Bibs against sex abuse capture skiers’ notice
CORTINA D’AMPEZZO, ITALY• The message in red capital letters — “STOP VIOLENCE AGAINST WOMEN AND GIRLS” — was printed on the bottom of skiers’ bibs for a recent women’s World Cup downhill in Cortina.
It was so small, though, that initially many racers did not even notice it.
In the hours and days afterward, and simultaneously with the sex abuse trial against disgraced former USA Gymnastics doctor Larry Nassar, the Cortina organizers’ campaign prompted some serious reflection from the most successful athletes on the U.S. Ski Team.
“This is the time for women to stand up and this is an opportunity for us to change our system and how women are treated in the world — not just the workplace,” said Lindsey Vonn, the most successful female skier of all time with 79 World Cup wins.
“Thankfully I haven’t experienced any of that in ski racing,” Vonn added, referring to the Nassar case. “I find that extremely disturbing and I hope that now we can all stand together and make things better.”
Julia Mancuso, who announced her retirement two weeks ago after nearly two decades with the U. S. team, shared Vonn’s view that she never heard of sexual abuse on the team during her tenure.
“There has never been anything that I know of — and I would be surprised if there was something that hasn’t come up, because I think now is the time,” Mancuso said.
Not that there haven’t been cases of sexual abuse in skiing.
Bertrand Charest, a f ormer coach with Canada’s national development team, was convicted of 37 charges related to the sexual assault of young athletes and sentenced in December to 12 years in prison. His crimes took place more than 20 years ago.
In Austria, 1976 Olympian Nicola Werdenigg told the daily Der Standard in November that she was sexually assaulted when she was 16 by a male teammate and alluded to other, similar incidents.
The powerful Austrian ski federation said that it can’t investigate the case, however, as long as Werdenigg — who competed under her maiden name, Spiess — refrains from providing names and more details.
“It’s a good thing that there is now an open discussion and women are in a place where they can speak up,” said Tina Weirather, a World Cup super- G champion from Liechtenstein.