Before being hired to coach Canadas national team in November 2018, Szauder coached Slovakias national artistic swimming team for five years. 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.. USA Swimming offers free online education on the issue of Safe Sport and abuse prevention for parents of our 330,000 athlete members. But McKenna, the plaintiff's lawyer, says Muchnick was "really using his website as an internet bully pulpit" and that "his goal was increasing his search-engine optimization" by using terms such as "sexual assault" together with famous names, like "Michael Phelps," "Bob Bowman," and "North Baltimore Aquatic Club. NBAC apparently did what clubs are supposed to do: alert the authorities immediately and then inform the national governing body of the incident. The lawsuit was filed by "John Doe" because the plaintiff-one of the team members, who Muchnick cast as one of the two perpetrators of the alleged assault-was a minor. Education | WebSAN JOSE San Jose State Swim Coach Sage Hopkins remembers the very worst day of his career. 2020 Concussion Inc. - Author Irvin Muchnick. USA Swimming didnt do anything, because they couldnt. Miroslava Germanov contributed reporting from Bratislava, Slovakia. USA Swimming has fought back, responding to parents of the club with a list of Questions and Answers. Genevive Peel, 26, a medical student and former elite Canadian artistic swimmer, wrote a series of blog posts in October, describing the despair that left her sitting on the edge of chairs so her thighs would appear thinner, counting the exact number of almonds she had for a snack and developing an overwhelming fear of gaining a single pound. Swimmers interviewed described an unhealthy culture of thinness and disordered eating in an event that inevitably foments tension between art and sport. Michael Phelps is the face of the sport and in addition, several other Olympic medalists have trained at the club, among themTheresa Andrews, Anita Nall, Beth Botsford, Katie Hoff and Allison Schmitt. The students were two of several who also swim, or used to swim, at NBAC and were at the center of the clique of bullies and harassers of the alleged victim in the February 2012 incident underlying the lawsuit against me. Anastasia Gloushkov Leventhal, then 19, left, with her teammate Inna Yoffe in 2004. They did not immediately respond to requests for comment about the lawsuit. Education | SAN JOSE San Jose State Swim Coach Sage Hopkins remembers the very worst day of his career. I am pleased to be joining Irv Muchnick in reporting and commentary on the multitudinous USA Swimming scandals. Glez said swimmers needed to look like a model to compete at an elite level. Canadas artistic swimming team competed in the team technical event during the 2019 world championships in Gwangju, South Korea. Eventually, Peel wrote, she developed an acute generalized anxiety disorder that required three trips to the emergency room in an ambulance, psychotherapy and medication that she still takes. And if you have, what are you feelings about Stephens? You state their conclusion that Because USA Swimming (and therefore its Code of Conduct) was not in existence in 1975, the organization legally had no recourse in the matter. USA Swimming said they had no ability to investigate a former NBAC coach for allegations of sexual abuse, because the offense happened in 1975. Spada, of the United States, said that at age 13, she was once pushed down so hard by a coach that she needed hip surgery. Rule 304.3.7(ii) addresses any other adult participating in any capacity (whether such adult is a member or not) with regards to sexual conduct. Last October, an independent organization devoted to safe sport, called ITP Sport, reviewed the accusations made by Canadian swimmers. USA Swimming put in place a comprehensive Safe Sport program, which is among the strongest in youth sports. WebIn a series of jarring allegations from several sources, it has been discovered that a former high-level coach with close ties to the North Baltimore Aquatic Club (NBAC) - home to Michael Phelps and other Olympians - was accused of molestation and other inappropriate behavior towards some of his female swimmers while he was coaching elite Email her at madilynne.medina@sfgate.com, One of the largest movie theaters in SF to close permanently, 'Zero visibility' conditions: All roads to Tahoe are closed, Report: Matthew McConaughey has a massive Salesforce paycheck, 'Really cool sight': Rare waterspout forms in Northern California, Avalanche slams into Tahoe apartment building amid blizzard, Plan to bring bullet train from LA to Vegas is underway, What it looks like inside Coit Towers former apartment, Grapevine closed indefinitely due to heavy snow and ice, A different horse': Bay Area will likely continue to see rain, Hundreds of thousands of workers have abandoned downtown SF, Popular yet divisive fast food chain coming to this Bay Area town, Tahoe's snowfall totals are on track to break records, This restaurant is one of the hardest reservations to get in Hawaii, Wealthy Bay Area town grapples with 'attack on whiteness' controversy, How Red Rock became the only privately owned island in SF Bay, 'Are we going to love it to death? ", NBAC's attorney, Frank Morgan, declined to comment for this article or about Muchnick's allegations of unaddressed problems at NBAC. An Instagram account, @mental_abuse_nac, was recently created for athletes to express their concerns. Its report found experiences of psychological abuse, bullying, neglect, sexual harassment, discrimination, and an overall culture of fear.. Web18 Years Old: Max Verheyen (EST), Lauren Poole (NBAC) 2018-19 Comeback Swimmers of the Year Nick Roberts (NAAC) Will Schmidt (HFY) 2017-18 Short Course Swimmers of the Year 9 Year Olds: Daniel Branon (LBA), Charlie Lakatta (NBAC), Angela Kadoorie (NBAC), Alaina McCoyd (FSC) 10 Year Olds: Ethan Smith (GBSA), Campbell Chandler Jessica Long, a 12-time Paralympic gold medalist, is now training at Loyola University in Baltimore, Md. | Developed by, Murray Stephens Flashback 1: Baltimore County Police Acknowledged Letter From USA Swimming About Alleged Incident at Michael Phelps Club, Murray Stephens Flashback 2: Police Searching For USA Swimmings 2010 Letter About Sex Abuse Allegation That Led to Departure of North Baltimore Aquatic Clubs Hall of Fame Coach, Murray