Latest news with #U.S.Olympic&ParalympicCommittee
Yahoo
08-06-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Congress wanted a report on sex abuse in youth sports — then they buried it
The problem of sexual abuse in youth sports is more like a DNA marker than an acknowledged crisis. Consider the fate of the official player in this game with the tools to address it: last year's report by the Commission on the Future of the U.S. Olympic & Paralympic Committee. In the dance of inaction that is our legislative branch these days, the recommendations of the commission have been benched by the very coaches who drafted them for their rosters. (In 2015, a Government Accountability Office audit of federal legislation governing sports abuse turned into a turgid book report that was universally ignored.) The latest blip confirming long-proposed reforms held in a permanent holding pattern was the April sacking of Ju'Riese Colón, CEO of the U.S. Center for SafeSport. Colón was the second boss of the agency, which was set up in 2018 to adjudicate claims of abuse by coaches in Olympic sports national governing bodies. Her predecessor, Shellie Pfohl, quit in the middle of her three-year contract. For Colón, the last straw was news that a SafeSport investigator, Jason Krasley, had been arrested twice at his previous job as a vice officer in Pennsylvania – once for stealing money from a drug bust and once for rape and sex trafficking. During the ritual expressions of disappointment and outrage from congressional oversight figures, there wasn't a peep of reference to the commission's 277-page report, 'Passing the Torch: Modernizing Olympic, Paralympic, & Grassroots Sports in America.' Following years of study, interviews, solicitation of public comments and hearings, the commission, which included famous former Olympic stars female and male, proposed an overhaul of America's youth sports system. Specifically, the commission urged Congress to gut the 1978 Ted Stevens Olympic and Amateur Sports Act to get the Olympic Committee out of the business of running youth sports programs at the grassroots level. Additionally, the commission recommended federal funding of the SafeSport center, which has been plagued by corruption and case backlogs, to get it out from under the malign financial support and influence of the Olympic bodies. A few major newspapers gave the report a couple of polite paragraphs last winter. For its part, the New York Times didn't even tell its readers that such a report had been published. In January 2024, a group of senators, led by Maria Cantwell, a Washington state Democrat who then chaired the Senate Commerce, Science and Transportation Committee, upbraided Colón in a lengthy letter bemoaning the shortcomings of SafeSport. And on March 20, 2024, Sen. John Hickenlooper, D-Colo., who then chaired the Subcommittee on Consumer Protection, Product Safety and Data Security, held a hearing entitled 'Promoting a Safe Environment in U.S. Athletics.' Colón testified. So did commission co-chair Dionne Koller, a sports law specialist at the University of Baltimore. However, notice of the hearing didn't even mention the commission report, released two weeks earlier. Reporting on all this congressional kabuki theater is the equivalent of what in swimming is called a trials and finals meet. It's a two-stage process, at least. I started with Cantwell. After all, she had sponsored the commission's enabling legislation and appointed some of its members, including co-chair Koller. (Koller hasn't spoken on the record about the commission's failure to penetrate public consciousness. Sources close to commission members have told me that they hope their report will have an impact across time and guide eventual toothful reforms.) Cantwell's office punted my query to Tricia Enright, a Commerce Committee staffer. She said the 'leads' on the youth sports safety issue were Sens. Richard Blumenthal, D-Conn., and Jerry Moran, R-Kan. In 2019, as chair and ranking member (respectively) of the consumer protection subcommittee, they introduced the legislation for the commission. 'Our consumer team was consistently in touch with stakeholders on the progress of this bill,' Enright said. Blumenthal and Moran 'have been clear they are leading any legislation in the Senate for further reform – that bill has yet to be introduced.' I then went to Blumenthal, with the note that Cantwell was deferring to him on this issue. Blumenthal replied through communications director, Maria McElwain, who turned around these 150 words of insalata caprese: Keeping athletes safe is a nonnegotiable priority — and meeting that challenge requires a commitment from all stakeholders, including the National Governing Bodies. SafeSport is tasked with an immense, difficult, and delicate responsibility — to adjudicate cases of abuse and help correct decades of imbalance in a system that protected predators instead of athletes. SafeSport hasn't always gotten it