"The League Protects Itself - Doesn't Make Anything of the Problems Existing"

In September, a trainer was reported in Solna figure skating for mental abuse and weight, something Dagens Nyheter was first to report on. The coach was convicted but appealed and released by the Riksidrottsnämnden, RIN, on Monday.

In the report, 14 former elite athletes, all of whom have had the coach, testified about how they were treated.

In connection with this, the Swedish Figure Skating Association appointed an external study of the training climate and in an interview in Expressen Katarina Henriksson, the chairman of the Swedish Figure Skating Association for eight years, said that "the association does not always hear what is going on" in the country's figure skating associations.

But that is not true. The union has a good track of what is happening, especially in associations that have coaches who are linked to the best riders in youth teams and national teams.

SVT Sport has received e-mails and sms sent from parents and people who have worked in figure skating to the Swedish figure skating association for over ten years. On at least 15 occasions, the Swedish Figure Skating Association has found out about specific maladministration in sports, such as how the riders weighted, were scolded and offended when they failed in competition or training.

In some cases, the people who alerted received no response at all from the union, in other cases it took a year before they received an email response back.

One person who contacted the union and talked about how coaches used abusive behavior towards riders is Ingela Strid.

She was previously chairman of the Gothenburg Figure Skating Association for ten years. The first time she heard about the union was in 2012. Then she told of a coach who was watching a young rider who had left the coach.

In 2016, after quitting as chairman, she emailed the union again and appealed for an inquiry about the coach to which she received further complaints.

"During my years as chairman of GKF, and even a few years before that, I have noticed many times things about XXX that are unacceptable in children's and youth sports," she began the email.

Struggle needed support from the union to find out how she would act.

- I wanted to know how I, as a fellow human being, would do when I heard such stories, says Strid about the e-mail she sent.

It took almost a year for Strid to respond to his email. In the e-mail, the union told how they developed the work to counter abusive conditions and ended by writing: "So the issue is always up to date, but if no notifications come in, it is difficult to act forcefully when overtrap occurs."

Ingela Strid was active in figure skating for over 30 years. She has been in contact with many children and young people for a long time.

- I have met both skiers at national team level and further down who have gone bad. I have heard coaches talk to riders in a way that is not okay, ”she says.

The 15 e-mails and sms that have been sent over twelve years and which SVT Sport has taken part in, apply to almost all three specific coaches.

SVT Sport has been in contact with about ten people in figure skating who testify to the same thing. The union protects its elite coaches and does not take alarms about misconduct seriously, says those who tried to get the union to pay attention to what happened.

Katarina Henriksson has been chairman of the Swedish Figure Skating Association for twelve years. Prior to that, she was vice-chair and has been a member of the elite committee that oversees the elite activities in the sport. Henriksson does not agree that the union "sweeps problems under the carpet". She thinks it is sad that associations that alerted about maladministration have not received an answer to their concerns.

- Here we have seen that there have been shortcomings. We heard afterwards that "I sent an e-mail but got no reply". And it is very sad when that problem arises and we feel that we must take action, says Katarina Henriksson.

In 2008, a mother belonged to the union and told about a trainer in Solna figure skating who used an abusive training style against her then 13-year-old daughter, according to information to SVT Sport. The coach, among other things, would have mocked her before the group and had an abusive, depressing and controlling coach style.

SVT Sports' review shows that on at least six other occasions between 2011 and 2019, the union has become aware of the coach's behavior towards young people.

The coach it is about is the Solna coach who was convicted of mental ill-treatment and weight in March but who was released by the Swedish Sports Commission on Monday. According to Henriksson, the union has known that there have been problems with the coach, but she does not think that the problem should be solved by, for example, withdrawing an elite license.

If those who are alarmed feel that they are not receiving support from the union, she says:

- Sometimes an e-mail comes and then you make contact and then it says word for word and then you have to try to find out about those questions, it is very difficult, says Katarina Henriksson.

Ingela Strid in Gothenburg thinks in retrospect that she herself, as chairperson of the district, could have done more for the children and young people who suffered badly in the sport. Although they did not receive any support from the union centrally.

- In some way we should have just stood up and screamed "this can't be so".

- I can only say that I am ashamed today that I did not. But I was like everyone else in the middle of the soup then. This is a small world, it's not that the person who stands up and screams gets a thump on the shoulder of 100 percent, I can say that.

However, Ingela Strid was not the first to alert about misunderstandings to the union.

- I think the Swedish Figure Skating Association would rather protect themselves and then you do not make a big deal of the problems that exist, says Strid.

SVT Sport has sought the Solna coach.