One coach, Brian Hindson of Kokomo, IN, secretly taped teenage girls he coached in two high school pool locker rooms, one in which he directed girls to a "special" shower room where he had a hidden camera inside a locker. If the rumors Ive heard were correct, the reason was pressure from both NBAC and the U.S. Olympic Committees broadcast partner, NBC. Tim Joyce of WBAL in Baltimore has broken another big story on the front of sexual abuse in swimming, as he claims he has been in contact with a victim who claims to have been sexually abused while at the North Baltimore Aquatic Club, home to Michael Phelps and Bob Bowman. After personally interviewing unimpeachable sources who corroborated the information Tim wrote, the decision was made to return the story to the web with absolutely no changes. "This had gone on for nearly 10 years, without any detection whatsoever," Lt. Don Whitehead of the Kokomo, IN police department's cyber crime unit told ABC News. To read all about the SafeSport program, click here, or read the full letter below). From that point, Joyce reports that the victim was never contacted by USA Swimming, and that there was no follow-up on the case, though no sources were revealed, even by their connection to the situation if not by name. They did not immediately respond to requests for comment about the lawsuit. After complaints by the mother of the swimmer who'd been bumped, the two other swimmers wrote "apology notes" that were "accepted," and "at no time" did anyone involved say there had been "any conduct of a sexual nature"-until 10 months later, after Muchnick started writing about the incident. Before being hired to coach Canadas national team in November 2018, Szauder coached Slovakias national artistic swimming team for five years. But on this recent case from 76 the group that was the governing body for swimming is still located and in continuos business on W 86th St in Indianapolis. The report is attached to this email for your review. Five hundred is even more," he told correspondent Brian Ross. * After reporting that a coach at NBAC had been so accused, the Baltimore Sun failed to add that Baltimore County police claimed to me to have lost a report on all this by USA Swimming. Gabriella Brisson, 27, a plaintiff in the current lawsuit, said in an interview that a former Canadian national coach once suggested she move to Africa to lose weight. Kiss, now 26, described the coachs tactics as emotional terrorizing.. Wielgus says the local swim clubs, not the national organization, bear the responsibility to check the full backgrounds of swimming coaches they hire. Anastasia Gloushkov Leventhal, 35, competed in four Olympics for Israel. Teresa Ixchel Alonso Garca, 24, who competed for the Mexican national team for 12 years, said that in 2019 she was hospitalized for internal bleeding related to stress from swimming, but was pressured to compete by her coach. Look for a formal announcement and some format changes here shortly. The letter begins by referring to the claims as unfounded,in stark contrast to the statement made by the editors at WBAL who claim tohave verified Joyces sources. "I'd really like to know how he did it and where the videos have ended up, if they're on the internet or if he put them through Limewire or if they were just sitting around for his personal use," Rutkowski, who is believed to have been 12 or 13 when she was taped, told ABC News. As his team competed against University of Nevada, Reno at the Spartans new aquatics complex on campus, Hopkins stood in his blue ball cap and shorts and, with a stopwatch in hand, cheered them on to the finish. 3 talking about this. More than a dozen had complained that Shaw, an athletic trainer on campus since 2008, massaged them under their bras and underwear without justification and made them feel uncomfortable. They investigated and passed it on the police, and the coach lost his membership. "He may have been a good coach, but his goal with these girls ultimately was to molest them," said prosecutor Mendoza. Miroslava Germanov contributed reporting from Bratislava, Slovakia. One swimmer who spoke to the CBC, Sion Ormond, 21, is a plaintiff in the lawsuit against Canada Artistic Swimming. The most egregious actions were at WBAL radio, a historic and influential outlet in Baltimore. Last October, an independent organization devoted to safe sport, called ITP Sport, reviewed the accusations made by Canadian swimmers. Still, another one of Hindson's victims, Sarah Rutkowski, now 21, said there are many questions left unanswered. Bowman, Phelps' coach, is the CEO of NBAC. Additionally, this same victim approached USA Swimming months prior but was told nothing could be done because she wished to remain anonymous (USA Swimming has apparently changed that policy and now accepts anonymous reporting). Get Morning Report and other email newsletters. The statement also refers to Joyces claims asinaccurate, sensational, and issue-driven reporting. The letter then goes into details about the 6 core areas of USA Swimmings Safe Sport program, and says that it is routinely recognized as the best in Olympic sport.. Although this crop of swimmers had never been treated by Shaw the swim coach wouldnt allow that they understood the magnitude of what Hopkins had done for the athletes that came before them. She was first hired as the deputy athletic director, a role she occupied until May 2017, when she became athletic director. Thankfully, people such as the DOJ, the FBI and some other investigative agencies jumped into the matter and properly looked into it, Hopkins said. They ascend to the elite level as teenagers and say they often feel powerless approaching officials, who can seem more concerned with results than with protecting athletes. In another incident, Ormond said that Szauder told her, Sion, zip up your hoodie before I get too excited. Such behavior by Szauder was excused by Canadian officials, Ormond said, as a cultural difference because he was European. Turn on desktop notifications for breaking stories about interest? He has since faced similar criticism from swimmers and officials in Slovakia, where he coached from 2013 to 2018, before leaving to coach in Canada. This website does not provide legal advice. She retired last summer because she found the training atmosphere unbearable. (The letter, addressed to parents and friends of NBAC, went into some detail about how complaints within the program are handled, as it was originally geared toward that audience, as compared