Former Trinidad and Tobago gymnast Thema Williams has opened a gym intended to be a safe space for all-rounded childhood athletic development.

The talented gymnast said her aim is to “create initiatives that foster teamwork through sport and culture.”

“We envision an environment in sport built on the pillars of accountability, equity, integrity, knowledge and transparency,” she in an interview with T&T newspaper Newsday.

“I started by offering private gymnastics classes during the pandemic, and word quickly spread throughout a network of reputable people. Before I knew it, I had five clients weekly.”

She has poured a lot of sweat into making her idea into reality even making her own equipment. She revealed that she made a balance beam, her first, from wood from her home storage unit and used foam and glue to fashion mats.

The demand for her teaching was so great that she had more than 100 students enrolled by the end of 2021, which then prompted her decision to open a gym.

In 2018, Williams won a court battle against the Trinidad and Tobago Gymnastics Federation that was deemed to have discriminated against the gymnast when they withdrew her from the 2016 Summer Olympics in Rio, Brazil. In her place, the TTGF selected Canadian-born gymnast Marisa Dick.

She was awarded damages amounting to more than $TT200,000. However, the TTGF did not turn over the cash until a few weeks ago when a high court judge ordered Republic Bank where the gymnastics federation held an account, to cut a cheque for more than $230,000 to pay the athlete.

After a four-year wait to receive monetary damages from the Trinidad and Tobago Gymnastics Federation (TTGF), gymnast Thema Williams received payment on Thursday afternoon, following a ruling from a High Court judge.

High Court judge Frank Seepersad ruled on Thursday that Republic Bank at which the TTGF held an account, make out a cheque payable to Williams for $223,800.19. The amount includes interest accrued on the original judgement in 2018 of TT$200.000.00. According to the Newsday publication, the bank complied with the order about two hours before the 4:00 pm deadline set by the judge.

Her lawyer Martin Daly SC, meanwhile, has expressed concern over how the athlete was treated by the federation while it was collecting funds from the Trinidadian government mirroring comments made by Judge Seepersad in his ruling.

In his written judgement the judge stated; "Transparency of conduct, strict compliance with the law and accountability must define the way in which persons, organizations and entities operate. It is difficult to comprehend why the Judgment Debtor has continued to be in receipt of State funding and donations when it stands in violation of a court order."

In 2018, Williams won a court battle against the TTGF that was deemed to have discriminated against the gymnast when they withdrew her from the 2016 Summer Olympics in Rio Brazil. In her place, the TTGF selected Canadian-born gymnast Marisa Dick.

Williams had sought to recover damages of TT$11 million but the court ordered that she receive TT$150,000 in exemplary damages and a further TT$50,000 in lost earnings.

At the time of Thursday’s order, the amount in the TTGF’s account was just over TT$257,000.

Daly told Sportsmax.TV that he was delighted at the outcome but expressed concerns over how the state had treated the athlete who had to wait as long to be compensated after being egregiously wronged.

"I am pleased that she has finally got her money," he said while highlighting comments from Judge Seepersad during his ruling on Thursday.

 "I think the most important comments in the judgement yesterday is the criticism of the state for continuing to provide funds for a federation that had behaved in the way that it did."

It brings into question the accountability of sporting bodies and why would a government continue to provide subvention to a body that had behaved in that way. One of the things that had greatly upset me was that as few as 14 days after the original judgement there was a picture in the newspaper of officials from sporting bodies receiving money from the state and included in that was the TTGF and I just could not understand why they couldn't have, as we say colloquially, 'mash brakes and think about what they were doing.

"So I think there is a very important long-term outcome of this which is the judge's criticism of the state being blind to egregious acts by sporting bodies. That is the long-term message we should take from this."