SafeSport annual report outlines progress in wide-ranging changes that went into play last year
DENVER (AP) — The U.S. Center for SafeSport's annual report updates progress on changes it has made in several areas, including its handling of complaints involving minors and the way it categorizes a wide-ranging set of outcomes called 'administrative closures' that sometimes create more questions than answers.
The report, released Monday, comes as the center searches for a new leader in the wake of the firing of CEO Ju'Riese Colon, whose tenure was marred by the hiring and dismissal of an investigator who was later arrested for sex crimes allegedly committed before he worked at SafeSport.
Part of the reset for the center also includes an increased push for community engagement. The center held seven outreach meetings in June involving sports leaders, athletes and abuse survivors.
'Robust engagement with stakeholders and a deep commitment to continuous evolution are fundamental to the Center's work to advance athlete safety,' said April Holmes, the center's interim CEO. 'Shifting sport culture is about more than catalyzing change, it's about building a community that makes change inevitable.'
The center brought in around $25 million last year, most of which is funded by American sports organizations that fall under the umbrella of the U.S. Olympic and Paralympic Committee.
It opened in 2017 to become the clearinghouse for abuse cases involving Olympic sports in the United States. It has been beset with complaints about reports that can take years to conclude and an opaque resolution process that could leave both accusers and accused frustrated.
In April 2024, the center responded to those complaints by instituting changes in the way it dealt with cases.
'The process improvements and Code revisions strengthen the Center's ability to more efficiently adjudicate cases fairly, consistently, and with trauma sensitivity,' the report read.
SafeSport's handling of reports involving minors, some of whom saw their high school careers plunge into uncertainty while under temporary measures for allegations that might never be proven, now includes an 'alternative track.' Part of that introduces an interactive course that can be offered instead of sanctions for what the center deems to be 'low-level' violations.
The center is also offering more information about administrative closures — cases that critics complained ended up in a 'black box' from which no details could be found and, thus, could prevent sports organizations from taking steps of their own to curtail abusers.
Now, those cases have been divided into two categories — 'closures' and 'holds' — and those have subsections that explain the reason for the action. There are, for instance, holds for cases where a claimant didn't participate in the case, and closures where respondents are issued a 'letter of admonishment' or where no policy existed at the time of the alleged offense to pursue the case.
The report also offered an update on numbers that reflect the fast-growing nature of the 8-year-old organization. It received an average of 155 reports a week in 2024, which marked a 2780% increase over 2017, when it opened.
As of the end of last year, it had placed 2,224 people in its Centralized Disciplinary Database.
The center had delivered nearly 7.5 million online training courses by the end of last year. Also in 2024, it debuted a mobile app that provided access to training and reporting guidance, as well as the disciplinary database.
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AP Summer Olympics: https://apnews.com/hub/2024-paris-olympic-games in this topic
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