Tuesday, November 26, 2013

SAN JOSE MERCURY NEWS ON MITCH IVEY: Mitch Ivey, famed swim coach, banned for sexual misconduct

Shouldn't the man running USA Swimming (Chuck Wielgus) step down? Why is he still there?  If this was any other non-profit or professional sport organization he would have been summarily banished before the ink dried in the newspaper.

Even Pope Benedict XVI resigned allowing the organization to reboot and allow a more benevolent Pope to move the religion forward. Not so with USA Swimming. Though it's Executive Director knew of a sexual abuse claimed that was made in San Jose (as covered by the Mercury News) he kept it secret. Though he was humiliated on the ABC News program 20/20 and arrogantly refused to apologize to the victims. (He refused to step down.) I could go with several other sex abuse situations but one should ask, why is it that USA Swimming won't demand his resignation so the organization can reboot and move forward.

Perhaps he has 900,000 reasons why he should not resign and they all contain the name "George Washington."

How can anyone trust this organization with an executive director like THAT?

From The San Jose Mercury News:
Nancy Hogshead-Makar, a three-time Olympic champion at the Los Angeles Games in 1984, welcomed USA Swimming's ban on Ivey.

"It's imperative that all coaches know what the rules of the game are," said Hogshead, who swam for Ivey at Concord. "They can't see old coaches with a long record of sexual abuses" go unpunished.

Hogshead, senior director of advocacy at the Women's Sports Foundation, had testified in USA Swimming's initial investigation into Ivey two years ago.

Nancy Hogshead-Makar, a three-time Olympic champion at the Los Angeles Games in 1984, welcomed USA Swimming's ban on Ivey.

"It's imperative that all coaches know what the rules of the game are," said Hogshead, who swam for Ivey at Concord. "They can't see old coaches with a long record of sexual abuses" go unpunished.

Hogshead, senior director of advocacy at the Women's Sports Foundation, had testified in USA Swimming's initial investigation into Ivey two years ago 
[Link]
And it took two-years to get him banned because they needed a victim to come forward. One of the first victims committed suicide. Why wasn't a family member a good enough witness?

The photo above is Olympian Nancy Hogshead-Makar one of the greatest swimmers ever. She has "street cred" as an advocate and a swimmer. They should have been taken more seriously.






2 comments:

TedBaker said...

Yes, CHuck Wielgus should step down. No question. Somebody has to fall on the sword for this.

Mitch Ivey was a serial predator, with a track record going back decades. And everyone knew. We knew Mitch was pursuing teenage girls back when he coached in Etobicoke back in the early 1980's.

Tony Austin said...

WOW! We agree...

And speaking of Pope Francis:

Pope Francis: No more business as usual

http://religion.blogs.cnn.com/2013/11/26/pope-calls-for-big-changes-in-the-church/?hpt=hp_c2