{"id":297415,"date":"2018-02-22T19:53:32","date_gmt":"2018-02-23T02:53:32","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.swimmingworldmagazine.com\/news\/?p=297415"},"modified":"2018-02-23T08:38:11","modified_gmt":"2018-02-23T15:38:11","slug":"memo-sent-to-congress-demanding-usoc-ceo-scott-blackmun-resign-for-failure-to-protect-athletes","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.swimmingworldmagazine.com\/news\/memo-sent-to-congress-demanding-usoc-ceo-scott-blackmun-resign-for-failure-to-protect-athletes\/","title":{"rendered":"Memo Sent to Congress Demanding USOC CEO Scott Blackmun Resign for Failure to Protect Athletes"},"content":{"rendered":"

By David Rieder.<\/em><\/p>\n

Shortly before the Winter Olympics began in PyeongChang, a group called “The Committee to Restore Integrity to the USOC” sent a 14-page memo to the U.S. House Committee on Energy and Commerce demanding the resignation of USOC CEO\u00a0Scott Blackmun<\/strong>. The memo cited a failure to protect athletes from being sexually abused despite knowledge that abuse was a “frequent and recurring problem” in Olympic sports.<\/p>\n

Members of the committee that signed the memo include a collection of Olympians in swimming, including\u00a0Donna DeVarona<\/strong>,\u00a0Gary Hall Jr.<\/strong>,\u00a0Nancy Hogshead-Makar<\/strong>,\u00a0Karen Moe Humphries<\/strong>,\u00a0Lenny Krayzelburg<\/strong>\u00a0and\u00a0Ariana Kukors<\/strong>. Below is a quote from a press release announcing the memo:<\/p>\n

“The memo states that Blackmun and the USOC knew going back nearly three decades that athlete sexual abuse was a frequent and reoccurring problem within the Olympic movement. According to the memo, Blackmun and the USOC refused to hold themselves or NGBs accountable for their failures to protect athletes in order to avoid civil liability. In the process, the Committee to Restore Integrity to the USOC states that Blackmun and the USOC created the underlying conditions for sexual abuse to thrive.”<\/strong><\/span><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

The memo was issued Feb. 4, in direct response to the recent sentencing of former USA Gymnastics doctor Larry Nassar<\/strong>. Even as victims came forward and told their stories about suffering abuse at Nassar’s hands, USOC supported USA Gymnastics, which in turn had supported the doctor up until the last minute. The entire leadership at USA Gymnastics recently resigned due to backlash of their handling of the case.<\/p>\n

The memo was actually sent\u00a0before<\/em> the latest stories of sexual assault in swimming, which included Kukors\u00a0<\/strong>claiming she was sexually abused by longtime coach\u00a0<\/a>Sean Hutchison<\/a>\u00a0<\/strong>and the\u00a0Orange County Register\u00a0<\/em>releasing a story\u00a0accusing USA Swimming of failing to properly investigate \u201chundreds\u201d of claims of sexual abuse<\/a>.<\/p>\n

In an outline of instances over the past three decades when the USOC failed to prevent sexual abuse, multiple sports are cited. If an athlete had a complaint with how they were treated, they were on their own:<\/p>\n