Sexual abuse- USA gymnasts
Report details widespread sexual abuse at USA Gymnastics facilities
https://www.theguardian.com/sport/2016/dec/15/usa-gymnastics-sexual-abuse-report
"At least 368 gymnasts have alleged sexual abuse over last 20 years"
"Investigation alleges systematic failures that enabled predatory coaches"
A nine month investigation which went into police files and court documents there was hundererds of cases found of alleged sexual abuse by 115 coaches and other adults they worked with. These systematic failures allowed coaches to relocate to other gyms. Nearly all the victims were girls. “It’s just too easy for coaches to keep getting hired and hired and hired. Sexual abuse thrives on the fact that people are embarrassed about the topic, ashamed to talk about it, and they keep quiet about it,” Nancy Hogshead-Makar, CEO of the advocacy group Champion Women and a former Olympic swimmer, told the Star.
“And that’s exactly why molesting coaches keep getting hired at the next place. Nobody talks about a coach that is inappropriate with athletes; the coach quietly moves away and gets hired someplace else.”
The investigation discovered several instances where a coach fired or forced to resign, in some cases for sexual abuse, still retained their USA gymnastics membership and were able to find employment elsewhere at other gyms.
A former coach called Jeffrey Bettman, who is serving a 25-year sentence in federal prison after pleading guilty for pornography charges earlier in the year, was found to have made 469 videos of 49 gymnasts he coaches. Ages ranging from eight to sixteen years old, he had done this my placing secret cameras in the changing rooms in Oregon and California. Bettman had previously been fired from two other gyms for "creepy behaviour" and then faced charges in California on allegations of abuse towards a female gymnast. However, he was still able to keep coaching at gyms approved by the USA gymnastics.
A coach called William McCabe was also fired from two gyms in Florida before 2006 when he was on a guilty plea in Georgia for sexual exploitation of children, also from hiding cameras in locker rooms. Also Ray Adams was forced to resign from coaching positions at six gyms in four states, but was then hired by owners who though his record was clean.
“We are saddened when any athlete has been harmed in the course of his or her gymnastics career,” USA Gymnastics said in a statement to the Star. “Nothing is more important to USA Gymnastics, the board of directors and CEO Steve Penny than protecting athletes, which requires sustained vigilance by everyone – coaches, athletes, parents, administrators and officials.”
The governing body said it has tried to stop the problem by introducing criminal background checks and publishing the names of coaches banned from its competitions and providing educational materials to member gyms. The star countered that USA gymnastics "focus on educating members instead of setting ground rules and enforcing them has engendered an epidemic: the equivalent of one allegation every 20 days over the last two decades."
In September, a former USA doctor for the USA gymnastic team was accused of "sexually assaulting two former gymnasts, including an Olympic medallist"
It was alleged that Larry Nassar
The civil suit filed in California alleged that Larry Nassar “systematically sexually groomed [the plaintiff, who was identified in court documents only as Jane Doe] and proceeded to repeatedly sexually abuse, harass and molest” her from 1994 to 2000, when she was a minor.
-This source is reliable as its from an article in the Guardian which is considered a reliable newspaper so I can trust the facts which are provided within the article.
https://www.theguardian.com/sport/2016/dec/15/usa-gymnastics-sexual-abuse-report
“And that’s exactly why molesting coaches keep getting hired at the next place. Nobody talks about a coach that is inappropriate with athletes; the coach quietly moves away and gets hired someplace else.”
The investigation discovered several instances where a coach fired or forced to resign, in some cases for sexual abuse, still retained their USA gymnastics membership and were able to find employment elsewhere at other gyms.
A former coach called Jeffrey Bettman, who is serving a 25-year sentence in federal prison after pleading guilty for pornography charges earlier in the year, was found to have made 469 videos of 49 gymnasts he coaches. Ages ranging from eight to sixteen years old, he had done this my placing secret cameras in the changing rooms in Oregon and California. Bettman had previously been fired from two other gyms for "creepy behaviour" and then faced charges in California on allegations of abuse towards a female gymnast. However, he was still able to keep coaching at gyms approved by the USA gymnastics.
A coach called William McCabe was also fired from two gyms in Florida before 2006 when he was on a guilty plea in Georgia for sexual exploitation of children, also from hiding cameras in locker rooms. Also Ray Adams was forced to resign from coaching positions at six gyms in four states, but was then hired by owners who though his record was clean.
“We are saddened when any athlete has been harmed in the course of his or her gymnastics career,” USA Gymnastics said in a statement to the Star. “Nothing is more important to USA Gymnastics, the board of directors and CEO Steve Penny than protecting athletes, which requires sustained vigilance by everyone – coaches, athletes, parents, administrators and officials.”
The governing body said it has tried to stop the problem by introducing criminal background checks and publishing the names of coaches banned from its competitions and providing educational materials to member gyms. The star countered that USA gymnastics "focus on educating members instead of setting ground rules and enforcing them has engendered an epidemic: the equivalent of one allegation every 20 days over the last two decades."
In September, a former USA doctor for the USA gymnastic team was accused of "sexually assaulting two former gymnasts, including an Olympic medallist"
It was alleged that Larry Nassar
The civil suit filed in California alleged that Larry Nassar “systematically sexually groomed [the plaintiff, who was identified in court documents only as Jane Doe] and proceeded to repeatedly sexually abuse, harass and molest” her from 1994 to 2000, when she was a minor.
-This source is reliable as its from an article in the Guardian which is considered a reliable newspaper so I can trust the facts which are provided within the article.
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