STAN Wild became a household name for his gymnastics career in the 60s and 70s.
He represented the country at two Olympic Games before his career came crashing down.
Stan Wild was a gymnast who competed in multiple national and world competitions.
He was born on February 19, 1944.
Wild represented Great Britain at the Olympics twice in his career, before he went to set up his own gymnastics club in his home town of York.
He also represented his country at four world championships and three European Championships.
He founded the York City Gymnastics Club in 1974 as an after-school club, before parents fund-raised to build a gym in Heworth, with the club later becoming the York City Gymnastics Foundation.
It’s been reported that more than 20,000 children attended classes at the club over the years.
Wild was barred from coaching after police investigated allegations made against him.
He was barred from membership by the national governing body for gymnastics in the UK, following a hearing by a disciplinary panel and a five year suspension.
This meant that he is not able to work with children and young people within a British Gymnastics recognised environment.
He was barred on December 10, 2020.
A new documentary explores the allegations made against Wild – with one former gymnastics student talking about the sexual abuse when she was seven-years-old.
Nikki O’Donnell said: “He wrecked my life emotionally, mentally… He touched me in places no little girl should be touched.”
She added: “Nikki claims the abuse began after she started puberty.
“I noticed the places where he was putting his hands wasn’t normal.
“It would start off with a smack on the bum, as if to say, ‘Well done, you’ve done a good job,’ but then a smack on the bum would turn into a caress of the bum, and he’d have his hand there. And he’d hold it there and he’d be massaging my buttocks.
“I started thinking, this is a bit weird, my mum doesn’t do this to me.”
ITV documentary Gymnastics: A Culture of Abuse? looks into the fight for justice by British former gymnasts who allege they were physically, emotionally or sexually abused as children by their coaches.
It comes after a damning report called the Whyte Review, published in 2022, laid bare a systemic culture of physical and emotional abuse in British Gymnastics.
It’s not known what Wild is up to now.
It seems he is living a private life since being banned from coaching gymnastics.
Wild denied the allegations and no prosecution was brought due to insufficient evidence of a sexual act.
