British Gymnastics suspends men's coach Eddie Van Hoof

Published Dec. 4, 2017 10:55 a.m. ET

LONDON (AP) British Gymnastics has suspended men's coach Eddie Van Hoof as it investigates misconduct.

The governing body, which opened the investigation last week, did not specify the nature of the allegations against Van Hoof, who has led the men's program since 2005.

''An independent investigation is being conducted into allegations of misconduct relating to Eddie Van Hoof, pending the outcome of which he has been suspended,'' British Gymnastics said Monday in a statement. ''The suspension is not a disciplinary penalty, and indeed does not imply any assumption of guilt.''

Van Hoof was honored by Queen Elizabeth II after the 2016 Rio de Janeiro Olympics, becoming a Member of the Order of the British Empire. Britain won five men's gymnastics medals at the Olympics where Van Hoof was the team's technical director.

''In gymnastics, my first coaching job came straight off the team in 1995 and we were always around 19th in the world, which was good, but to be up there with the leaders of the sport shows just how much progress has been made in the last 10 years,'' Van Hoof said after being named coach of the year at Britain's coaching awards in 2016.