right, and I have been critical when I felt the Center was not taking strong enough action in response to athlete concerns. A lack of communication, particularly with survivors, paired with slow response and resolution times have led athletes to lose trust in the Center — and that lack of trust has a material impact on the Center's ability to do its job and keep abusers out of sport. That is why I am working with Congressional colleagues, athletes, survivors, and NGBs on reforms. I look forward to urgently proposing and enacting these changes. To follow up, I asked whether Blumenthal specifically supported the two pertinent recommendations of the congressional commission. If a response ever arrives, I'll let you know. Blumenthal is well-versed in the two-step of grandstanding without follow-through. (To be fair, so are many politicians of all parties.) He got elected to the Senate in 2010 over Linda McMahon, erstwhile CEO of Connecticut-based WWE, the pro wrestling company. Blumenthal had been the state's attorney general for years, and during the Senate race his office launched an investigation of WWE's abuse of independent contractor categories, a tactic that both blocks full benefits for employees and robs government coffers at all levels of payroll taxes. But as soon as he won the election, the WWE audit was dropped. If he's done anything about independent contractor abuse while serving in the Senate, I don't know about I do know is that in 2017, when Donald Trump nominated McMahon as head of the Small Business Administration, Blumenthal made sure he was photographed smiling with her at her confirmation hearings. McMahon's importance in 2010, it seems, had nothing to do with operating a scofflaw corporation; it was simply because she was a Republican opponent. McMahon has refused to go away; under Trump 2.0 she is what passes for secretary of education. On the problem of youth sports sexual abuse, Cantwell, Blumenthal, et al., are just the latest reminder that when it comes to stemming crimes committed in the name of the flag-waving USOPC and its feelgood TV content-producing national sport governing bodies, reticence about taking on the Olympic brand is bipartisan. In 2014, Rep. George Miller of California, House Democrats' self-appointed 'lead' on the issue, sent a letter to the FBI that might read today as if ChatGPT had written it. The bureau virtually laughed it off. After Miller retired, his successor, Rep. Jackie Speier, D-Calif., did exactly nothing before she, too, retired. The stopwatch on lane 3 tells us that Republicans don't appear to care at all about the existence of platforms for sexual predation on young people, fortified by the Olympic movement. In lane 4, Democrats are doing much better: At least they pretend they do.
Miami Herald
04-06-2025
- Automotive
- Miami Herald
Honda Powers Team USA Through LA28 Olympic and Paralympic Games
At an event at American Honda Headquarters in Torrance, CA, American Honda President and CEO Kazuhiro Takizawa was joined by the U.S. Olympic & Paralympic Committee, LA28 representatives, community business partners, as well as Olympic and Paralympic stars to celebrate their announcement the automaker's support and expanding involvement in the LA28 Olympic and Paralympic games. On top of being a founding partner with LA28, the Japanese automaker is taking its support a step further. Honda will deliver a fleet of accessible vehicles, along with a "wide range of mobility products," and will also donate $1 million over a multi-year period to U.S. Olympic and Paralympic participants who require support. This support also extends to the athletes participating in the 2026 Winter Games in Milan-Cortina. "Honda will help the world's greatest athletes pursue their dreams in 2028 as a Founding Partner of the LA28 Olympic and Paralympic Games. Honda, which established its first U.S. operations in Los Angeles in June 1959, will also serve as the Official Automotive Partner of Team USA, supporting the United States Olympic and Paralympic teams during the LA28 Games and upcoming Olympic and Paralympic Winter Games Milano Cortina 2026," the company said in a statement. Both Honda's and Acura's lineups will be represented in the donation roster. The upcoming all-electric Honda 0-series EVs and the upcoming Acura RSX EV will be deployed alongside the funky, folding Honda Motocompacto e-scooter, side-by-sides, and motorcycles. Honda and Acura vehicles will also be the only models used as pace cars for endurance events during the games. Back in 1959, Honda opened its first U.S. store in Los Angeles, CA, selling scooters and motorcycles. In many ways, they endeared themselves to the community while establishing a foothold in the United States. Angelinos like me grew up knowing that Honda was deeply ingrained in the SoCal culture, so it's nice to see them embrace such an event with so much dedication and devotion. Copyright 2025 The Arena Group, Inc. All Rights Reserved.
