikki the evidence was not strong enough to charge him.
I could smell the stale breath on me and the hot air, and I made the excuse of reaching out and rolling to the other side, and that scared him and he kept going. After that, I stopped going to sleepovers
Nikki O’Donnell
However, the case was reopened eight years later after the parents of another young girl came forward.
The family, who prefer not to be identified, reported this gymnastics coach to police and British Gymnastics in January 2016 after their 10-year-old daughter claimed he tried to kiss her at the gym.
In the documentary the girl, known as Kirsty, says: “He kind of crawled over to me and pushed me back off the sofa onto a mat behind me and sat on top of me and pretended to kiss me.
“I could feel the bristles on the side of my face.”
Wild denied Nikki and Kirsty’s allegations, and again the Crown Prosecution Service decided not to prosecute.
‘I didn’t want to be here anymore’
Nikki, who is suing British Gymnastics, said: “I just knew I didn’t want to be here anymore and I had thoughts about suicide.”
She says she became an alcoholic and developed an eating disorder that caused her weight to drop to sixth.
But Nikki decided to waive her right to anonymity and share her story to raise awareness.
In the film she meets another of Wild’s alleged victims.
Jess says she felt “physically ill” after reading an interview with Nikki and decided to reach out to her on social media, telling her in a message: “It happened to me too.”
The couple embraces the documentary during an emotional meeting.
Jess tells Nikki in the film, “I just think you’re so brave. If you hadn’t come forward, if you hadn’t said something so publicly, I probably never would have come forward with it publicly.”
To pronounce
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Jess claims she was eight years old when she was abused by Wild, who lived on the same street as her with his young family.
She tells Nikki, “For me it was broad daylight, in the backyard. To be so bold, that level of arrogance that is untouchable, you know, back in the 70s.”
Jess says she went to play with Stan’s daughter that day, dressed in a tutu.
She recalls, “I remember Stan coming out and asking me if I had wet myself. And I remember feeling really embarrassed and thinking, ‘What? Of course not’.
“I felt like I was in trouble, almost because he looked strange.
“He squatted down and patted my vagina. His breathing was heavy. Now, as an adult, I know he was clearly excited by what he was doing.
For me it was broad daylight, in the backyard. To be so bold, that level of arrogance that is untouchable, you know, back in the ’70s
Jess, alleged victim
She says that as a child she didn’t know how to “word it” and “never wanted to think about it again.”
After hearing Nikki’s story, Jess decided to go to the police.
Wild denied the accusation and no charges were filed due to insufficient evidence of a sexual act.
Jess says: “If you think about it, from the 1970s onwards when he touched me, he ripped off a whole town, didn’t he? [But] I feel like if me doing this has helped just one person to know that it’s not them, it’s not your fault it’s him, then I’ve done something good.
“Something good will come from it. It wasn’t you, it was him.”
Nikki added: “I hope it encourages people to speak out.”
In a statement to the filmmakers, Stan Wild said: “Police have completed their investigation into the allegations against them and no charges have been laid in relation to them.
“Further, I deny all allegations as stated in your letter.”
In another statement, the current administrators of York City Gymnastics Foundation said their policies and procedures have been reviewed by appropriate authorities and are found to comply with best practice.
British Gymnastics says it is halfway through a comprehensive program of action to make gymnastics safe, positive and fair for all and gymnasts and clubs have said progress is being made.
It says the reforms are a joint effort involving experts and survivors of abuse, who have been a key part of developing a new safe sports policy. These are subject to independent supervision.
It says that abuse, mistreatment and harm have no place in gymnastics. She calls on anyone who is concerned to come forward.
Gymnastics: a culture of abuse? airs tonight at 9pm on ITV1 and ITVX.