Responding to the Whyte Review: an explorative account of policy enactment within British Gymnastics

In the context of British Gymnastics, the Whyte Review sent reverberation through the organisation and the wider gymnastics community for revealing wide-spread mistreatment of British athletes. Through adopting a single case-study design, the aim of this study was to explore the interplay between the perceived changes in culture, policy and practice, and the interactional work required for enacting change. Attempting to appreciate the importance of individuals as actors of policy, not merely subjects to policy, data were collected through a series of one-to-one interviews with the Head of Learning Design and Research within British Gymnastics. The findings highlighted a range of contextual features following the launch of Reform ’25, focusing on the alignment of policy, the relationship to the wider coaching community, and the strategic role of professional development. Taken together, the article provides a unique case of the complexities of policy development and policy enactment within sport coaching.