Yahoo
30-05-2025
- Health
- Yahoo
Shiffrin says in essay she feels 'like myself again' after recovering from ski racing crash, PTSD
FILE - United States' Mikaela Shiffrin reacts on the podium after winning the women's slalom at the World Cup Finals, Thursday, March 27, 2025, in Sun Valley, Idaho. (AP Photo/John Locher, File) Mikaela Shiffrin, U.S. World Cup alpine skier, is interviewed at a NBCUniversal and U.S. Olympic & Paralympic Committee press preview event to promote the upcoming Milano Cortina 2026 Olympic and Paralympic Winter Games, Wednesday, May 21, 2025, in Los Angeles. (AP Photo/Damian Dovarganes) Mikaela Shiffrin, U.S. World Cup alpine skier, is interviewed at a NBCUniversal and U.S. Olympic & Paralympic Committee press preview event to promote the upcoming Milano Cortina 2026 Olympic and Paralympic Winter Games, Wednesday, May 21, 2025, in Los Angeles. (AP Photo/Damian Dovarganes) FILE - United States' Mikaela Shiffrin reacts on the podium after winning the women's slalom at the World Cup Finals, Thursday, March 27, 2025, in Sun Valley, Idaho. (AP Photo/John Locher, File) Mikaela Shiffrin, U.S. World Cup alpine skier, is interviewed at a NBCUniversal and U.S. Olympic & Paralympic Committee press preview event to promote the upcoming Milano Cortina 2026 Olympic and Paralympic Winter Games, Wednesday, May 21, 2025, in Los Angeles. (AP Photo/Damian Dovarganes) Two-time Olympic champion Mikaela Shiffrin finally feels 'like myself again' after recovering from a ski racing crash last season and lingering post-traumatic stress disorder. Shiffrin described in an essay for The Players' Tribune released Friday the physical and mental hurdles she needed to clear after her serious spill during a giant slalom race in Killington, Vermont, on Nov. 30. In the crash, something punctured Shiffrin's side and caused severe damage to her oblique muscles. Advertisement 'Everyone knows what it feels like to have a bad cough. But PTSD … it's not like that,' the 30-year-old from Edwards, Colorado, wrote. 'It comes in all shapes and sizes. Everyone experiences it in their own way, and no two cases are exactly alike.' Shiffrin was leading after the first run of the GS that day in Killington. With the finish line in sight on her final run, she lost an edge and slid into a gate, flipping over her skis. The all-time winningest Alpine World Cup ski racer then slammed into another gate before coming to a stop in the protective fencing. To this day, she doesn't know what led to the puncture wound, only that it was "a millimeter from pretty catastrophic,' she told The Associated Press. Shiffrin wrote in The Players' Tribune it was 'difficult to explain what the pain felt like. But the closest I can get would probably be, it was like … not only was there a knife stabbing me, but the knife was actually still inside of me.' In late January, Shiffrin returned to the World Cup circuit. The giant slalom, though, remained a cause of anxiety and she skipped the event at world championships. Advertisement Ever so steadily, she's working on overcoming the mental trauma surrounding the GS as she gears up for the 2026 Milan-Cortina Winter Games. She won an Olympic gold medal in the discipline at the 2018 Pyeongchang Games. She's been working with a psychologist to conquer her mental obstacles. 'I can admit that there were some extremely low moments," recounted Shiffrin, who won her 100th career World Cup ski race in February. "Times when I started second-guessing myself, or was critical of myself because I felt like I was letting what happened mess with me so much. It was like: Come on, Mikaela, people have had way worse crashes than that, way worse injuries. Those people got through it. What is wrong with you? "On particularly bad days, I'd question my motivation, or whether I still wanted to do this anymore. In my head, I'd be saying to myself: You know what, I kind of couldn't care less if I ever race again.' Advertisement She and the therapist began looking at her recovery through the prism of PTSD. 'With me, I also think it's possible that the crash I had at the beginning of 2024 in Cortina, and then Killington happening. … that those two crashes maybe built on one another,' Shiffrin said. 'I talked with my therapist about that, and she let me know that past trauma, or a history of traumatic events, can sometimes affect your reaction to new traumatic events.' She lost her dad, Jeff, five years ago in a home accident. Her fiancé and fellow ski racer Aleksander Aamodt Kilde of Norway is still recovering from a serious ski crash on Jan. 13, 2024. 'Maybe when I crashed and got that puncture wound, maybe that was kind of a perfect-storm situation for PTSD to take hold," Shiffrin wrote. Advertisement Shiffrin said one thing that's helped is 'getting back to a place of joy.' She closed her essay with: "All I can do is smile with appreciation. Because, finally .... I feel like myself again.' ___ AP skiing:
