[TW] Sexual Abuse & Misconduct in Figure Skating

[Coquelicot]

http://www.espn.com/espnw/sports/article/26793254/ex-skater-says-deceased-partner-abused-her

 

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"My clients believe, as do I, that what Mr. Coughlin was doing was known at high levels of U.S. Figure Skating. They allowed his family and supporters to develop a false narrative that he was being wrongfully accused. He was a predator and sadly took his own life to avoid accountability," Manly told ESPN.

 

Quote

SafeSport, the organization tasked with adjudicating sexual misconduct claims within Olympic sports, dropped its investigation of Coughlin after his death. Leaders from U.S. Figure Skating and the Professional Skaters Association asked SafeSport multiple times to reopen the case to provide some resolution to the matter for all parties involved. A spokesman for SafeSport said that request was declined because it couldn't make a ruling without the accused party available to defend himself. The spokesman also said SafeSport's charge is to protect athletes, and because Coughlin died, he no longer posed a threat to others in the figure skating community.

 

I really don't understand this last reasoning for dropping the case.  SafeSport is endangering athletes by not investigating allegations of previous abuse and environments that foster abuse.  And dropping the investigation sends the message that they aren't invested in protecting their athletes in the future.

[Sombreuil]

As far as I understand it the difficulty lies in the way SafeSport was set up - it’s there to investigate individuals and once the person is dead they have no power to carry on ( this is from bits on the internet by US nationals who understand American legal entities a lot better than I do). It’s comparable to the uk situation with deceased individuals  accused of abuse - can’t try them if they’re dead but there is provision for a legal review of the case, which seems to be absent from SafeSports remit.

[shanshani]

5 hours ago, Coquelicot said:

http://www.espn.com/espnw/sports/article/26793254/ex-skater-says-deceased-partner-abused-her

 

 

 

I really don't understand this last reasoning for dropping the case.  SafeSport is endangering athletes by not investigating allegations of previous abuse and environments that foster abuse.  And dropping the investigation sends the message that they aren't invested in protecting their athletes in the future.

The idea is that because it's an investigation into the actions of a specific person that could end in penalties for the person, that person has the right to defend themselves, just like someone has the right to defend themselves in court if charged with a crime. However, in this case, the accused can't defend himself because he's deceased, so it would be unfair to continue (just as a criminal prosecution wouldn't continue if the defendant died). The irony here is that this reasoning is specifically supposed to protect the accused, yet many people who support the accused complained about SafeSport closing the investigation.

 

I do wonder if there's a mechanism for Safesport to investigate abusive environments and not merely abusive persons. I think that you make a good point--it's not just that this one person was probably abusive, there must have been an environment that supported his abuse, and that environment could still exist and endanger other athletes (I mean, just regarding its existence...there were a number of high profile people who defended Coughlin in gross ways, which seems pretty telling.)

[Coquelicot]

It is interesting that USFS requested for the case to be reopened after his passing.  Despite the reasons given, I do think SafeSport owes it to the athletes involved to provide closure.  It's all just really sad.

[TallyT]

On 5/22/2019 at 2:19 PM, Coquelicot said:

I really don't understand this last reasoning for dropping the case.  SafeSport is endangering athletes by not investigating allegations of previous abuse and environments that foster abuse.  And dropping the investigation sends the message that they aren't invested in protecting their athletes in the future.

 

It depends on their legal remit - if the regulations they work under say their sole authorisation is to investigate the athlete and if proven take action against him, then their hands are legally tied once he dies.  It's more than possible that the Safesport people are unhappy about it, but I've worked for government bodies, and sometimes you just can't do what the public - and your own instincts - want because your remit binds your hands.

[SparkleSalad]

Ashley Wagner has just bravely come forward about being assaulted by John Coughlin in 2008.

 

 

 

[airi]

Thank you, Ashley, maybe it will shut a few mouths.

[shanshani]

2 hours ago, SparkleSalad said:

Ashley Wagner has just bravely come forward about being assaulted by John Coughlin in 2008.

 

 

 

She's very brave. It must have been very difficult for her when so many prominent people in the US figure skating community were defending Coughlin, and she's probably putting her relationships with some of them at risk by coming forward (though I hope this is not the case). Hopefully it'll get those people to reevaluate their actions and be more circumspect in the future.

[mercedes]

my utmost respect to Ashley,I love they way she told her story in a very straight to the point way,no space to speculation or 'what if' !

I hope the skating comunity supports her and finally ISU and national federation put a stop to this kind of behaviour!

[SparkleSalad]

A former figure skater who trained with JC has come forward.

 

 

 

ETA

More in this thread

 

 

[TallyT]

31 minutes ago, SparkleSalad said:

A former figure skater who trained with JC has come forward.

 

 

 

 

And named another name...this could get even uglier, they are both brave ladies.

[Songster01]

Let us not forget Bridget Namiotka who bravely came forward under her own name publicly and had no public support from USFS, facing down the negativity of her colleagues and too many fs fans.  USFS already knew of Ashley's experiences then and still they kept their mouth shut.  Disgusting.

[Songster01]

For context and nuance, I would recommend following Judge Three on Twitter.  JT is a fs abuse survivor in another case that is ongoing.  What JT has been put through by the US fed and Safe Sport is sickening: https://twitter.com/JudgeThree

[Sukigirl]

Ashley Wagner has been incredibly brave. And so have all sexual assault victims who have come forward at great risk to themselves, to report what happened. There are episodes in my life, fairly mundane, but looking back, were probably sexual assaults. What Ashley said about not knowing what consent is, wanting to keep it buried and moving on, is so true. I'm a mother in my 40s now and I still feel more comfortable not recalling too hard about what happened. But none of it was my fault. I was a child. 

 

I'm a mother now and I'm going to get my 17 year old daughter to watch Ashley's video so that she knows, absolutely, what constitutes crossed lines. No ifs and buts about it.

[Veveco]

It is really terrible to hear about more victims, but sadly not surprising. And it is horrible that it takes someone famous like Ashley to come forward for victims to be taken seriously. Some media are giving the issue a bit more attention now, but will we see a real reaction from the federation? The way the Nassar case was handled by USgym does not give me good hope. 

 

Aly Raisman has reacted too. From one strong person to many others.