‘TOTALLY UNETHICAL’
Former Olympic speedskater reveals affair with coach
A former U.S. national team speedskater who was trained by coach Mike Crowe alleges she had a “totally unethical” twoyear affair with him in the 1990s.
Chantal Cermak, who was then Chantal Bailey, said Wednesday the affair began at a competition in Italy in 1993 when she was 28. Crowe was 40 and married.
Crowe, now 64, is on a leave of absence from his position as head coach of the Canadian national speedskating team, a post he assumed in 2015.
Speed Skating Canada officials, including chief executive Susan Auch, have said an internal investigation is underway, but refused to specify what it is investigating or what prompted Crowe’s leave of absence, which will extend at least through the Pyeongchang Olympics in February.
Eva Rodansky, another former U.S. speedskater who has written blogs and a book detailing what she alleges were inappropriate relationships Crowe had with U.S. skaters, said she was contacted by Auch last May on Facebook and spoke to her in November.
“When I did finally call her, that’s when we had our first conversation about Crowe. She knew about the things that I had blogged and put on my Facebook in the past. She mentioned something about rumours,” Rodansky said.
“She asked me to sort of summarize my experiences working with Crowe in U.S. speedskating during my time as an elite competitor. She knew that I knew of other women who had been affected because she had read some of what I posted. She asked me to reach out to them.”
Rodansky said she has no doubt Crowe was placed on leave because of his relationships with female athletes, either in Canada or the U.S.
“I find that the timing of his being put on leave right before the Olympics, I find that to mean Speed Skating Canada is probably taking this very, very seriously.”
Auch has not responded to repeated requests for expanded comment on the issue.
Cermak, now 52, said she has not been contacted by Speed Skating Canada officials and did not know if her past relationship with Crowe had anything to do with the organization’s investigation.
She said she has long regretted becoming involved with Crowe.
“You know you’re in a bad situation … I’m sitting there thinking ‘I’m sinning. I’m Christian. I shouldn’t be doing this.’ It was torture for me, with my belief system.
“I take full responsibility for my part in it. I just kind of thought it was just me. But there were others before me and then there were others after me.
“I really didn’t want it to go on. It really started to affect me. Everybody knew it was going on but didn’t say anything. I’m pretty sure it affected them. It was affecting me. I had so much guilt and so much shame.”
Cermak said she ended the affair in 1995 and eventually began training with other coaches who maintained a positive, professional relationship with her.
Carl Cepuran, who worked as a club coach in the U.S. at the same time Crowe was with the national team, said intimate relationships between coach and athlete are not acceptable.
“Coach/athlete relationships by anybody, they’re not ethical. I don’t think that’s appropriate behaviour.”
Cepuran said he does not have any direct knowledge of any improper relationships between Crowe and skaters, saying only that he heard things. Former American Olympic speedskater Nancy Swider-Peltz said she did not have direct knowledge of a relationship between Crowe and Cermak.
Cermak said she accepts responsibility for any damage the affair did to her career, the U.S. team and Crowe’s family. But she adds that because Crowe was in a position of power over her as coach, he bore a responsibility to prevent the affair.
“It was kind of like a controlling thing. I felt he had power and I couldn’t get out of the relationship. He is an amazing coach. He is probably one of the best coaches in the world in speedskating …
“It’s totally unethical. It should never, ever, ever happen. He should have never blurred the line. He was responsible. He knew what he was doing. For those two years he knew his process, whatever that process was. He should have drawn that line, been professional and said no matter how much I am attracted to this person, I cannot do this, this is wrong. If he was really a coach looking out for his athletes he would care more about their career, their ability, than himself.”
Crowe did not reply to emails or phone messages seeking comment from him.
Rodansky said she also made an anonymous call in October to the Speed Skating Canada respect resource line, which “offers assistance and advice on responding to inappropriate behaviour,” according to the organization’s website. She said she made the call because she knew about the affair between Cermak and Crowe and wanted Speed Skating Canada officials to be aware of Crowe’s history with the United States speedskating team.
She also said she feels she was a third-party victim of the favouritism she alleges Crowe showed to other skaters with whom he was involved.
“In my case he abused his power,” said Rodansky, who feels she was unfairly left off the 2006 Olympic team because of training and selection advantages given to other skaters while Crowe was the team’s high-performance director.
“I called (the respect resource line) and told the story of what happened to me. I believe that Crowe in his position (with Speed Skating Canada) had say over how the Olympic team for Canada was going to be selected. I didn’t know if anything would come of it.
“But in this climate of #MeToo stories coming out, I just thought there is no time like the present. If I can contribute to preventing any women from getting screwed over for the Olympic selection like I did in ’06, it’s just worth a try.”