Fifteen years ago, the arrest of swim coach Andy King for sexually abusing a 14-year-old girl he coached in San Jose marked a turning point. The survivor, represented by attorney Robert Allard of Cerri, Boskovich & Allard, catalyzed a movement that has significantly improved safety in USA Swimming.

“USA Swimming and Olympic sports would not be safer without the courage of Jane Doe coming forward in 2010 and publicly sharing her story with the national news media,” Allard says. ” This revelation prompted other athletes to speak out, leading to the imprisonment of top coaches and a comprehensive overhaul of USA Swimming.”

Some of the biggest names in the sport were outed for sexually abusing minors or for covering up for sexually abusive coaches. The list includes coaches such as former Olympic coach Rick Curl, who went to prison, former USA Swimming National Team Director Everett Uchiyama, who resigned, and former USA Swimming CEO Chuck Wielgus, who was denied entry into the Hall of Fame.

Allard credits Olympians like Deena Deardurff, Nancy Hogshead, and Ariana Smith (Kukors) for their crucial role in changing USA Swimming’s culture. “The real heroes are the outspoken Olympians, courageous journalists, and athletes who shared their stories,” he adds.

Nancy Hogshead, Olympian and J.D., commends Allard’s legal efforts: “Attorney Bob Allard has been responsible for court-room accountability for athlete sexual abuse inside the Olympic Movement over the past decade, changing case law and supporting crucial legislation.”

Today, athletes benefit from mandatory coach background checks, a ban on coach-athlete romantic relationships, the independent SafeSport entity, and a public list of banned coaches and officials that has grown from 36 in 2010 to, currently, over 200.

“These efforts protect our Olympic hopefuls,” Allard concludes. “They allow athletes, including those competing in Paris, to focus entirely on their Olympic dreams without fear of predatory behavior.”

Unfortunately, the USOPC has been the subject of numerous allegations of sexual abuse and misconduct over the years. These allegations have highlighted the need for better safeguards and protections for athletes and a more robust response to incidents of abuse.

Our law firm holds the USOPC accountable for the sexual abuse of athletes

Attorney Robert Allard is a prominent advocate for survivors of sexual abuse and a key figure in holding the USOPC accountable for its failures to protect athletes from abuse.

Allard has represented numerous survivors of sexual abuse in high-profile cases involving the USOPC and its affiliated organizations, including USA Swimming.

Allard has been a vocal critic of the USOPC’s response to incidents of sexual abuse, and has called for greater accountability and transparency from the organization. He has argued that the USOPC has failed to take sufficient action to protect athletes from abuse, and that its policies and procedures are inadequate to address the scope and scale of the problem.

He has also been involved in efforts to create systemic change within the Olympic movement. He has advocated for greater athlete representation in governance, stronger background checks for coaches and officials, and improved reporting and investigative protocols for incidents of abuse.

In addition to his legal work, Allard has been a strong advocate for survivors of sexual abuse and has worked to raise public awareness about the issue. He has appeared in numerous media interviews and has spoken at conferences and events about the need for greater accountability and transparency within the Olympic movement.

Overall, Allard’s work has been instrumental in bringing attention to the issue of sexual abuse within the Olympic movement and in holding the USOC and its affiliated organizations accountable for their failures to protect athletes from abuse.

USOPC is indifferent to sexual abuse

One of the most high-profile cases of sexual abuse involving the USOPC occurred in 2018, when Larry Nassar, a former doctor for USA Gymnastics, was sentenced to up to 175 years in prison for sexually abusing more than 150 young women, many of whom were Olympic athletes. Nassar’s abuse took place over a period of decades, and many of the victims had reported his behavior to coaches, parents, and other officials, but their concerns were often ignored or dismissed.

The Nassar case was a wake-up call for the USOPC and prompted significant changes in policies and procedures to prevent and respond to incidents of sexual abuse. These changes included the creation of the U.S. Center for SafeSport, an independent organization responsible for investigating and adjudicating allegations of abuse within the Olympic movement. The USOPC also implemented new training requirements for coaches, officials, and athletes and improved its reporting and response protocols for incidents of abuse.

Despite these efforts, however, sexual abuse remains a persistent problem within the Olympic movement. In February 2021, a report commissioned by the USOPC found that at least 50 coaches and officials affiliated with U.S. Olympic sports organizations had been convicted or accused of sexual misconduct involving minors over the previous two decades.