Yahoo
22-05-2025
- Sport
- Yahoo
After NFL approval, LA28's Wasserman is optimistic MLB players will also find a path to the Olympics
Chloe Kim, a two-time U.S. Olympic snowboard gold medalist, arrives at an NBCUniversal and U.S. Olympic & Paralympic Committee press preview event to promote the upcoming Milano Cortina 2026 Olympic and Paralympic Winter Games, in Los Angeles, Wednesday, May 21, 2025. (AP Photo/Damian Dovarganes) Oksana Masters, a Paralympic nordic skiing athlete, speaks at an NBCUniversal and U.S. Olympic and Paralympic Committee press preview event to promote the upcoming Milano Cortina 2026 Olympic and Paralympic Winter Games, Wednesday, May 21, 2025, in Los Angeles. (AP Photo/Damian Dovarganes) Mikaela Shiffrin, U.S. World Cup alpine skier left, and Mike Tirico, NBC Olympics primetime host meet at a NBCUniversal and U.S. Olympic & Paralympic Committee press preview event to promote the upcoming Milano Cortina 2026 Olympic and Paralympic Winter Games, in Los Angeles Wednesday, May 21, 2025. (AP Photo/Damian Dovarganes) Casey Wasserman, chairman of LA 2028, the organizing committee for the 2028 Summer Olympics, is interviewed at an NBCUniversal and U.S. Olympic & Paralympic Committee press preview event to promote the upcoming Milano Cortina 2026 Olympic and Paralympic Winter Games, Wednesday, May 21, 2025, in Los Angeles. (AP Photo/Damian Dovarganes) Casey Wasserman, chairman of LA 2028, the organizing committee for the 2028 Summer Olympics, is interviewed at an NBCUniversal and U.S. Olympic & Paralympic Committee press preview event to promote the upcoming Milano Cortina 2026 Olympic and Paralympic Winter Games, Wednesday, May 21, 2025, in Los Angeles. (AP Photo/Damian Dovarganes) Chloe Kim, a two-time U.S. Olympic snowboard gold medalist, arrives at an NBCUniversal and U.S. Olympic & Paralympic Committee press preview event to promote the upcoming Milano Cortina 2026 Olympic and Paralympic Winter Games, in Los Angeles, Wednesday, May 21, 2025. (AP Photo/Damian Dovarganes) Oksana Masters, a Paralympic nordic skiing athlete, speaks at an NBCUniversal and U.S. Olympic and Paralympic Committee press preview event to promote the upcoming Milano Cortina 2026 Olympic and Paralympic Winter Games, Wednesday, May 21, 2025, in Los Angeles. (AP Photo/Damian Dovarganes) Mikaela Shiffrin, U.S. World Cup alpine skier left, and Mike Tirico, NBC Olympics primetime host meet at a NBCUniversal and U.S. Olympic & Paralympic Committee press preview event to promote the upcoming Milano Cortina 2026 Olympic and Paralympic Winter Games, in Los Angeles Wednesday, May 21, 2025. (AP Photo/Damian Dovarganes) Casey Wasserman, chairman of LA 2028, the organizing committee for the 2028 Summer Olympics, is interviewed at an NBCUniversal and U.S. Olympic & Paralympic Committee press preview event to promote the upcoming Milano Cortina 2026 Olympic and Paralympic Winter Games, Wednesday, May 21, 2025, in Los Angeles. (AP Photo/Damian Dovarganes) LOS ANGELES (AP) — The organizers of the Los Angeles Olympics remain optimistic that Major League Baseball will find a way to join the NFL in sending the world's best athletes in their respective sports to the 2028 Games. LA28 president and chairman Casey Wasserman said he has been in close contact with MLB Commissioner Rob Manfred about the decision that must be made by both the league and the players' union on whether to send players to the Olympics in the middle of the 2028 baseball season. There's no current timetable for the decision. Advertisement 'I'm optimistic because it's the right thing for the sport of baseball, it's the right thing for the players and it's certainly the right thing for the Olympics,' Wasserman told The Associated Press on Wednesday. 