Protect young gymnasts from pedophile coaches
USA Gymnastics, one of the most prominent Olympic governing bodies in the nation, basked in the glow of Team USA’s stunning performance in Rio de Janeiro last August.
But beneath the glittering image of the sport and its governing body, which inspires girls across the country to train as gymnasts, is a dark underbelly, revealed in an investigation by the IndyStar and USA TODAY Network.
Over the past 20 years, 368 gymnasts have alleged some form of sexual abuse at the hands of coaches, gym owners and other adults working in youth gymnastics across the country, the network reported last week. Yet, until reporters dug into it, no one had tracked these cases long buried in police and court files.
If any of this sounds sickeningly familiar, it’s because it is. Abuse scandals in the Roman Catholic Church, in the Boy Scouts and at Penn State share some of the same issues: failures to report disturbing allegations to law enforcement, a penchant for secrecy, and predators who slither from job to job that provides access to children, leaving a trail of misery behind.
One pedophile gymnastics coach faced charges twice and was repeatedly fired, but he still managed to work in a dozen gyms in four states until he was caught by the FBI in Florida. He was ul- timately accused of inappropriate conduct with 16 girls over two decades and is now serving a 20year federal sentence.
In a statement, USA Gymnastics said that if it “suspects sexual abuse, the organization encourages those involved to contact law enforcement and/or contacts law enforcement directly.”
Well, maybe officials need to work on what it takes to raise their suspicions.
In 1998, for instance, a Florida gym owner wrote to USA Gymnastics that he had fired coach Bill McCabe two years earlier after McCabe was bragging that he “had one of the 15-year-old cheerleaders in her underwear and said he thought he’d be able to (have sex with) her very soon.” McCabe, the owner wrote, should be “locked in a cage before someone is raped.”
USA Gymnastics’ reply? “I am awaiting an official letter of complaint from a parent and athlete. I will add your letter to the file.”
McCabe continued to coach for seven years, until the mother of an 11-year-old Georgia gymnast went to the FBI. He pleaded guilty to federal charges in 2006 and is serving a 30-year sentence.
In a civil lawsuit filed by the Georgia mother, USA Gymnastics argued that it wasn’t required to report under laws in Florida or Indiana, home to its headquarters, because the laws require reporting by individuals, not organizations.
Really? We thought organizations were made up of individuals.
We’ll leave the legal hairsplitting to the courts, but at least one lesson should have been learned after nearly two decades of sexual abuse scandals: Institutions and individuals working with children are morally bound to report disturbing allegations of potential child abuse to law enforcement. Otherwise, no matter how unintentionally, they enable abuse to continue.
That’s true whether they are Catholic bishops, university officials, gym owners or leaders of a prominent Olympics’ organization.