The report also found that the USOPC and its national governing bodies had failed to take sufficient action to prevent or respond to incidents of abuse, and that there were significant gaps in the reporting and investigation of abuse allegations. The report recommended a number of changes, including stronger background checks for coaches and officials, increased athlete representation in governance, and greater transparency and accountability for USOC and national governing body leaders.

The USOPC has taken steps to address these recommendations, including the creation of an athlete-led task force to help guide its response to the report. However, critics argue that more needs to be done to prevent abuse and protect athletes.

To address these challenges, the USOPC and its partners will need to continue to prioritize the safety and well-being of athletes, and work to create a culture of accountability and transparency. This will require ongoing education and training for coaches, officials, and athletes, as well as robust reporting and investigative protocols and swift and effective responses to incidents of abuse.

Ultimately, the USOPC has a responsibility to ensure that all athletes who participate in Olympic and Paralympic sports in the United States are able to do so in a safe and supportive environment.

If you have been sexually abused or sexually assaulted by a sports organization under the control of the USOPC, contract our law firm for a free and confidential consultation.

Since the Nasser scandal broke in 2016, at least 250 women say they were sexually assaulted by Nasser beginning in 1992.

One more victim has come forward: Gymnast Terin Humphrey, who won two silver medals at the 2004 Summer Olympics.

Terin was only 15 years old when she was “treated” by Nasser at a 2002 gymnastics meet in Virginia.

“I had torn both my hips, so my coaches asked Dr. Nasser to see me,” Terin said. “One of my coaches accompanied me, but it didn’t make any difference – Nasser blocked her line of vision to make sure she couldn’t see what was happening. He pulled my briefs up so high that I knew I was exposed – and then he began petting me.”

Terin was caught off guard and jerked away from Nasser, but he continued assaulting her.

“I remember his smile got really wide and he made a sound I’ll never forget when he felt my pubic hair,” she said. “He kept his hand on my vagina and continued rubbing me. Then he digitally penetrated me.”

Terin, her coach, and Nasser were only in the exam room together for 15-20 minutes. Still, it was an “odd” experience that Terin brushed off, thinking that because Nasser was “a USA Gymnastics doctor, he probably had more expertise than my previous massage therapist.”

But as Terin digs up those long-ago memories, her recollections offer insight into the perverted mind of a serial sexual predator.

“He explained pubic this and pubic that,” she said. “I had no idea what he meant, but he seemed to know what he was talking about. I remember walking back to practice and not feeling any change in my hips. I also remember the feeling of his hands on me.”

The next day, Terin’s coaches asked her if her hips still hurt, and when she replied, “Yes” they trundled her off to see Nasser again.

“The same thing happened again, although I do remember him stretching me a little during the second visit. The next time my coaches asked if I was still in pain, I lied and said, ‘No’ because I didn’t want to go back to him,” Terin said.

At some point, Terin asked her teammates their opinion of Dr. Nasser, all of whom thought he was “wonderful.”

“That made me think I was being overly-sensitive, so I convinced myself it never happened and attempted to forget about it,” she said.

Terin’s “heart sank” when news of Nasser’s crimes broke, but it was another four years before she realized that she had been sexually abused.

“It took me years to acknowledge my abuse, so I’m certain there are other victims who have yet to come forward. When they do come forward, hopefully, the class action lawsuit we’ve filed will give them a voice, too,” she said.

Terin found her voice after becoming pregnant in 2019.

“I had the worst pregnancy ever,” Terin told the Southern California News Group. “The more I went to the doctors, the more I was having issues … I felt like my puzzle pieces were coming together, and I just remember when I had my pelvic exams, I remember seeing Larry.”

In July 2020, Terin was diagnosed with PTSD by Dr. Steven Elig, who said, “Late disclosure is not uncommon in sex abuse victims.”

He also said, “Worry about her unborn child, difficulties with doctors’ pelvic exams, delivery, touching her genitals (served as) reminders of her abuse (which) flowered once she found out she was pregnant. She presents as the real thing.”

Terin was also diagnosed with severe depression and is seeing a therapist twice weekly.

She feels guilty about putting her daughter, born in January 2020, through such a stressful pregnancy and is working hard now to be a good mom.