'I think when things make sense for everybody, you can usually find a way to get things done.' LA28 was buoyed last week by the NFL owners' unanimous decision to approve the players' participation in the inaugural Olympic flag football event, with Wasserman calling it 'an awesome day." The Los Angeles organizing committee is hoping for similar news on baseball, whenever the decision is made. 'We're very engaged with the commissioner,' Wasserman said. 'I talked to him in anticipation of the NFL announcement so they knew what was coming. They have a different challenge because it's in the middle of their season, but we are very engaged in ongoing discussions with the hope to get to a good result.' Players' union head Tony Clark has said his players want to vie for Olympic gold — particularly those who got a taste of international competition in previous World Baseball Classics. Several superstars have expressed public interest in playing in the Los Angeles Olympic tournament, including reigning league MVPs Aaron Judge and Shohei Ohtani. Advertisement But the decision is much tougher for baseball because the Olympics fall in the heart of the regular season, necessitating major scheduling changes similar to the quadrennial disruption of the NHL season when the league participates in the Winter Olympics. Baseball also isn't a pillar of the Olympic program like ice hockey, being only intermittently included in the Summer Games for decades. The NFL players who make their nations' 10-man flag football teams are unlikely to miss more than a few days of training camp in July 2028, but MLB would have to make a dramatic adjustment to its normal competition schedule. Manfred spoke about the decision last month in New York at a meeting of the Associated Press Sports Editors. Wasserman has been pitching Manfred for over a year on the benefits of putting his sport under the Olympic spotlight. 'It's a complicated issue for us,' Manfred said at the APSE event. "Lots of major league players would be involved because of the different countries that would likely be involved, massively disruptive to our season given the timing, and we're trying to sort through all that. ... We do see LA28 as a real opportunity from a marketing perspective.' Advertisement The sport long known as America's Pastime was played only as one-game Olympic exhibitions until 1984, when it joined the Los Angeles program as a demonstration sport. Baseball became an official Olympic sport in Barcelona in 1992, but U.S. professionals weren't allowed to compete until 2000, when minor leaguers were allowed to play. The absence of the world's players was one reason cited when baseball was subsequently dropped from the London and Rio de Janeiro Games. The sport returned in baseball-mad Tokyo in 2021 — but only for MLB players not on a 40-man roster. Japan's top league shut down its season, and Japan won gold. Baseball was dropped once again in Paris, but restored for LA28. The tournament will be played at historic Dodger Stadium, the same venue that hosted the 1984 Olympic tournament. Advertisement Wasserman spoke about his baseball aspirations after an event that should remind MLB of the Olympics' unmatched marketing power. NBCUniversal has taken over a large soundstage complex in suburban Sun Valley to create extensive multimedia content to be used in the Milan Cortina Winter Olympics broadcasts in nine months, feeding the broadcast machine that boosts winter stars including Chloe Kim, Mikaela Shiffrin and Lindsey Vonn to international celebrity. ___ AP sports:
Mint
25-04-2025
- Sport
- Mint
US Olympic and Paralympic officials fire coach and director after report on sexual abuse
