USA TODAY US Edition

USOC failed to heed warnings

Letters sought guidance on protecting young athletes

- Nancy Armour and Rachel Axon @nrarmour, @RachelAxon USA TODAY Sports

Nearly six years before USA Swimming was rocked by a series of sexual abuse accusation­s against coaches, the national governing body sent two letters to the U.S. Olympic Committee asking it to take the lead in developing policies to protect young athletes across the Olympic movement.

The letters, which were sent in late 2004 and early 2005 and obtained by USA TODAY Sports, echoed a plea made five years earlier by USA Gymnastics. In both cases, the USOC was alerted to a potential crisis by two of the country’s largest and most decorated governing bodies.

USA Swimming executive director Chuck Wielgus wrote to the USOC that it should follow the lead of other national youth organizati­ons, which crafted plans and programs that were then implemente­d at the local level.

“The thrust of our question, however, involves whether or not the USOC sees the nature of these subjects as being important enough to offer recommenda­tions or requiremen­ts to all (national governing bodies),” Wielgus wrote in the second letter. “When we look at other national youth organizati­ons (YMCA, Boy Scouts., etc.) with grassroots constituen­cies we see national policies that help to guide the locally-based programs … and we think this overarchin­g approach

is something that the USOC should seriously consider.”

The issue of sexual abuse by coaches and the responsibi­lity of national governing bodies to protect athletes has been under scrutiny in recent months. The

Indianapol­is Star, which is part of the USA TODAY Network, has reported more than 360 cases in which gymnasts have accused coaches of sexual transgress­ions over 20 years. More than 80 gymnasts have alleged sexual abuse by Larry Nassar, who was the national team physician from 1996 to 2015. Nassar is in custody in Michigan and faces local, state and federal charges related to criminal sexual conduct and child pornograph­y. He has denied any wrongdoing.

On Tuesday, the Senate Judiciary Committee heard testimony from former gymnasts and officials in regard to a proposed bill that would make it a crime for national governing bodies — there are 47 under the Olympic umbrella — to fail to report child sexual abuse allegation­s promptly to law enforcemen­t or child welfare authoritie­s.

Rick Adams, who represente­d the USOC at the hearing, said the sexual abuse cases should have been prevented. “The Olympic community failed and must do better,” Adams said.

However, there are now at least two documented instances in which national governing bodies raised concerns about child protection policies with the USOC.

In the case of the 2004 and ’05 letters from USA Swimming, the USOC did not address the idea of creating a policy that could be implemente­d by all the national governing bodies in its response. Instead, it referred USA Swimming to a company that was doing background checks for a handful of other national governing bodies and said it was in the process of sending out a reminder about their importance.

In 1999, the then-president of USA Gymnastics, Bob Colarossi, made a similar plea. In lodging a complaint against a USOC group that had threatened to decertify USA Gymnastics as the sport’s governing body over its policy of immediatel­y suspending anyone charged with a felony involving abuse of a child, Colarossi warned that the USOC was not doing enough to protect young athletes.

“This is not an issue that can be wished away,” Colarossi wrote. “The USOC can either position itself as a leader in the protection of young athletes or it can wait until it is forced to deal with the problem under much more difficult circumstan­ces.”

The USOC leadership has turned over several times since USA Gymnastics and USA Swimming sent the letters.

On Thursday, USOC chief executive officer Scott Blackmun said in a statement to USA TODAY Sports: “One thing that has been made clear as we learn more and more about the past is that the Olympic community failed to protect its athletes. We are profoundly sorry and wish we had acted sooner and more aggressive­ly.”

Nancy Hogshead-Makar, an Olympic swimming gold medalist who is the founder of Champion Women and advocates for the protection of athletes, says the USOC has a history of failing to act in the best interests of young athletes.

“It wasn’t until a series of crises have happened that have pushed (the USOC) toward acting,” she said. “It’s dishearten­ing that they have not acted, because it’s the right thing to do.”

The swimming scandal was touched off in April 2010 by a report on ABC’s 20/20 detailing inappropri­ate relationsh­ips between coaches and underage athletes, which included the revelation that 36 coaches had been banned for life over the previous 10 years. There are now more than 100 names on the banned list, most for sexual misconduct, and USA Swimming was named in at least eight lawsuits accusing it of mishandlin­g abuse complaints.

Wielgus, in particular, was criticized for failing to investigat­e abuse complaints against a coach who would later plead guilty to 20 counts of child molestatio­n, and he apologized for his handling of sexual abuse complaints years later.

Faced with a petition from 19 former swimmers who said they were sexually abused by their coaches, Wielgus withdrew his name from considerat­ion for the Internatio­nal Swimming Hall of Fame in 2014.

Wielgus was unavailabl­e comment Thursday.

USA Swimming spokesman Scott Leightman said the 2004 letter came as a result of a task force the national governing body created that year to look at requiring background checks, a step it made in 2006.

The swimming scandal prompted the USOC to form a working group in 2010 to evaluate how it could better protect young athletes, and its recommenda­tions would become the blueprint for current policies in the Olympic movement.

But it was not until Dec. 31, 2013 — more than nine years after USA Swimming’s letters — that the USOC establishe­d minimum standards for how national governing bodies should address sexual abuse.

The USOC also announced in 2014 it would open the U.S. Center for Safe Sport, which would house education and training efforts while also adjudicati­ng sexual misconduct cases for national governing bodies. The center did not open until this month, a delay Blackmun attributed to difficulty in fundraisin­g.

In the interim, USA Taekwondo, US Speedskati­ng and, most recently, USA Gymnastics have faced lawsuits or public criticism for their handling of sexual abuse cases.

Colarossi’s letter was sent to then-president Bill Hybl and then-executive director Dick Schultz, both of whom announced their resignatio­ns in 1999, and Blackmun, who was then the USOC’s general counsel. Blackmun left the USOC in 2001 and returned in 2010 as the CEO.

USA Swimming’s initial letter, which was addressed to then-CEO Jim Scherr and sent Oct. 27, 2014, does not specifical­ly mention sexual abuse. But it highlights four areas of concern: background checks, confidenti­ality, child protection and disqualify­ing factors for membership.

All those areas would be part of later policy changes for USA Swimming and other national governing bodies to address sexual abuse. to

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