Outside Magazine: Sex Abuse in USA Swimming

Leonard_Jansen

Admin note: Thread title modified to a more descriptive title, though original title "Magazine Article from Hell" is certainly apropos.

Not specifically OW/Marathon swimming, but the current edition of "Outside" magazine has an article about the sexual (and other) abuse of athletes (mostly under-age females) in sport in the U.S.. They specifically focus on U.S. Swimming clubs.
Truly sickening.

-LBJ

Spacemanspiff

I couldn't find the article, but I did find an article about swimming induced pulmonary edema

evmo

It's online now:

http://www.outsideonline.com/outdoor-adventure/water-activities/swimming/The-Sex-Abuse-Scandal-Plaguing-USA-Swimming.html

gregorywannabe

Quite a long read, but worth it. Incredibly disturbing though.

gw

ChickenOSea

Is there another forum for this?

lakespray

ChickenOSea wrote: »

Is there another forum for this?

http://forums.usms.org/showthread.php?21394-Swim-Coaches-in-Trouble

Spacemanspiff

Disturbing indeed. Enough to warrant some thoughts from the soap box:

(1) Lawyers: As one, I have permission to bash them. Decisions related to public safety are driven by the fear of litigation which, sadly, doesn't lead to the optimal result. Good people make bad decisions--decisions they might not otherwise make--to avoid catching the attention of opportunistic lawyers. Most lawyers aren't bad, but there are enough bad ones to terrify institutional associations into self-protection even to the detriment of public good. Contrary to modern opinion, "corporations" are not evil. They are made up of normal people, the vast majority of whom are good and desire to positively impact the world around them. But as a defense lawyer who represents these entities, I frequently watch good people in crisis take actions harmful to society, not because they desire harm, but because to do the "right" thing (the thing they would otherwise do) would subject their organization to crippling litigation and their employees to job loss. If I'm honest, I can't always be confident I'd do differently if I bore the same responsibility. When organizations like USA Swimming receive reports about sexual abuse, they don't call the victim. They call their lawyer. They have to. It's a tragically necessary result of our legal system that, while great in many ways, has harmful, unintended consequences.

(2) Money: NFL Commissioner, Roger Goodell, makes over $40 million a year. $40 million!!! When he saw the video of Ray Rice beating his girlfriend and dragging her unconscious body into the hall, what do you suppose was his first thought? "What can I do to protect these poor women?" Not a chance. His first thought was, "How the hell do I sneak through this minefield with my $40 million paycheck intact?" 25 years ago, the NFL Commissioner had to have a "real" job on the side to make ends meet. He had the freedom to put the public interest first. Not today. Now its high-stakes poker. Chuck Wielgus, Executive Director of USA Swimming, makes (made?) nearly a million dollars a year. A stack of cheese like that tends to obscure one's view. Tragically, sport, even youth sport, is becoming more about money than athletic accomplishment.

(3) Crystal Magnum Effect: With her now admittedly false accusation, Crystal Magnum (Duke Lacrosse) destroyed the lives of dozens of young men and cost taxpayers millions of dollars virtually on a whim. The tiny minority like her ruin it for the real victims. When you couple this with a revered youth coach, particularly one with a reputation for putting kids on Olympic trajectories, a child victim's credibility in a single-witness event is going to be (unfairly?) scrutinized. Note the quote from the police investigation of Strzempko's initial complaint: "complainant does not act like a victim." Can someone explain the "right way" for a 14-year-old girl violently sodomized by an adult male authority figure to act in a police interrogation? Poor girl was tossed out because she didn't "present" well after harboring this nightmare in isolation for years.

(4) Political Correctness(?)/Reactionary Policy-Making: The speed of news (and the resulting formation of public opinion) in our smart phone/social media world demands crisis response at twice the speed of panic, often leading to poorly-conceived, nonsensical policy that makes for good sound bites, but not necessarily good results. Take the Ray Rice situation. Within mere hours(!!) of the video going viral, the NFL did two things: (1) banned Ray Rice for life and (2) announced a "zero-tolerance/immediate dismissal" policy for all domestic violence. While this knee-jerk reaction may have appealed to the blogosphere and the N.O.W. twitter feed, did it help the problem or make it worse? I don't presume to know the answer (nor does the NFL or NBC for that matter) but I wonder: if I was the victim of spousal abuse at the hands of an NFL star making $10,000,000 a year and I just watched the NFL's Ray Rice reaction, am I more likely to call for help or less likely? A phone call today means the paycheck ends tomorrow. No more WAG lifestyle played out on the cover of People magazine. Even if he gets help and stops beating me, I'm gonna have to sell the house, the car, and the bling while I look for a job that doesn't require a college degree. Hmmm. I'm guessing the NFL switchboard isn't going to be lighting up anytime soon...

I suppose someone with this many opinions should also have some answers. I wish I did. This soup is pretty thick on this one. How about this: resume public executions for child molesters and similar "special" people...