new underage sex abuse scandal involving USA swimming

[Merckx index]

Wow! A new underage abuse scandal is breaking, this time in USA swimming. I recall reading a few years ago how Stanford’s highly respected coach, who I think also coached in the Olympics, was forced to resign because of charges of abusing underage female swimmers. It now seems this kind of behavior is rampant. Though it’s obviously related to the Olympics, it may warrant its own thread:

http://www.wbal.com/article/92453/12/template-story/USA-Swimming-Scandal-Worse-Than-Penn-State

Sarah Burt is dead.

An outstanding student and competitive swimmer who became a lifeguard and loved teaching children to swim, her private anguish became too much to bear. So after finally telling her parents of the sexual abuse she suffered at the hands of her United States Swimming coach, she made a decision. On June 29, 2010 Burt drove her car to a busy intersection in rural Illinois, 20 minutes from Peoria. She parked, got out, and ended her years of torment when she walked into traffic and was hit by a semi-truck. She was 16 years old…

The same year of Burt's death, Andy King, a San Jose swimming coach, was sentenced to 40 years in prison after authorities uncovered a pattern of sexual abuse that lasted three decades and involved more than a dozen young on the West Coast.

California attorney Robert Allard, who is leading the prosecution and settling of cases against USA Swimming puts the blame squarely on USA Swimming's leadership - a leadership that is still entirely in place today.

“To understand how this culture can flourish", Allard said, "one need only look at the individuals in charge of USA Swimming. (USA Swimming President) Chuck Wielgus effectively thwarted any investigation of King by ordering that a swimmer's complaint of sex abuse be kept 'confidential' in 2002. Wielgus then attempted to deceive the American public on ESPN by stating that King was not even on USA Swimming's 'radar' until he was arrested in 2010 for child molestation. Wielgus repeated this under penalty of perjury in legal documents.”

Like Penn State, the leaders at USA Swimming were aware of problems with coaches but opted to suppress what they knew rather than cleanse from within. But while football is the national sporting religion and Joe Paterno was one of its saints, swimming is barely on the sporting radar except during Olympic summers, as we're in now.

So in that sense, the Penn State tragedy was an "easy story" for reporters, with a built-in narrative and one clearly defined evildoer with a cast of complicit characters in the wings.

The USA Swimming story is actually far more comprehensive and layered, which renders it a far more challenging topic to follow.

And there are continue to be new cases of sexual abuse by swim coaches around the country, as evidenced by coaches charged with such crimes in Murfreesboro, Tennessee, Orange County, California, and Malvern, Pennsylvania.

 

[Caruut]

Horrifying. Someone close to me suffered at the hands of a swimming coach and has never truly recovered. My thoughts go out to her family and friends.

 

[BroDeal]

Obviously this requires a $60 million fine and all American Olympic swim results for the last ten years to be voided.

I will bet dollars to doughnuts that this happens all the time in sports that involve young girls. Gymnastics is probably lousy with it.

 

[ElChingon]

Obviously this requires a $60 million fine and all American Olympic swim results for the last ten years to be voided.

I will bet dollars to doughnuts that this happens all the time in sports that involve young girls. Gymnastics is probably lousy with it.

Odd you only mention sports...

 

[Boeing]

punish offenders not future athletes

 

[kurtinsc]

Not defending anyone involved with this... but I'm not sure people realize exactly what USA swimming is, at least when it comes to a non-olympic (age group) level.

It's a governing body of a large group of club level swim teams in the United States (about 3000). Their coaching certification isn't the same thing as hiring an employee... it's closer to a lifeguard certification.

Andy King is scum... but attacking USA Swimming for certifying him is kind of like attacking the Red Cross for certifying a life guard who molested children. King was never a national coach (one brought in to coach the only teams USA swimming runs like the Olympic or world championship teams). He was a club coach. He took some classes, passed a test and didn't have any red flags in his criminal record. USA swimming doesn't hire the coaches. They've certified 36,000 coaches in the last decade... what exactly is expected more then they do? To be honest a background check seems almost excessive... the EMPLOYER of the coaches should be doing that stuff.

 

[Alpe d'Huez]

Very disturbing story.

Thanks Kurtinsc for the informative post.

 

[rickshaw]

contradiction

Not defending anyone involved with this... but I'm not sure people realize exactly what USA swimming is, at least when it comes to a non-olympic (age group) level.

It's a governing body of a large group of club level swim teams in the United States (about 3000). Their coaching certification isn't the same thing as hiring an employee... it's closer to a lifeguard certification.

Andy King is scum... but attacking USA Swimming for certifying him is kind of like attacking the Red Cross for certifying a life guard who molested children. King was never a national coach (one brought in to coach the only teams USA swimming runs like the Olympic or world championship teams). He was a club coach. He took some classes, passed a test and didn't have any red flags in his criminal record. USA swimming doesn't hire the coaches. They've certified 36,000 coaches in the last decade... what exactly is expected more then they do? To be honest a background check seems almost excessive... the EMPLOYER of the coaches should be doing that stuff.

What you say here would seem to contradict quote #2, post #1 above, that USA Swimming actively protected a known child molester.

Comment?

 

[Alpe d'Huez]

Actually, I'd like to know if they actually protected the guy. And who exactly at USA Swimming are "they"? That seems to be the key here.

(Yes, realize I'm quoting my own speculation).