“I don’t want what happened to me to happen to my daughter,” she concluded.

“I am glad that we were able to come to a resolution to this difficult process. As I begin the next chapter of my life, I hope that these last two years, along with the efforts of so many others, will help to provide athletes with a safer environment in which to compete,” Mrs. Kukors Smith said.

USA Swimming added the following: Throughout this process, Mrs. Kukors Smith has shown incredible strength and bravery and offered a powerful voice to all survivors. In sharing her story, Mrs. Kukors Smith thrust the very important subject matter of sexual abuse within youth serving organizations into focus and furthered important dialogue about the continued need for robust athlete protection policies and strong athlete and parent education.

Mrs. Kukors Smith is a former world record holder in the 200-meter individual medley and placed 5th at the 2012 London Olympic Games in the event.

Six victims identify former coaches Everett Uchiyama, Mitch Ivey and Andy King as their sexual abusers; King is a convicted child molester who is serving 40 years for his crimes.

The three lawsuits that were filed in early June 2020 are the latest volley against USA Swimming, which has come under fire for decades for condoning a culture that allowed young girls to be repeatedly abused by their coaches.

USA Swimming is the National Governing Body for the sport;  it oversees more than 2,800 swim teams and is responsible for selecting and training teams for international competitions, including the Olympics.

Pacific Swimming and Southern California Swimming, which are local swimming committees that are supervised by USA Swimming, and numerous individual swim clubs are also named in the lawsuits.

The suits were filed by Cerri, Boskovich & Allard on behalf of six women who were sexually abused more than 30 years ago.

The women, who are now in their 40s and 50s, were all Olympic hopefuls who were abused when they were teens and pre-teens.

Three of the six victims spoke about their abuse at a June 2020 news conference, in hopes of seeing meaningful change.

Suzette Moran

“USA Swimming enabled my coach, Mitch Ivey, to abuse me because they knew he’d impregnated an underage swimmer years before he became my coach. They should have banned him then but they protected him instead and allowed him to continue coaching,” victim Suzette Moran said.

Suzette was 14 when Ivey started grooming her for his own sexual gratification. The grooming escalated and Suzette became pregnant when she was 17.

“I became pregnant a few months before the 1984 Olympic trials were set to begin,” Suzette said. “Coach Ivey told me to have an abortion, which killed my dreams of competing in the Los Angeles Olympic Games.”

Suzette started swimming for USA Swimming clubs at the age of 10. From that time on, she was exposed to a world where swim coaches viewed young swimmers as their next conquest.

“I frequently saw underage swimmers sitting on coaches’ laps,” she said. “It gave me the creeps. And when I was 12, I met another coach who Olympic gold medalist Deena Deardorff  said had repeatedly sexually abused her.”

Ms. Deardorff said her abuse started in 1968 and continued through the 1972 Munich Olympics.

USA Swimming’s then-executive director Chuck Wielgus acknowledged the problem in September 2009, when he said  he’d been notified that coaches were sexually abusing swimmers “almost every week.”

Remember the name Chuck Wielgus because it comes up repeatedly in the three lawsuits. He passed away in 2017.

Attorney Robert Allard has been advocating for women who were sexually abused by USA Swimming coaches for 13 years and said, “We know that hundreds of USA Swimming coaches sexually abused countless young swimmers, a majority of whom have suffered in silence while USA Swimming reaped the financial rewards of Olympic gold medal-winning athletes. It’s high time we give these survivors their voices back.”

Debra Denithorne Grodensky

Debra Denithorne Grodensky found her voice in order to advocate for mandated sexual abuse education and training for USA Swimming coaches, officials, volunteers, athletes and parents.

“If there had been a mandated educational program when I was a swimmer, my coach’s red flag behavior would have been recognized by me or the hundreds of people who knew about my sexual abuse,” Debra said.

Her coach was the notorious serial pedophile Andy King, who was sentenced in 2010 to 40 years in prison after pleading no contest to 20 counts of felony child molestation.

The allegations against King date back to the 1970s.

Debra was abused by King for five years beginning in 1980, when she was just 11 years old.

“Andy King’s process of grooming me for his sexual gratification began shortly after he approached my parents and explained that I could be an elite swimmer, perhaps an Olympian,” Debra said. “He also groomed my family, friends and teammates.”

