Olympics
MORE THAN 50 WOMEN SUING UNITED STATES OLYMPIC COMMITTEE OVER SEX ABUSE
BY JAMES DIAMOND
A group of 51 women are suing the United States Olympic Committee (USOC) for failing to prevent sexual abuse carried out by former USA Gymnastics team doctor Larry Nassar, according to reports in the US press.
The Denver Post reported that a 134-page lawsuit was filed on Tuesday (March 12) in Colorado, where the USOC is based, asking for an “unspecified amount” in damages.
The claimants are also reportedly demanding reform and accountability at the USOC to protect athletes in the future, alleging they could have prevented the abuse of young female athletes, but instead actively tried to conceal the case and were negligent with reports and investigations.
It continues to assert, The Denver Post says, that even today the USOC’s directors are not taking proper measures against employees or representatives who are accused of sexual abuse.
Nassar is currently serving up to 175 years in prison having been found guilty of sexually abusing dozens of young American gymnasts under the guise of medical treatment.
An independent report published in December by law firm Ropes & Gray claimed both the USOC and USA Gymnastics had facilitated Nassar’s abuse and had failed to act when allegations against him first emerged.
“People are starting to come forward and feel empowered to take back their voices and do something about it,” a lawyer representing the victims is quoted as saying.
The majority of the claimants in the case, which covers abuse from the 1990s to 2018, were children at the time of the abuse.
The youngest was said to be eight-years-old at the time.
“The USOC, its officers and directors and their national governing boards have known for decades that sexual predators and paedophiles are attracted to the occupation of coaching young athletes, yet failed to take effective action to detect and eliminate from Olympic sports those adults who posed an unreasonable risk of harm to the young athletes they were duty bound to protect,” the lawsuit reportedly reads.
Most of the abuse allegations in the case are levelled against Nassar, but according to The Denver Post, six coaches are also named for abusing gymnasts.
One of those coaches is David Byrd, convicted in 2009 of “aggravated indecent liberties” with a child after a gymnast complained he had abused her.
According to the lawsuit, the victim twice told USA Gymnastics about the abuse, but the body took no action or warned other gymnasts of Byrd’s conviction.
It is alleged another complaint against Byrd was then filed in March last year.
Both USA Gymnastics and the USOC have been in disarray since the allegations against Nassar first emerged.
USA Gymnastics has since filed for bankruptcy and has gone through four President’s in two years, while many of USOC’s directors have either been fired or resigned.
Amid several lawsuits against it the USOC said in December that unlike USA Gymnastics, it would not consider bankruptcy protection.
Responding to the story, the USOC told insidethegames it would not comment on ongoing legal matters.
Insidethegames has also contacted USA Gymnastics for comment.
Athletes at the Milano Cortina Winter Games have raced through their free condom supply ahead of Valentine’s Day, leaving dispensers empty on Saturday, with more than a week of competition remaining.
According to a report by Reuters, organisers had distributed around 10,000 condoms across the city and mountain accommodation sites, continuing a long-standing Olympic tradition aimed at promoting safe relationships among competitors living in close quarters.
By Saturday, however, supplies had run out — adding Milan to a growing list of Olympic hosts where demand has comfortably exceeded expectations.
“Clearly, this shows Valentine’s Day is in full swing at the village,” International Olympic Committee spokesman Mark Adams told a press conference. “Ten thousand have been used — 2,800 athletes — you can go figure, as they say.”
Adams added with a smile: “It is rule 62 of the Olympic Charter that we have to have a condoms story. Faster, higher, stronger, together.”
Milano Cortina organisers later acknowledged that stocks had been depleted due to “higher-than-anticipated demand,” but assured that additional supplies were already on the way.
“Additional supplies are being delivered and will be distributed across all Villages between today and Monday,” organisers said in a statement. “They will be continuously replenished until the end of the Games to ensure continued availability.”
The unexpected shortage also surprised some athletes.
Mexican figure skater Donovan Carrillo said he had only just heard about the situation. “I just saw that this morning. I was, like, shocked as everyone else,” he said.
Mialitiana Clerc, an alpine skier representing Madagascar, noted that boxes once placed at building entrances were quickly emptied.
“There were a lot of boxes at the entrance of every building where we were staying, and every day, everything had gone from the boxes,” Clerc said. “I already know that a lot of people are using condoms, or giving them to their friends outside of the Olympics, because it’s a kind of gift for them.”
While medals remain the official measure of achievement at the Games, the empty dispensers suggest that the social side of the Olympics is also proceeding at full pace.
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Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy on Friday awarded a top state honour to an Olympic skeleton racer who was disqualified from the Winter Games for wearing a helmet commemorating athletes killed in the war with Russia.
Zelenskiy, speaking to Vladyslav Heraskevych on the sidelines of the annual Munich Security Conference, said he had great respect for “all the Olympians who supported you and your position.”
“Medals are important for Ukraine and for you, but it seems to me that the most important thing is who you are,” Zelenskiy said while presenting the racer with the Order of Freedom.
Heraskevych told the president the award was “huge” and that the athletes depicted on the helmet “deserve it even more. Because of their sacrifice, we can compete in the Olympics.”
Heraskevych, 27, was disqualified at the Winter Games in Italy on Thursday when the International Bobsleigh and Skeleton Federation jury ruled that the helmet’s depiction of athletes killed since Russia invaded Ukraine in 2022 breached rules on political neutrality.
The Court of Arbitration for Sport dismissed his appeal on Friday.
Heraskevych told reporters after the award ceremony that his disqualification was discriminatory as he had not violated the Olympic Charter, a document he said he “really valued.”
“But at the same time, I understand that this scandal has united people around the world about our problem and about the sacrifice of these great athletes, and I believe this goal is much more important than any medal,” he said.
Speaking before the CAS hearing earlier in the day, Heraskevych said his exclusion and rules imposed by the International Olympic Committee were “an instrument of propaganda for Russia. I still receive a lot of threats from the Russian side.”
-Reuters
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Ukraine’s skeleton racer Vladyslav Heraskevych was disqualified from the Milano Cortina Winter Games on Thursday over the use of a helmet depicting Ukrainian athletes killed in the war with Russia, the International Olympic Committee said.
He was informed of his disqualification after a meeting with IOC President Kirsty Coventry early in the morning at the sliding venue.
His team said they would appeal the decision at the Court of Arbitration for Sport.
Coventry told reporters she had wanted to meet the athlete face to face in a last-ditch effort to break the impasse.
“I was not meant to be here but I thought it was really important to come here and talk to him face to face,” Coventry told reporters.
“No one, especially me, is disagreeing with the messaging, it’s a powerful message, it’s a message of remembrance, of memory.
“The challenge was to find a solution for the field of play. Sadly we’ve not been able to find that solution” she added, choking up.
“I really wanted to see him race, It’s been an emotional morning.”
The IOC offered him the opportunity to display his “helmet of remembrance” depicting 24 images of dead compatriots before the start and after the end of Thursday’s race at the Games, while also allowing him to wear a black armband while competing.
“I am disqualified from the race. I will not get my Olympic moment,” said Heraskevych.
The skeleton competition starts later on Thursday.
-Reuters
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