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 resounded 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 going on to found his highly successful kids gymnastics club in the city.
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?, which airs tonight – Nikki O’Donnell, now 28, alleges that Stan, 79, sexually abused her as a child.
She claims he would kiss and grope her, and even converted the basement of his gym into rooms with bunk beds, where young gymnasts would stay ahead of competition weekends – and he would patrol at night.
Despite other allegations being made against him – all of which the former coach has consistently denied – no charges have ever been brought against Wild, who was expelled from British Gymnastics, the national governing body for gymnastics in the UK, in 2020.
Recalling that day in 2012, Nikki tells the documentary: “I was coming home from counselling. The bus stopped.
“I could hear the clapping and cheering so naturally you look, thinking, ‘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 look at him as a hero and this great Olympian…you don’t know the real Stan.”
She adds: “He wrecked my life emotionally, 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 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.
Wild represented his country at four world championships and three European Championships, as well in the 1968 and 1972 Olympic Games.
He founded the York City Gymnastics Club in 1974 as a small after-school club, before parents fund-raised to build a gym in Heworth, with the club later becoming the York City Gymnastics Foundation.
It has been reported more than 20,000 children attended classes at the club over the years.
Nikki says she was around seven years old when she became interested in gymnastics, training up to four times a week at the club.
He wrecked my life emotionally, mentally… He touched me in places no little girl should be touched
Nikki O'Donnell
“It was probably the biggest and best in all of North Yorkshire,” she recalls.
Her mum Katrina O’Donnell, who also features in the film, says of the head coach: “Stan was a local celebrity.”
Nikki claims the abuse began after she started puberty.
“I noticed the places where he was putting his hands wasn’t normal,” she recalls.
“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.”
Sinister sleepovers
Nikki claims the older she got, the “braver” Wild became, adding: “As a little girl I remember the thickness of his moustache prickling my skin. It started making me feel really ill.”
She claims there “dozens of bunk beds” in the club’s converted basement, and Wild would tuck in and kiss girls on the cheek when they stayed over.
Nikki says: “I stayed over a handful of times when we had a big competition coming up.
I noticed the places where he was putting his hands wasn’t normal
Nikki O'Donnell
“I only ever recall Stan to be the one to patrol all night to keep an eye on the girls, to make sure they were sleeping in preparation for the competition.
“There was one incident where I saw Stan. He was stood next to the bunk. He’s doing his rounds. There’s three bunk beds and then it’s my turn.
“I could smell this stale breath breathing on me and the hot air, and I made the excuse of stretching and rolling over to the other side, and that spooked him and he carried on moving on.
“After that, I didn’t go to any more sleepovers.”
Not alone
Nikki says she initially didn’t tell her mum 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 mum, who reported the alleged abuse to police in 2008, and to British Gymnastics.
Wild denied the allegations and police told Nikki the evidence wasn’t strong enough to charge him.
I could smell this stale breath breathing on me and the hot air, and I made the excuse of stretching and rolling over to the other side, and that spooked him and he carried on moving on. After that, I didn’t go to any more 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 the gymnastics coach to police and British Gymnastics in January 2016, after their 10-year-old daughter alleged he tried to kiss her at the gym.
Speaking in the documentary the girl, known as Kirsty, says: “He sort of crawled over to me and pushed me back off the bench backwards onto a mat behind me and got on top of me and pretended to kiss me.
“I could feel the bristles on the side of my face.”
Wild denied the allegations from Nikki and Kirsty, and again, the Crown Prosecution Service decided not to prosecute.
‘I didn’t wanna be here anymore’
Nikki, who is suing British Gymnastics, says: “I just knew I didn’t wanna be here anymore and I had thoughts of killing myself.”
She says she became an alcoholic and developed an eating disorder that saw her weight plummet to 6st.
But Nikki decided to waive her right to anonymity and share her story to raise awareness.
The film sees her meet another of Wild’s alleged victims.
Jess says she felt “physically sick” after reading an interview with Nikki and decided to contact her on social media, telling her in a message: “It’s happened to me, too.”
The pair hug on the documentary, during what is an emotional meeting.
Jess says to 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 would never have publicly come forward with it.”
Speaking out
Jess alleges 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 back garden. To be that brazen, that level of arrogance that’s untouchable, you know, right from back in the 70s.”
Jess says she had gone to play with Stan’s daughter that day, dressed in a tutu.
She recalls: “I remember Stan coming outside and asking me if I’d wet myself. And I just remember feeling really embarrassed and thinking, ‘What? Of course I haven’t’.
“I felt like I was in trouble almost because he had a strange look about him.
“He crouched down and patted me on my vagina. His breathing was heavy. Now, as an adult, I know that obviously he was excited by what he was doing.”
For me, it was broad daylight, in the back garden. To be that brazen, that level of arrogance that’s untouchable you know, right from back in the 70s
Jess, alleged victim
She says she didn’t know how to “verbalise” it as a child and “never wanted to think about it again”.
After hearing Nikki’s story, Jess decided to go to the police.
Wild denied the allegation and no prosecution was brought due to insufficient evidence of a sexual act.
Jess says: “When you think about it, from the 70s when he touched me, he’s conned a whole city, hasn’t he?… [But] I feel if me doing this has helped just one person know that it’s not them, it’s not your fault, it’s him, then I’ve done something good.
“Something good will come of it. It wasn’t you, it was him.”
Nikki adds: “I hope that it encourages people to speak up.”
In a statement to filmmakers, Stan Wild said: “The police have concluded their investigation into allegations made to them and no charges have been made in respect of this.
“Further to this I deny all allegations as stated in your letter.”
In another statement, the present trustees of York City Gymnastics Foundation say their policies and procedures have been reviewed by the appropriate authorities and they comply with best practice.
British Gymnastics says it is halfway through an extensive programme of action to make gymnastics safe, positive, and fair for all and that gymnasts and clubs have said progress is being made.
It says the reforms are a joint effort involving experts and abuse survivors, who have been a vital part of the development of new safe sport policies. These are subject to independent scrutiny.
It says abuse, mistreatment and harm have no place in gymnastics. It urges anyone with concerns to come forward.
Gymnastics: A Culture of Abuse? airs on ITV1 and ITVX at 9pm tonight.