Former US Olympian Kukors accuses coach of abuse

LOS ANGELES: Former United States Olympic swimmer Ariana Kukors has accused a former national team coach of sexually abusing her when she was 16.

Kukors, who won a world title in 2009 and represented the US at the 2012 Olympic Games, said coach Sean Hutchison, who was an assistant coach for US Swimming’s 2008 Olympic team, began “grooming” her for a sexual relationship when she was 13.

“I’ve realised that stories like my own are too important to go unwritten,” Kukors, now 28, said in a statement on Wednesday that was published in multiple media outlets.

Hutchison responded on Thursday, saying in a statement published by the Seattle Post-Intelligencer and other newspapers that he had a “committed relationship” with an adult Kukors, who lived with him for some time after the 2012 London Games.

“At no time did I ever abuse Ariana Kukors or do anything with her that was not consensual,” Hutchison said in a statement provided by his attorney, Brad Meryhew, to the online portal.

“I absolutely deny having any sexual or romantic relationship with her before she was old enough to legally make those decisions for herself.”

Kukors’ charges come in the wake of the sexual abuse scandal that rocked US Gymnastics and saw for- mer national team doctor Larry Nassar sentenced to 40 to 175 years in prison.

At least 265 female athletes, including several Olympic gold medallists, said the 54-year-old Nassar abused them over a period of two decades.

The US Olympic Committee have said they will appoint an independent investigator to probe the organisation and US Gymnastics to determine who knew what and when in that case. — AFP