Stephens Flashback 3: Public Documents on North Baltimore Aquatic Club Sex Abuse Allegations Dangle in the Unhelpful Ozone, In His First Column As Concussion Inc. Collaborator on Swimming Scandals, Tim Joyce Reviews the WBAL Fiasco and the Medias Endlessly Trivial Michael Phelps Coverage, In recent days, coverage of Michael Phelps has served up such gems as the all-important identity of his latest girlfriend and promotion of his stint of golf instruction on the NBC-owned Golf Channels program, Super Bowl Special: Reprints of My Trilogy of Damar Hamlin Commentaries at Salon Last Month, Bar Association Assigns Investigator to Misconduct Complaint Against University of California Senior Counsel Michael Robert Goldstein; Lied Repeatedly to Court in Public Records Act Case Over Documents in Ted Agu Football Death Cover-Up. In 2018, Hopkins submitted a nearly 300-page dossier of those emails and other documents to the campus Title IX office. Williams later researched depression among artistic swimmers. Just as in the cases Ive uncovered at much smaller clubs in the Midwest and Alaska, and at major swim center likes FAST in Fullerton, California, USA Swimming chose to ignore the charges. After I broke the story of past sexual impropriety, involving multiple victims at the North Baltimore Aquatic Club (NBAC), Irv proceeded to uncover other episodes of abuse and negligence at NBAC the countrys most famous swim club that will surely become even more disturbing as more details emerge. Szauder also did not respond to previous attempts to reach him. We strongly encourage all of our parents to participate in this convenient online training by visiting www.usaswimming.org/protect and clicking on Education.. In what has tragically been the standard operating procedure of USA Swimming, there was no follow-up investigation from Colorado Springs. She was part of the team that won the 2017 Pulitzer Prize in breaking news for coverage of Oaklands Ghost Ship fire and has been a Pulitzer finalist in feature writing. But Muchnick and I are determined to see the task through on the ugly stories behind the successes of our national swimming program. She is an alumna of San Jose State where she served as executive editor for the "Spartan Daily." . She announced her resignation from SJSU altogether in an email to some staff members in the athletic department Aug. 29, 2021, but the university did not make an announcement, the Mercury News previously reported. THE fast swimming continued at Maryland States Friday night as NBAC took control of the meet with numerous top finishes. , a California blogger whose posts on his concussioninc.net website regularly level broadsides at alleged abuses in the world of swimming, last year started honing in on what he reported was foul play at North Baltimore Aquatic Club (NBAC), famous for training world-class swimmers like Olympic gold-medal winners Michael Phelps and Allison Schmitt. Calls made to Cadigan for comment on this article were not returned. 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. "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). Competitive 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 widespread media coverage, including of the recent Maryland conviction of well-known coach Rick Curl, who pleaded guilty to child sexual abuse suffered by one of his swimmers 30 years ago. This website does not provide legal advice. Harriette Cole: I don't want the neighbor's kids at my house, Dear Abby: My wife said she doesn't like it, but it's part of my life, Ask Amy: I feel guilty for not speaking up about my co-worker's activities, Ask Amy: I'm your cabin housekeeper, and you apparently have no idea what I do. "In the course of rooting out systematic sexual abuse," Muchnick explains, "there is a possibility that, somewhere along the way, there's going to be a false positive in the allegations, but that doesn't mean to me that you just sit back." 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. 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. So if a coach has sexual relations with a swimmer (regardless of age) as a high school or NCAA level coach, he or she can later join USA Swimming since he or she was not registered with USA Swimming at the time? "He had almost every conceivable sex act," he said. They investigated and passed it on the police, and the coach lost his membership. For hundreds of girls who'd worked Have you spoken to the members of NBAC about why hes no longer at the club? The operative question when is enough enough? She is also a Bay Area native. When a complaint is received, USA Swimming initiates an investigation through a third-party investigator. Indeed, as my queries into the history of past and present abuse continued, I realized that this story is perhaps too big for just one concerned journalist to investigate. "He may have been a good coach, but his goal with these girls ultimately was to molest them," said prosecutor Mendoza. But not his departure he continues, as owner of the Meadowbrook Aquatic Center, to collect scores of thousands of dollars a month in NBAC pool rental fees. Artistic impression, looks and body line figure into the judges scoring. Note: The NCAA college comparisons are provided for entertainment As for Muchnick's purported larger goal-exposing misdeeds among the swimming world's powerful-McKenna says, "more power to anybody who wants to work to uncover something that is really horrible, but this isn't. USA Swimming employs a Safe Sport staff at our national headquarters in Colorado Springs, and the staff members are here to help answer questions, execute programming and accept reports. For USA Swimming not to investigate such a serious charge, especially since it involved a coach associated with this most famed club, is staggeringand made even more astounding considering that NBAC acted in such swift fashion. "I think Mr. King bears enormous responsibility here, But I think the parents were not minding the store," she said. 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. To again focus on NBAC for a moment, the refusal of the local media in Baltimore to ask the tough questions of Murray Stephens, Bob Bowman, John Cadigan, and, yes, Michael Phelps about what has occurred at their lauded club has been an abject abdication of journalistic responsibility. 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