“I believe my life trajectory would have been drastically different if USA Swimming did not have a culture that enabled coaches to sexually abuse their athletes,” Debra said. “It was that culture that permitted Andy King to abuse me for years without consequence.”

Debra also called out former USA Swimming executive director Wielgus for failing to protect young swimmers.

“Wielgus directed current USA Swimming members Clint Benton, Steve Morselli and Millie Nygren to keep Andy King’s abuse a secret,” Debra said. “They are still USA Swimming employees and they have never been held accountable.”

She hopes the current executive director, Tim Hinchey, will “get rid of all USA Swimming members who enabled Andy King to sexually abuse me and more than a dozen other swimmers.”

King’s abuse of Debra began to circulate throughout USA Swimming circles to the point where, in 1985, San Ramon Valley Aquatics refused to renew his contract.

But he stayed in Northern California and continued to coach and abuse young swimmers at Chabot Aquatics.

One of those swimmers, who is identified as plaintiff Katie Kelly in the King lawsuit, overheard a conversation between Pacific Swimming representatives “wherein one of them openly acknowledged King was a pedophile and/or child molester and was sleeping with his swimmers,” the lawsuit says.

While at Chabot, King allegedly sexually assaulted at least 10 young female swimmers and impregnated one of the girls, the lawsuit says.

Reports of King’s sexual misconduct finally forced him to leave the San Francisco Bay Area. He moved to Oak Harbor, Washington, where he reportedly abused two young women.

He was back in the Bay Area by 2000, working as the head coach at San Jose Aquatics.

In 2003, swimmer Katie Kelly filed a written complaint about King to Pacific Swimming that was forwarded to USA Swimming.

“Her complaint was ignored,” Mr. Allard said.  “We know of at least one underage swimmer who was abused between 2009-2010 because they didn’t act on Ms. Kelly’s complaint.”

That swimmer, however, notified her pastor, who called the San Jose Police Department. They arrested King on April 2, 2009.

For King, it was the beginning of the end.

But the trauma still hasn’t ended for his victims.

“I’ve suffered from years of anxiety and depression as a result of King’s abuse,” Debra said.

Tracy Palmero

Swimmer Tracy Palmero said it took her 15 years to realize she was a sexual abuse victim. “Once I learned that I was a victim it rocked my world – it shook and almost destroyed the foundation of who I thought I was as a human being,” she said.

Tracy was abused by Coach Everett Uchiyama, who coached her  in the early 1990s at SOCAL Aquatics in Tustin, California.

“Uchiyama began the grooming process when I was approximately 14 years old and began sexually abusing me when I was 16,” Tracy said. “It was no secret that he was abusing me – I believe the other coaches knew about it and did nothing.”

They certainly knew about it by 1999: that’s when reports circulated throughout SOCAL Aquatics about Uchiyama having a sexual relationship with yet another young swimmer. Uchiyama abruptly resigned and moved to Colorado Springs, where he worked as the National Team Coordinator at USA Swimming’s headquarters.

Tracy remained silent about her abuse until 2006.

“After living silently with this abuse for nearly a decade, I went to Chuck Wielgus and explained what happened,” she said. “Instead of assuring me that Uchiyama would never coach children again, Wielgus had him sign a secret agreement admitting to the abuse and forcing him to resign.”

That agreement banned Uchiyama from coaching for USA Swimming affiliates.

“When USA Swimming announced Uchiyama’s resignation, they didn’t say anything about the sexual abuse allegations,” Mr. Allard said. “They didn’t warn anyone in the swimming community that he was a sexual predator, nor did they notify law enforcement. They just swept it under the rug.”

In fact, USA Swimming helped Uchiyama get another coaching job that once again put him in contact with young female swimmers.

“Less than a year after he was banned from USA Swimming, their No. 2 person, Pat Hogan, provided Uchiyama a glowing recommendation to help him secure a job at the Country Club of Colorado. It was as if they were dismissing everything that I went through. This is how USA Swimming takes care of its predator-coaches.”

USA Swimming did not make Uchiyama’s ban public until late 2010 when it feared the media would blast the organization for covering up Uchiyama’s behavior, the lawsuit says.

