Sexual abuse stories remain hidden
The aspiring Olympic ice skater was 13.
A coach at her rink told her to ask a 26-year-old Olympic skater to send her pictures of his penis, she alleges. In return, he offered the then-13-year-old and another underage friend pizza.
French pairs skater Morgan Cipres sent two photos by direct message on Instagram, the girl and her parents allege. When the family told coaches for the girl and Cipres what happened, they allege the girl was pressured, even threatened, to keep quiet.
These are the accusations in an investigative story this week written by veteran sports columnist Christine
Brennan and edited by Peter Barzilai.
It started with a tip she got Aug. 10, soon after she published a story on Ashley Wagner, an Olympic skater who trusted Brennan with her story of sexual assault.
It took months for Brennan to report out all the details.
She developed a relationship with the parents, who ultimately trusted her with two videos they took of a direct Instagram message. It appeared to come from Cipres’ verified account.
She got a copy of the complaint sent to SafeSport, which first opened in March 2017 to investigate sexual abuse in Olympic sports. She confirmed the body is investigating.
Brennan obtained an email the girl’s tutor sent to her therapist and parents. The tutor had become aware of the pressure and was worried for the teen over comments made by the coaches, John Zimmerman, a 2002 Olympian and member of the U.S. Figure Skating Hall of Fame, Silvia Fontana, a 2002 and 2006 Olympian representing Italy, and Vinny Dispenza.
“Please ask her to share with you the many statements that have been made to her over the past few weeks (mostly by John) in an attempt to manipulate or scare her into keeping quiet,” the tutor wrote of the young skater. “
She has been told that telling will place a target on her back with French fans, that she is the type of girl who does this (collect pics), that she has been asking for it by her clothing choices, that her dad is an attorney and imagine what he will do if he finds out, that she will destroy his career and that of his partner, and much more.”
Brennan confirmed the email with the therapist, who says: “I did what I was bound to do ethically. I contacted the parents. I contacted the authorities. I wanted to make sure the child was safe.”
And finally, she went to the accused. When asked Monday if he sent the photos of himself to the girl, Cipres replied: “I cannot talk with you about anything about that. I mean, I have nothing to say about this allegation. I have nothing, nothing, nothing to say about anything about that so I’m sorry, I cannot talk to you.”
And the three coaches sent a joint statement, after the story published (Brennan had asked for comment beforehand):
“We are completely shocked by the recent allegations made in this article. We were not contacted by SafeSport and there are currently no claims against us.
“We hold ourselves to the highest standards of safety and professionalism.
“We deny the allegations and look forward to clearing up this matter which we take very seriously.”
These are allegations. The investigation is ongoing.
But Olympic sports have a troubling pattern when it comes to young athletes alleging abuse or misconduct and adults denying it.
It happened in USA Gymnastics, where the Indianapolis Star uncovered horrific abuse by the team doctor and a cover-up by the sport’s executives. It happened in taekwondo, where SafeSport banned brothers Jean and Steven Lopez for sexual misconduct, punishments that were lifted when witnesses declined to appear in the appeal hearing. And it happened to Wagner, who came to Brennan with her story in August of being assaulted by an adult skater when she had just turned 17.
The common thread in all of these stories: They would never have come to light without professional journalists, like Brennan, taking the care and time to investigate.
“I have no agenda while gathering facts,” Brennan says.
“I’m a blank slate. You have to find out what happened. Get as much information as you can to corroborate. Every syllable has to be checked and rechecked.”
Brennan has covered every Olympics since 1984 and figure skating at the Olympics since 1988. She has written three books on the sport, including the national best-seller Inside Edge, published in 1996 after the Tonya Harding-Nancy Kerrigan saga.
“I believe things are changing due to this reporting,” she says, “but slowly. Is any sport doing enough? No. Is our world doing enough?
“No. There are still way too many people protecting the brand, whatever the brand may be, rather than protecting our children.”
Thank you for reading, and thank you for supporting USA TODAY. To receive this column as a newsletter, visit newsletters.usatoday.com and subscribe to The Backstory.