|
Athletes critical of USOC, sports federations in failing to prevent, stop sexual abuse
By Rachel Axon
[with video] For years, survivors of sexual abuse in Olympic sport have called for accountability for those who harmed them and officials who let it happen. On Wednesday, four former athletes echoed those calls in a hearing before the Senate Subcommittee on Consumer Protection, Product Safety, Insurance, and Data Security. Testifying before the subcommittee, former gymnasts Jordyn Wieber and Jamie Dantzscher, former speedskater Bridie Farrell and former figure skater Craig Maurizi criticized the national governing bodies for their sport as well as the U.S. Olympic Committee and others for failing to prevent and stop sexual abuse. The hearing was the latest since the Olympic movement came under scrutiny for its handling of sexual abuse cases following revelations that longtime USA Gymnastics physician Larry Nassar abused hundreds of women, including Olympic champions Aly Raisman, Simone Biles, McKayla Maroney, Gabby Douglas and Wieber. More than 260 athletes accused Nassar, a doctor at Michigan State for more than two decades, of abusing them, with more than 150 giving victim impact statements in two sentencing hearings in Michigan. “To this day, I still don’t know how he could have been allowed to do this for so long,” Wieber said in her statement to the subcommittee. “We now know he abused my sister survivor and fellow Olympian Jamie Dantzscher twenty years ago. Women at Michigan State University reported his abuse even earlier and they were silenced and ignored. If these institutions had done their job, neither of us would be sitting here today.” Dantzscher, an Olympic bronze medalist, previously testified before the Senate Judiciary Committee in March 2017 and encouraged legislators to pass a law to protect child athletes. In February, President Donald Trump signed The Protecting Young Victims from Sexual Abuse and Safe Sport Authorization Act, which requires adults who interact with amateur athletes to report suspected abuse to law enforcement within 24 hours. Nassar, 54, is serving a 60-year federal sentence for child pornography charges. He was convicted of 10 counts of sexual assault in Michigan and faces a minimum of 40 years in prison after his federal sentence is over. The Indianapolis Star, which is part of the USA TODAY Network, first made public the allegations against Nassar in August 2016 after being contacted by Rachael Denhollander, who said she’d been abused by Nassar. USA Gymnastics is only the latest national governing body to face a sexual abuse scandal. U.S. Speedskating, USA Swimming and USA Taekwondo previously faced criticism and in some cases lawsuits for their handling of complaints and failure to protect athletes. Farrell spoke before the subcommittee on Wednesday of the abuse she suffered at the hands of Andy Gabel starting when she was 15 and Gabel was 33. Farrell first told her story in 2013, and U.S. Speedskating terminated Gabel’s membership in 2016 after an investigation. In her testimony, Farrell sharply criticized the USOC and former CEO Scott Blackmun. “Mr. Blackmun also told me that there was nothing the USOC could do — that the USOC did not have such jurisdiction over the NGBs,” she said. “However, in the midst of the USA Gymnastic shake down the USOC acknowledged the NGB could be decertified and overtaken by the head organization. It certainly seems the USOC wants to pick and choose when to be involved, and it seems only when it favors the USOC.” In late February, Blackmun stepped down, citing health reasons as he receives treatment for prostate cancer. Maurizi told of his abuse by former coach Richard Callaghan. U.S. Figure Skating and the U.S Center for SafeSport suspended Callaghan in March after Maurizi filed a complaint with the center. Reports of abuse by Callaghan were first made public in media reports in 1999. “I respectfully ask you to find out why the USOC did nothing for decades while reports of child sexual abuse in many Olympic sports were ignored,” said Maurizi, who added that the women sharing their stories of abuse by Nassar prompted him to come forward. “Who was responsible for this tragedy and how will they be held accountable?” The USOC, USA Gymnastics and Michigan State all face several lawsuits alleging they did not do enough to protect athletes from abuse. Most recently, Wieber filed a lawsuit in state court in California on Tuesday that alleges that USA Gymnastics purged or destroyed medical records of Nassar’s victims, including her own. Sen. Jerry Moran, R-Kan., chairman of the subcommittee, said it has targeted May 22 for another hearing and notified the USOC, USA Gymnastics and Michigan State that it would like them to participate. The Senate subcommittee’s inquiry is only one of three Congressional investigations into the Olympic movement’s handling of abuse. The bipartisan House Energy and Commerce Committee in January asked the USOC, USA Gymnastics, USA Swimming and USA Taekwondo, as well as Michigan State, to provide information on how they have handled complaints. It has since expanded its inquiry to include all national governing bodies. In February, the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee announced it had sent letters to the USOC, USA Gymnastics and Michigan State, among others, regarding sexual assault in gymnastics. At the Pyeongchang Olympics in February, USOC chairman Larry Probst said the USOC would “cooperate fully” with the investigations. Separately, the USOC has hired Boston-based law firm Ropes & Gray to investigate it and USA Gymnastics. “Institutions need to be held accountable. Survivors need to be acknowledged,” Farrell said. “Without policy reform the unjust muzzle will remain bounded on children while safeguarding the pedophiles to roam free. So long as this abuse of power continues, the horror in gyms, dojos, fields, courts, pools, tracks, mountains, and ice rinks will not end.”
|
.
Any original material on these pages is copyright © BishopAccountability.org 2004. Reproduce freely with attribution.