 

[Merckx index]

More on this, certainly suggesting USA Swimming has known about and covered up some of these cases:

Even taking Wielgus at his word, that he only heard rumors about a “settlement” regarding Curl, it utterly defies belief that the Executive Director of USA Swimming wouldn’t have investigated further rumors of the worst nature about a coaching legend, a man responsible for gold medals representing the United States’ national swim team. Either Wielgus acted irresponsibly by not following up on the Curl matter or, more bluntly, there was a cover-up initiated - a lie of omission - to shield the organization from taking another blow to its reputation.

And consider, amazingly, that Curl had credentials for the Olympic swim trials in Omaha, Nebraska held in late June of this year. Currin [a swimmer who claimed to have been abused by Curl from ages 13-16] told me that she spoke to an investigator from USA Swimming in late April, two months before the Olympic trials and a full three months before USA Swimming decided to take action against Curl. Why was Curl allowed to attend the trials if USA Swimming had all the evidence it needed to at least temporarily suspend the coach? Was 60 days not enough to examine the blatant evidence?

For Bob Allard, who has successfully settled a case against USA Swimming and is currently representing Currin, there is no doubt that Curl’s activities have been known about for many years.

Says Allard, “Rick Curl and his propensity to sexually assault minor swimmers for decades was the worst kept secret in the sport. In my opinion, anyone of significance within USA Swimming has known about Mr. Curl for years but were too afraid to touch it. When we first started representing sex abuse claimants against USA Swimming over three years ago, Curl’s was one of the first names to pop up. And his name has been pervasive ever since. We also have information that three other legendary USA Swimming coaches (names withheld until they are contacted for comment) each knew about Mr. Curl and no one did a thing about him.”

http://www.wbal.com/article/92557/1...How-Long-Was-Rick-Curl-On-USA-Swimmings-Radar

 

[JPM London]

Obviously this requires a $60 million fine and all American Olympic swim results for the last ten years to be voided.

I will bet dollars to doughnuts that this happens all the time in sports that involve young girls. Gymnastics is probably lousy with it.

Odd you only mention sports...

... and girls.

It doesn't take a rocket scientist to figure out that a pedo would place himself (or herself for that matter) in a position where they have the best possible access to the targets of their obsession. Places with kids are pretty good for that for a start, but places with kids where they are frequently naked and where the pedo is in a superior position is obviously even better...

To all the rest of us it never ceases to be shocking even if the realist knows that there's any type out there - just look long enough, somebody somewhere will be doing something completely and utterly unthinkable.

While USA Swimming is not directly involved in managing coaches and merely "authorise" them, there's still a huge difference between not knowing something and ignoring something one knows - and an even huger difference between not knowing something and actively working to cover it up while not doing anything to stop it either.

 

[rickshaw]

just read the dam thing

Actually, I'd like to know if they actually protected the guy. And who exactly at USA Swimming are "they"? That seems to be the key here.

(Yes, realize I'm quoting my own speculation).

If you take the time to read post #1, quote #2 you will find both answers.

"They" = Chuck Wielgus
Who ordered, "that a swimmer's complaint of sex abuse be kept 'confidential' in 2002"

The IF it happened is the object of the lawsuit

 

[Dekker_Tifosi]

Horrible way of a coach to misuse the trust placed in him by the athlete and parents of those girls in such an awful way. Even more horrible that USA Swimming tried to cover it up.

I've heard the same stories of gymnastic coaches btw, happened in the Netherlands years ago at some local gymnastic clubs where coaches also sexually abused their pupils (young girls).

Makes me mad

 

[kurtinsc]

What you say here would seem to contradict quote #2, post #1 above, that USA Swimming actively protected a known child molester.

Comment?

Because the post was from a lawyer hoping to sue USA swimming?

Look, people who don't know how the organization works can easily be misled into thinking that they somehow have some role in monitoring club coaches. But that's not what the organization does... they make sure they are capable swim coaches for club teams. They make sure they haven't been convicted of crimes. But that's it. It's a certification, not a LICENSE.

I was never certified as a USA Swimming coach, but coached summer league swim teams. My qualifications were... I was a good swimmer. If I had pursued club coaching I would have gotten certified, and for a USS club it would have been required at some point. But it's a skills certification with a simple "have you been convicted" type background check. There's nothing like an interview process or checking out references. It's exactly like becoming a lifeguard.

I swam for multiple USS club teams (and in the early years some YMCA teams certified separately from the USS), from the age of 6 to 18, in three different states (Rhode Island, North Carolina and Georgia). While people in the local swimming community knew a LOT of dirt about the individual coaches, the idea that USA swimming was some sort of oversight similar to say... the UCI in cycling... is false. USA swimming runs the olympic and world championship teams, and certifies coaches. There is no oversight, but they do recognize state organizations that run the state championship meets and handle team registrations within the state. Most of these people if not all are volunteers... mostly coming from the existing club teams. They're not full time employees. My old coach (Chris Davis from Swim Atlanta) is the VP of the Georgia Swimming organization. The chairman works for Delta Airlines. Most of the people involved are coaches in Georgia.

Does the national USS organization have anything to do with something that happened with a club coach? Frankly... no they don't. I might believe the state organization members would have some knowledge, but blaming USS Swimming for that is kind of off the wall. They support the state organizations, but it's not a formal hierarchy. All that the USA Swimming organization does is run the national team, the national meets and provide the certification to be a USS registered coach. They handle nothing below that level, the state organizations do.

Note, this is referring to the situation with Andy King. Rick Curl is a different story... he was a NATIONAL team coach. As such, he was in fact "hired" if you will by USA Swimming. King was only a certified club coach... it's simply not the same level of responsibility.

USA Swimming has direct responsibilty for national team coaches like Curl. But all they do with club coaches is certification and cursory background checks.