Lopezes deny allegations of sexual misconduct
Sugar Land siblings took part in Rio Games despite ongoing probe by USA Taekwondo
Two-time Olympic gold medalist Steven Lopez and his older brother and coach, Jean Lopez, were allowed to take part in the 2016 Olympic Games despite a USA Taekwondo investigation into allegations of sexual misconduct by both men dating back several years, USA Today reported Thursday.
Details of the investigation involving allegations by several athletes, including former Sugar Land athlete Mandy Meloon, were forwarded by Denver attorney Donald Alperstein, who conducted the probe on behalf of USA Taekwondo, to the FBI, to Fort Bend County officials and to the U.S. Center for SafeSport, an agency created by the U.S. Olympic Committee to handle such matters, the newspaper said in a story posted on its website.
Steven Lopez, a five-time world champion and the greatest athlete in the modern history of the sport, and Jean Lopez, who has coached his younger brother and two other siblings at several Olympic Games, both of Sugar Land, denied inappropriate conduct in interviews with the newspaper.
In interviews with USA Today in which they were asked if they had assaulted women or had inappropriate relationships with women, Jean Lopez said, “I’ve never been inappropriate with anyone.” Steven Lopez said, “I’ve never — nothing, nothing at all. Nothing like that. Nothing close to that.”
Neither Steven nor Jean Lopez immediately returned text messages Thursday seeking comment on the report.
Meloon, who competed in the 2000 Olympic Trials and is a former world medalist in the sport of taekwondo, told USA Today she was interviewed last month by an FBI agent. Meloon recently was released from prison after being sentenced to two years for assaulting a sheriff ’s deputy in San Angelo in 2015.
Meloon has been at odds with USA Taekwondo for almost a decade. The federation in 2007 refused her petition to compete at the world championships, citing inappropriate comments she made on social media, and she said Jean Lopez should be replaced by a coach sympathetic to the concerns of female athletes.
Another athlete, Heidi Gilbert, a gold medalist at the Pan American Championships in 2002 and a bronze medalist in 1998, told USA Today that Jean Lopez drugged and sexually assaulted her. A third woman told the newspaper she was drugged three times and that Steven Lopez had sex with her while she was unconscious on one occasion.
Jean and Steven Lopez are the oldest siblings in their family to take part in the sport. Younger siblings Diana and Mark Lopez also are former world champions and joined Steven Lopez as Olympic medalists in 2008. Steven Lopez lost in the quarterfinals of the welterweight tournament in Rio de Janeiro last year and did not medal.