USA Taekwondo ignored rules, let felon compete
The executive director of USA Taekwondo circumvented the governing body’s rules for handling disciplinary matters, lifting the temporary suspension of an athlete who is a twice-convicted felon.
According to emails obtained by USA TODAY Sports, Keith Ferguson, the organization’s executive director, reinstated Para athlete David Metz on June 5. The decision allowed Metz to compete at the national championships, which ended Thursday, where he won two gold medals and a bronze.
Under USA Taekwondo’s bylaws and code of ethics, Ferguson does not have the authority to hold a hearing, participate in one or lift a suspension. Those powers fall to the ethics committee and a panel it appoints.
The recommendation to enact or remove a suspension would be approved by the organization’s board of directors.
Ferguson’s decision to intervene, along with USA Taekwondo’s failure to schedule a hearing nearly four months after it was first alerted to Metz’s criminal history, raises further questions about whether USA Taekwondo is following its own rules when it comes to ethics complaints.
“They don’t know their own organic documents,” said Ronda Sweet, a former USA Taekwondo board chair. “There is nothing anywhere that allows the executive director to unsuspend. It’s not there, and it’s ridiculous.”
Ferguson declined to comment through USA Taekwondo spokesman Steve McNally, citing the ongoing complaint.
USA TODAY Sports reported in June that two-time Olympic champion Steven Lopez and his older brother Jean, who is also his coach, were allowed to go to last summer’s Rio Games despite being under investigation for sexual misconduct. For more than two years, USA Taekwondo never held hearings on complaints against either brother, even though its bylaws require the ethics committee “to ensure that all complaints are heard in a timely, fair and impartial manner.”
The investigations of the Lopezes have since been turned over to the U.S. Center for SafeSport, an independent agency created by the U.S. Olympic Committee to handle sexual abuse cases in the Olympic movement. The allegations against the Lopez brothers also have drawn the interest of the FBI.
The Lopez brothers denied the allegations of sexual assault. “I’ve never been inappropriate with anyone,” Jean Lopez told USA TODAY Sports last month.
In the matter involving Metz, USA Taekwondo’s code of ethics states that any felony conviction or plea of guilty or no contest “at any time, past or present” is considered a violation. Anyone who violates the code can face sanctions ranging from fines to suspension or termination of membership.
Wisconsin court records show that Metz pleaded guilty on June 21, 2001, to a charge of substantial battery with the intent to do bodily harm that stemmed from a fight in which he choked and punched his then-girlfriend. On Feb. 13, 2009, he pleaded no contest to a charge of unauthorized use of someone else’s personal documents.
Metz was put on probation in Wisconsin in both cases.
“This should be, as far as I’m concerned, a slam-dunk,” Steve Decker, Metz’s former coach, told USA TODAY Sports. “I don’t know how it gets any easier.”
Metz acknowledged receiving an email from USA TODAY Sports seeking comment but said nothing else and did not respond to a follow-up email.
Metz, who turns 38 this month, is a two-time U.S. Para team member. According to his national team bio, he has postural orthostatic tachycardia syn- drome, a circulatory disease that can cause dizziness, blurred vision, headaches and heart palpitations.
Metz trained with Decker until Feb. 26, and his decision to leave led to a falling out between the two. Metz was granted an order of protection against Decker on June 7 after alleging his former coach had engaged in “abusive, harassing behavior” with the intent to “defame my character” and “undermine my training, competing and instructing.”
Decker denies those allegations and said he believes Metz sought the restraining order because he had discovered his former student’s criminal background.
Decker did not file an ethics complaint with USA Taekwondo at first, instead emailing Ferguson on March 13 to ask if Metz’s convictions were an issue. Ferguson responded that day and said he had turned the matter over to the ethics committee.
On June 1, USA Taekwondo temporarily suspended Metz. A day later, ethics committee chair Sari Weichbrodt emailed Decker and said, “I think Keith Ferguson is going to handle an initial hearing on the temporary suspension and then I’ll work on scheduling the full hearing.”
But on June 7, Weichbrodt emailed Decker to say that the hearing was being postponed un- til after the national championships, which were June 30-July 6 in Detroit.
“As much as we would all like these matters resolved now, pushing him to do the hearing prior to nationals gives him potential grounds for overturning any adverse decisions later,” Weichbrodt wrote.
She also informed Decker that Metz’s temporary suspension had been lifted two days earlier after a hearing with Ferguson. No explanation was given for why Ferguson intervened.
Weichbrodt did not respond to an email from USA TODAY Sports seeking comment.
“Keith had forwarded this whole matter to the ethics board and then he jumps in to lift the suspension. How can he change a suspension that the ethics board is handling?” Decker asked. “I don’t get that.”
In the June 7 email, Weichbrodt said the suspension was lifted after Metz asked for additional time so he could focus on training for nationals.
But there still is no hearing set on the ethics complaint against Metz. In a June 16 email to Decker and Metz, Weichbrodt indicated that each man had accused the other of ethics violations and asked both to put his allegations in a formal complaint.
Decker has done so, emailing Weichbrodt on June 25 and copying Ferguson and Stephen Hess, USA Taekwondo’s legal counsel.
It’s not clear whether Metz has filed a formal complaint. It’s also not clear the nature of Metz’s allegations, though Weichbrodt has made reference to his restraining order against Decker in emails.
Only after formal complaints are filed will hearing dates be set, Weichbrodt wrote.
“Everyone will have an ample opportunity to defend against all allegations, but we need to have everyone on the same page and get some resolution,” she wrote.
“My hearing panels are fair and impartial and they will hear any relevant evidence each side wants to present,” she added. “They will weigh evidence and determine if violations of the Code of Ethics have occurred and make recommendations.”
“They don’t know their own organic documents. There is nothing anywhere that allows the executive director to unsuspend.” Ronda Sweet, former USA Taekwondo board chair