The BAC hosted its Annual General Meeting (AGM) last week, as Board and staff members, and representatives of the athlete membership, came together to reflect on the organisation’s progress in 2020.Held virtually due to ongoing COVID-19 restrictions, the meeting was chaired by Vicki Aggar, whose re-election for a second, four-year term as Chair of the organisation was approved by the membership.Also discussed was the organisation’s activity across 2020, a year in which the BAC has supported a record number of athletes. It was revealed that:

• Last year’s number of cases represented a 140% increase on 2019.
• Overall, case numbers have increased 270% since 2018.
• Of the cases in which end-to-end support was given to BAC members, 36% were welfare related, 33% were centred on selection decisions, 7% were on the subject of grievances and commercial issues respectively, 6% were on disciplinary measures and safeguarding respectively, and 5% on classification (the safeguarding numbers do not include those people supported through the BAC and NSPCC’s joint helpline set up to help those affected by perceived or alleged abuse in gymnastics).

It was also confirmed that the BAC will be expanding its offer to athletes transitioning away from sport, ensuring that they continue to receive consistent and high-quality support.The BAC’s accounts were also detailed for attendees. Full financial information for the year ending 31 December 2019 is available here, while the organisation was also delighted to confirm a small uplift in UK Sport funding from 1 April 2021, for which it placed on record its thanks to UK Sport for their ongoing support.