“These cases demonstrate how USA Swimming covered up its sexual abuse problem for decades,” Mr. Allard said. “They formed a committee in 1991 to address the issue and that committee made a series of recommendations that would have protected athletes but they were ignored. As a result, countless young women and girls have suffered and are continuing to suffer because of USA Swimming’s negligence.”

He went on to say, “We are asking USA Swimming to proactively reach out to each and every person known to be sexually abused by USA Swimming coaches. Don’t wait for the laws to change as they now have in California. Please, do the right thing and stop hiding behind all of your medals and money. These are human beings, beautiful women who were subjected to atrocious acts while placed under your care and have been severely damaged as a result. Each and every one of these women have been betrayed in many ways by many people, far beyond their abusers. Indeed, these predator- coaches were allowed to openly groom their intended victims due to a culture of indifference and a cowardly willingness to tow the company line.”

Tracy is also calling for a “new culture of health, safety and athlete protection to be at the forefront of every decision that USA Swimming and its local affiliates make.”

She explained that she’s filing the lawsuit because “I want to see lasting change within USA Swimming and its affiliated organizations. I also want an investigation into who enabled Uchiyama to sexually abuse me and I want every one of those individuals banned from the sport of swimming.”

Attorney Allard agreed saying, “This organization cannot truly move forward unless it expels from its membership – permanently – those responsible for the perpetuation of this culture and replaces them immediately with good and decent people who will not hesitate to say that the protection of child members, especially from child molesters, is unquestionably the most important function of USA Swimming.”

The  USA Swimming web site lists nearly 200 individuals, as of March 31, 2021, who are banned from the sport, most for sexual misconduct. https://www.usaswimming.org/safe-sport/individuals-suspended-or-ineligible

The lawsuit claims USA Swimming manipulated background check procedures as a method of covering up Hutchison’s actions and mishandled the investigation into the allegations against the swim coach.

Kukors Smith is a 2012 Olympian. Mr. Allard stated in a press conference that the goal of the lawsuit was to force USA Swimming to “accept responsibility for allowing, and in fact, enabling a known predator coach to molest for almost a decade sexually, my client Ariana Smith…”

Protecting Pedophile Coaches Prevalent

Attorney Robert Allard has been involved in litigation against USA Swimming for nearly a decade, claiming the “culture of protecting pedophile coaches” is so prevalent in USA Swimming that the only solution is to “…blow it all up and rebuild it from the ground up.”

The civil lawsuit also names former Olympic swim coach, Mark Schubert, for his failure to report reasonable suspicion of child endangerment or child abuse. Schubert coached Kukors Smith at the 2006 Pan Pacific Championships and 2007 World Championships in Australia. It is during this time which Hutchison is alleged in the lawsuit to have been openly engaged in inappropriate behavior, such as kissing, cuddling and hugging, with Kukors Smith.

Ariana Kukor-Smith Claims Hutchison “Stole” from Her

In an interview, Kukor-Smith claimed that Hutchison stole her swimming career, her virginity, her college experience, her Olympic dream and even her friendships and that while organizations like USA Swimming could “deter, detect and discipline sexual abuse,” they have done nothing other than protecting their public image.

https://www.seattletimes.com/sports/olympics/federal-ways-ariana-kukors-says-in-lawsuit-that-usa-swimming-covered-up-alleged-sexual-abuse-by-coach/

https://www.washingtonpost.com/sports/olympics/ariana-kukors-smith-alleges-top-usa-swimming-officials-ignored-sex-abuse/2018/05/21/1d6f3246-5d36-11e8-a4a4-c070ef53f315_story.html?utm_term=.b8fce4fe8034

The U.S. Olympic Committee has distributed a new handbook, “Recognizing, Reducing and Responding to Misconduct in Sport: Creating Your Strategy”, to ensure safer training environments.

The USOC formed a task force last year which recommended that national governing bodies adopt standardized policies following a number of sexual abuse and molestation cases against USA Swimming filed by a legal team led by attorney Robert Allard.

For a confidential free consultation with an attorney, please give us a phone call at 408-289-1417. You may also fill out the case evaluation form to your right. We’re ready to help you. And you will never be obligated to pay a penny to our attorneys unless we collect.

Source: https://espn.go.com/olympics/story/_/id/7699059/usoc-distributes-manual-preventing-sexual-physical-abuse