Top gymnastics coach fined after assaulting two female teen athletes

A gymnastics coach with more than 30 years' experience has avoided conviction and instead been ordered to pay a fine after assaulting two teenage female athletes.

Over the length of his career, Jamie Glen Cannon, 49, has trained athletes at clubs on the Sunshine Coast, in Cairns, and at Brisbane Grammar School.

Mr Cannon was sentenced in Maroochydore District Court last week, after pleading guilty to four charges of common assault against the two teen gymnasts, each aged between 13 and 16.

Coach touched athletes

Crown prosecutor Alex Stark described Cannon's behaviour as "a breach of trust, both professional and personal" and tendered an agreed statement of facts about the offending.

The court heard Cannon was a senior coach at a Sunshine Coast club when the incidents occurred in 2022 and 2023.

The two girls were under his supervision as athletes.

One of the assault charges related to Cannon smacking the bottom of a 13-year-old as she performed handstands with other gymnasts at the club.

Three more offences occurred at the same club, involving Cannon touching and rubbing the inner thigh of a second athlete, aged 15 at the time.

The court heard that in one interaction, Cannon asked the teenager if she wore make-up, told her she was pretty, then put his hand on her inner thigh.

In another, he asked if he could touch the teenager's leggings, and before she could respond, he put his hand on her knee.

The fourth charge involved Cannon approaching the 15-year-old as she prepared to coach a class, standing in between her legs before placing his hands on her knees and rubbing her thighs as she attempted to move away.

The court heard it was accepted that Cannon's behaviour had "no sexual intent".

Gymnast left the sport she loved

The 15-year-old athlete's victim impact statement was read to the court at his sentencing by Mr Stark.

The teenager wrote that the offending led to her "quitting gymnastics entirely".

She described problems falling asleep and how it damaged "many friendships", particularly at the gymnastics club.

"[It] affected the development of a romantic relationship with partners due to fear and sensitivity to certain actions and situations," Mr Stark read to the court.

Mr Stark said there was a "vulnerability" in the situation because the teenagers were under his supervision.

He said both teenagers had been clear about their boundaries to Cannon, including the request not to be touched.

"It was really that sense of breach of trust that was at the heart of the impact for both of them,"

he said.

Cannon declined to be interviewed by police.

The court heard he has not been involved with the sport since being charged.

Decades as a top coach

Cannon's lawyer Ambyr Cousen described how her client had been involved with the sport for 30 years both as an employee and as a volunteer, including as a committee member with Gymnastics Queensland (GQ).

"He has won a number of awards for peer service within that industry," Ms Cousen told the court.

Cannon was working with Brisbane Grammar School as a senior coach in 2019 when he received GQ's Individual Service Award for his service to gymnastics in Queensland.

He also spent more than a decade leading GQ's Men's Artistic Gymnastics Sport Committee.

Ms Cousen also supplied the court with several character references for her client.

Court accepts 'no sexual intent'

Cannon provided a written apology to the court for his actions, and offered to pay $1,000 to each of the victims as compensation.

In sentencing, Judge Amanda McDonnell told Cannon he treated "these young, vulnerable girls in a way that they didn't wish to be touched".

"I have no doubt that they looked up to you for guidance," Judge McDonnell said.

"I accept that there was no sexual intent, but that you acted in an overly-familiar way."

Cannon was ordered to pay a single fine of $2,500 for the four offences, plus the promised compensation.