New York, Apr 25 (AP) The U.S. Olympic & Paralympic Committee has fired a coach and a director after The Associated Press reported that the coach was accused of sexually abusing a young biathlete, causing her so much distress that she attempted suicide. 'Following our thorough internal evaluation, we can confirm that Gary Colliander and Eileen Carey are no longer affiliated with the USOPC," spokesman Jon Mason told the AP. He refused to provide a reason, saying only that Colliander was put on administrative leave from the Paralympic team in December — days after the AP report on the alleged misconduct. The two were fired on March 14. Colliander was accused of sexually abusing Grace Boutot, a biathlete he coached at the Maine Winter Sports Center over four years beginning in 2006 when she was 15, the AP reported. Colliander quit the job after Boutot's October 2010 suicide attempt and was later hired by the U.S. Paralympic Nordic team. Carey was the Maine center's vice president at the time of the abuse and had discussed it with Boutot's mother. After leaving the center in December 2010, Carey was hired as a coach and later promoted to director of the Paralympic team. She was there when Colliander came onboard. Mason declined to say whether Carey hired Colliander or how the Paralympic team vets the coaches they hire. The U.S. Center for SafeSport, created to investigate sex-abuse allegations in Olympic sports in the aftermath of the Larry Nassar U.S. Gymnastics scandal, launched an investigation into Colliander in December. 'Please note that Mr. Colliander's case remains active with SafeSport,' Mason told the AP. Colliander's lawyer, Simone Montoya, said officials did not tell Colliander why he was fired and he 'adamantly denies any wrongdoing or inappropriate behavior, as alleged.' Colliander "is committed to full and transparent cooperation into this matter,' Montoya told the AP in an email. 'He denies any conduct in violation of the SafeSport Code or applicable laws and policies and maintains that he has always upheld professional standards throughout his career.' AP phone and email messages seeking comment from Carey were not immediately returned. Boutot was among a half-dozen Olympians and other biathletes who came forward after the AP reported last year that Olympian Joanne Reid was sexually abused and harassed for years, according to SafeSport findings. Biathlon is a winter sport that combines cross-country skiing with target shooting. The AP generally does not identify victims of sexual abuse except in cases where they publicly identify themselves or share their stories openly. Boutot, 34, told the AP that when Colliander began coaching her, he gave her a lot of attention, including inappropriate touching. The conduct escalated after she turned 18 to 'kissing, sexual fondling and oral sex,' according to a treatment summary by her therapist, Jacqueline Pauli-Ritz, shared with the AP. Boutot said she begged Colliander to stop but he ignored her. She became severely depressed and started cutting herself, according to the therapist's notes. In September 2010, Pauli-Ritz contacted Colliander and told him Boutot was suffering from major depression and he should stop coaching her, the treatment summary said. 'He did not do this until after the suicide attempt,' Pauli-Ritz wrote, referring to Boutot's Oct. 7, 2010, overdose on antidepressants during a Utah training camp. Colliander resigned the next day. He took a coaching job in Colorado and was hired in December 2016 by the U.S. Paralympic team. He was associate director of high performance for U.S. Paralympics Nordic Skiing before being fired. Boutot tried to keep racing but faced discrimination by the center's staff and teammates, who blamed her for his departure, according to a letter she wrote to the Maine Sports Center's board in January 2011. Boutot's mother, Karen Gorman, had repeated discussions and email exchanges with Carey and the center's CEO, Andy Shepard, about the abuse her daughter suffered, Gorman told the AP. In an Oct. 22, 2010, email, Gorman told them, 'the issue of any coach-athlete relationships ... must be scrutinized" by the Maine sports center. Carey responded that she was 'working really hard' to make that happen. 'I am very supportive of having positive things come out of this situation for everyone involved,' she said in an Oct. 25, 2010, email. But, Boutot told the AP, no investigation was ever conducted. In a 2011 complaint she filed with the Maine Human Rights Commission, Boutot accused the Maine sports center of failing to prevent Colliander's sexual misconduct and retaliating against her when she reported it — denying her coaching and ending financing of equipment, travel, athlete housing and other U.S. Biathlon competition-related expenses. The center settled for $75,000 in September 2011 and Boutot quit racing. (AP) AM AM AM First Published: 25 Apr 2025, 09:58 AM IST
