Former gymnasts Bidotti and Witjes about the disciplinary case: ‘You feel misunderstood’

“You will declare nothing but the truth. If you state anything other than the truth, it can have serious consequences.”

Petra Witjes (31) sits behind a table in a small room in Nieuwegein. She had been tense before she was called in, but these words only made her feel more anxious. The setting doesn’t help. Space is tight, everyone sits close together. She can’t help but think that he had suddenly been there. Where should he have been? Next to her?

She wants to talk about this man, her former trainer Vincent Wevers. Especially about his behaviour. About the physical and mental damage it has caused. With her, but also with other women who were once trained by him. Who do not want to come to the fore. Or simply have not yet opened ‘the door’ to their painful past, as Witjes puts it. She did. And so she ended up facing the four-member disciplinary committee of the Institute for Sports Law (ISR) this evening.

“Once I sat there, I felt like that little child again who was called to the floor,” Witjes says. “Just like before.” Of course she was going to tell the truth, but why was she spoken to so bluntly? And why was it so much about her. Had she encouraged other gymnasts to come forward? Had she made sure that testimonials were matched? “I had to defend myself, when he is the one who has shown unwanted behavior.”

The hearing in the disciplinary case against the most famous gymnastics trainer in the Netherlands took place on Monday 21 March. Wevers, sports coach of the year 2016, was absent. For “medical reasons”, he had informed the NOS. He has said before that he does not recognize himself in everything he is accused of. Without telling how things are according to him.

For Witjes, who trained under Wevers at his then club TON in Oldenzaal between the ages of ten and seventeen, the session was yet another disappointment in the aftermath of what has come to be known as the gymnastics crisis, the series of revelations since the summer of 2020 about cross-border behavior by famous players. and lesser-known Dutch gymnastics trainers.

The woman sitting next to Witjes was also disappointed: Raffaella Bidotti (27), one of the ‘bad apples of the group’, as Wevers called her at the age of ten when she trained under him. “I’ve stopped for years and still find it difficult to stand up for myself,” Bidotti said earlier in NRC† “Because why does my opinion matter?”

She was also at the hearing in March. Not as a witness, but as a so-called reporter. She said she was deputy anxious when Witjes was interrogated by the committee. “I was stunned.” Later in the conversation, she says: “I am convinced that athletes no longer need to remain silent, but I am not sure whether I would advise others to take the disciplinary path.”

Witjes: “If you are waiting for what we have experienced …”

‘Tell me’

The two former gymnasts have had difficult periods in the more than a year and a half that the Wevers case has been dragging on. Lots of bad nights, lots of worrying. Witjes has not been able to work for a long time. Bidotti was forced to interrupt her training in applied child psychology for six months.

Once you have opened the door to memories of the past, they say, you can no longer ignore the trauma. “I pretended it wasn’t there for ten years,” says Bidotti. Witjes: “The more open you are to it, the closer you get to the core and start to feel the pain of the past.”

Yet they are also hopeful at the beginning of the case. That’s in 2020, when they hit the formal road. They must be with the ISR, victims are told. Witjes makes an official report in August, Bidotti more than a month later. They do that separately. They don’t have any contact with each other then, as they do now.

They are not the only ones reporting. The ISR, which acts as a (disciplinary) judicial body on behalf of 76 sports organizations, has spoken with more than two hundred potential victims and reporters since the revelations. For example, 25 trainers became the subject of research. This resulted in five disciplinary cases, which ultimately resulted in three acquittals and two conditional suspensions.

After their report, Witjes and Bidotti are invited for a one-on-one interview with a researcher. That’s where it all started, they say.

Bidotti: „The first thing I heard: ‘Tell me’. Then I got an error. In my head it went from hot to here. Where should I start?”

Both of them had memories flashing through their heads. Bidotti thought of all the name-calling. That Wevers told other girls not to talk to her, because she was contagious like a rotten apple.

Witjes wondered what exactly the researcher wanted to hear. That she was ignored for weeks, was verbally abused, had to endure physical aggression or that she was overweight again as the features of her thin figure burst? “But they asked about my parents. Did they do nothing? And it wasn’t all bad, the researcher said, there were positive stories too. It felt like I had to defend myself and things were downplayed.”

Both Bidotti and Witjes were then sent a conversation report in which they did not recognize themselves. They could meet again, or rewrite their report, the ISR said. They chose the latter. The two sides of Witjes became fifteen, filled with descriptions of incidents she hadn’t yet been able to tell. That should be enough for the ISR, she thought.

Other emails they received also failed. For example, they were once sent parts of their trainer’s defense, with the question whether they wanted to respond to it. Only: one gymnast was sent the passages that were intended for another. And vice versa.

The ISR also sent them an e-mail containing the names of all the notifiers. Witjes: “Panic of course. There was also a report from someone about whom there were serious suspicions that she was still in close contact with Vincent. What matters: you want a safe environment to be created.”

gymnastics robots

In the fall of 2021, a year after their reports, the women will be invited by the ISR for an online meeting. In this, it is intended, they are informed about the upcoming hearing in the Wevers case. The women have many questions. Which interview reports are actually included in the file? And can they see the file?

No, it turns out. The reporters are not an official party in the case, they are told, even though their statements form the basis of this. Access to the file is not included. whites; “While it’s about our youth, eh.”

The hearing has been postponed several times. Once the time has come, another disappointing announcement follows: the women are not allowed to take anyone with them. No family. Not even the Victim Support employee with whom they have contact. Press is also not welcome.

At the request of the prosecutor, who wants to present witnesses, Witjes has decided that she will tell her story in Nieuwegein. She had already done so during the round table discussion in the House of Representatives. “The prosecutor had said that the disciplinary committee could hear my story. So I expected questions about facts and incidents that appear in my interview report. But there were hardly any questions about Vincent’s behaviour. It was about my role as a champion in the collective.”

Bidotti: “You feel misunderstood.”

They can expect the verdict from next week. It has not been disclosed what the claim is against Wevers. Earlier this week, two gymnastics trainers were acquitted; according to the disciplinary committee there was insufficient evidence.

Witjes: „I would find it strange if they also say that now. Since they hardly asked any questions about the content, I assume everything is clear to them.”

Bidotti: ,,I sometimes had the feeling that they didn’t always understand what this does to you to have to talk about this. The right questions were not asked.”

Witjes: “On the other hand, we made people think. Society has opened its eyes more to transgressive behaviour. More and more sports are also following. Gymnastics is the forerunner. It’s just that we serve as training material within the system.”

Bidotti: „What we have been through is not okay. Hopefully, people will listen better to others who have something like this happen.”