Olympian sues USA Swimming

Olympic swimmer Ariana Kukors Smith has filed a lawsuit against USA Swimming alleging that officials knew she was sexually abused by coach Sean Hutchison while she was a minor. The lawsuit filed in Orange County (Calif.) Supreme Court alleges that USA Swimming officials covered up the sexual abuse Kukors Smith suffered and manipulated the background check system so Hutchison would not be subject to a negative background check. Kukors Smith says Hutchison, her coach at a club in the Seattle area, groomed her from the time she was 13 and began molesting her when she was 16. Hutchison has denied the allegations and has not been charged with a crime. Kukors Smith says that in 2005, when she was 15 or 16, USA Swimming officials knew that she and Hutchison were involved in an inappropriate relationship.