USA Swimming sent letters to the United States Olympic Committee in 2004 and 2005 requesting that the USOC consider athlete protection policies would stretch across sports, according to a new report from USA TODAY Sports.
The letter reportedly does not explicitly mention sexual abuse but does touch on the issues of background checks, what could be disqualifying factors for membership and protection of minors, according to USA TODAY.
USA Swimming Executive Director Chuck Wielgus outlined that smaller organizations like USA Swimming should be following in the lead of larger ones.
“When we look at other national youth organizations (YMCA, Boy Scouts., etc.) with grassroots constituencies we see national policies that help to guide the locally-based programs … and we think this overarching approach is something that the USOC should seriously consider,” Wielgus wrote in his 2005 letter, according to USA TODAY.
In the response, the USOC referred USA Swimming to a company that conducted background checks for other NGBs. USA Swimming took the step of mandating background checks for coaches in 2006, but it took a 2010 scandal when details emerged about inappropriate relationships between coaches and underage athletes around the country for any further steps to be taken.
The USOC ended up releasing minimum standards for how NGBs should handle sexual abuse at the end of 2013.
USOC CEO Scott Blackmum told USA TODAY he believes his organization has mishandled athlete protection in the past.
One thing that has been made clear as we learn more and more about the past is that the Olympic community failed to protect its athletes. We are profoundly sorry and wish we had acted sooner and more aggressively,” he said, according to USA TODAY.
Nancy Hogshead-Makar, the 1984 co-Olympic gold medalist in the 100 free, blasted the USOC in her statement to USA TODAY.
“It wasn’t until a series of crises have happened that have pushed (the USOC) toward acting,” she said. “It’s disheartening that they have not acted, because it’s the right thing to do.”
The report also discusses USA Gymnastics and its ongoing abuse scandal involving a team doctor. USA TODAY reports that USA Gymnastics sent letters to the USOC in the same spirit of USA Swimming’s messages as early as 1999.
Read the full report from USA TODAY here.