to the audience that has been closely following the story through the news and would already be familiar with many of the concepts. The only thing USA Swimming has a legal right to do is not allow this person to be a USA Swimming member if and only if he is convicted. Swimming wouldnt have any problems if every team did as much. He can be reached at [emailprotected]. Moving forward, here are some topics from Concussion Inc. on which the alternative City Paper and its Van Smith might consider shining some light in the Charm City or, alternatively, explaining why they cant. There is not a current investigation involving any coach from NBAC. I give USA Swimming credit for not discriminating between a large or small clubthe organization seems to ignore complaints from all concerned. Have you spoken to the members of NBAC about why hes no longer at the club? It is the onlyRead more . Asked if he had apologized to any of the young teen victims, Wielgus responded, "You feel I need to apologize to them? Members of his team said that as much as Hopkins tried to hide the strain, they could see it. Education | Before joining the Mercury News, she worked for The Associated Press in Cheyenne, Detroit and Dallas. Madilynne Medina , SFGATE. Founded WebCompetitive swimming in the U.S. has been scandal-ridden in recent years, with sexual-abuse prosecutions of coaches and civil lawsuits against USA Swimming prompting The executive director of USA Swimming, Chuck Wielgus, acknowledged the problem, but said "It's "It's not nearly as serious in USA Swimming as it might be in the rest of society.". Thank you for your message. I will continue to fully cooperate with any and all investigations. The rules seem to be flexible. Which is why I decided to partner with Irv; as, combined, we will be able to shed light on this grossly underreported story and, hopefully, also foster change in the way the sport is run in the United States. Really? 9, 2010 — -- In a sex abuse scandal that some victims compare to what happened in the Catholic Church, at least 36 swimming coaches have been banned for life by the Our program consists of efforts in six core areas: USA Swimming is proud of its proactive approach to abuse prevention and continually strives to be the leader in Safe Sport in the Olympic movement. Hes a father figure and made sure to look out for us.. The person who handled swimming then was an Employee of the AAU and had other duties till the fall of 76 when we began to make progress toward autonomy.Governance was handled by all the sports together. 01 June 2015, 09:37am. Full Text of the Letter from USA Swimming, Unedited: Q&A: On the blog about North Baltimore Aquatic Club. The club representative, John Cadigan, informed the alleged victim that the police would be contacting her and that USA Swimming would be called and an investigation would ensue from Colorado Springs. When the investigation corroborates the complaint, USA Swimming requests a National Board of Review Hearing against the individual. Now that this cancer-like scandal has spread to the most important swim club in the country, will there be calls for the entire leadership of Colorado Springs to step down? My key objective here is to let our community heal, she said. "The alleged incident had been investigated, discussed and resolved between all parties, and the minors involved apologized and apologies were accepted," the teenaged plaintiff's attorney, Anne McKenna, wrote in court documents. A former student ofa high-level coach with ties to the North Baltimore Aquatic Club recently came forward with sexual abuse allegations against that coach. Adam Andrasko, the current chief executive of USA Artistic Swimming, said he took the job in 2018 knowing that the sport as a whole needed to have a different cultural view. Efforts in the United States and elsewhere have included diversity campaigns, nutrition seminars and developing an athletes bill of rights. Brisson and Team Canada performed during a qualifying tournament for the 2016 Rio Olympics. Baltimore police have found no record of any complaint being passed on yet. Now is not the time, Tuite said. But "ten months after this incident, Muchnick falsely, maliciously and repeatedly began to publish defamatory statements that Minor John Doe is a 'sexual predator,' a 'child sex abuser],' a 'social deviant' and a 'sexual assailant' who 'digitally penetrated' and was repeatedly 'jabbing fingers' in 'the anus' of another swimmer.". "I certainly violated common corporate journalistic convention by deciding to publish names of minors," Muchnick says in an interview after the settlement, "and I have dialed that back" since he was ordered to do so by the court. And what of the reported incident and ongoing police and USA Swimming investigations of last years swimmer-on-swimmer sex assault? Photo Courtesy: Griffin Scott. WebThe NCAA Swimming Championship Was a National Scandal Swimmer Lia Thomas holds a trophy after finishing fifth in the 200 free at the NCAA Swimming & Diving with the subject line, "Scandals at Michael Phelps' North Baltimore Aquatic Club." Ill put it right out there. When I embarked on these investigations 15 months ago, beginning with the tragic suicidal death of Sarah Burt, I never thought Id stumble into such a morass of institutional failure; from the cover-ups in Colorado Springs to the abuse history of legendary coach Rick Curl; from USA Swimmings retaliation against whistle blowers to new cases of coach abuse in Alaska, Missouri, and elsewhere. Every time I look at it, it just brings unpleasant memories, Zhang said. From the statement: Because USA Swimming (and therefore its Code of Conduct) was not in existence in 1975, the organization legally had no recourse in the matter.. Gabor Szauder, the national team coach for Canada Artistic Swimming, is under criticism in Canada and Slovakia, where he previously coached. Canadian artistic swimmers have made it clear that abusive behavior by coaches and body-shaming began before Szauder became head coach of the national team. Fourteen different LSCs are represented in the Gold Medal level. Tuite will serve as the schools deputy athletic director of external relations. Whether the grim subject matter is Penn States negligence while children are raped, or Lance Armstrongs decade of vicious mendacity, or the hero-turned-alleged-murderer Oscar Pistorius, or USA Swimmings ethos of profits over child safety its never fun to face the dark side of an icon. 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