logo
US Olympic and Paralympic officials fire coach and director after AP report on sexual abuse

US Olympic and Paralympic officials fire coach and director after AP report on sexual abuse

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.
___

Orange background

Try Our AI Features

Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:

Comments

No comments yet...

Related Articles

Uriah Rennie, the Premier League's first Black referee, dies at 65
Uriah Rennie, the Premier League's first Black referee, dies at 65

Yahoo

time20 minutes ago

  • Yahoo

Uriah Rennie, the Premier League's first Black referee, dies at 65

SHEFFIELD, England (AP) — Uriah Rennie, the first Black referee in the Premier League, has died. He was 65. 'We are deeply saddened to learn of the passing of our former chair and trailblazing referee, Uriah Rennie," the Sheffield and Hallamshire County Football Association posted Sunday on X. Advertisement 'Uriah made history as the Premier League's first Black referee, officiating over 300 top-flight matches between 1997 and 2008," the statement said. "He broke down barriers, shaped our football community and inspired generations to come." The Jamaica-born official grew up in Sheffield, northern England, and oversaw hundreds of matches starting with his breakthrough appointment when Derby hosted Wimbledon in August 1997. That game was abandoned, however, because the stadium lighting failed. Rennie told BBC News in April how, while on holiday in Turkey last year, he felt severe pain in his back and doctors discovered he had an inoperable neurological condition that confined him to a wheelchair. ___ AP soccer: The Associated Press

Protests intensify in Los Angeles after Trump deploys hundreds of National Guard troops
Protests intensify in Los Angeles after Trump deploys hundreds of National Guard troops

San Francisco Chronicle​

time2 hours ago

  • San Francisco Chronicle​

Protests intensify in Los Angeles after Trump deploys hundreds of National Guard troops

LOS ANGELES (AP) — Tensions in Los Angeles escalated Sunday as thousands of protesters took to the streets in response to President Donald Trump's extraordinary deployment of the National Guard, blocking off a major freeway and setting self-driving cars on fire as law enforcement used tear gas, rubber bullets and flash bangs to control the crowd. Many protesters dispersed as evening fell and police declared an unlawful assembly, a precursor to officers moving in and making arrests of people who don't leave. Some of those remaining threw objects at police from behind a makeshift barrier that spanned the width of a street and others hurled chunks of concrete, rocks, electric scooters and fireworks at California Highway Patrol officers and their vehicles parked on the closed southbound 101 Freeway. Officers ran under an overpass to take cover. Sunday's protests in Los Angeles, a sprawling city of 4 million people, were centered in several blocks of downtown. It was the third and most intense day of demonstrations against Trump's immigration crackdown in the region, as the arrival of around 300 Guard troops spurred anger and fear among many residents. The Guard was deployed specifically to protect federal buildings, including the downtown detention center where protesters concentrated. Los Angeles Police Chief Jim McDonnell said officers were 'overwhelmed' by the remaining protesters. He said they included regular agitators who show up at demonstrations to cause trouble. Several dozen people were arrested throughout the weekend of protest. One was detained Sunday for throwing a Molotov cocktail at police, and another for ramming a motorcycle into a line of officers. Trump responded to McDonnell on Truth Social, telling him to arrest protesters in face masks. Clashes escalate as National Guard troops arrive Starting in the morning, the troops stood shoulder to shoulder, carrying long guns and riot shields as protesters shouted 'shame' and 'go home." After some closely approached the guard members, another set of uniformed officers advanced on the group, shooting smoke-filled canisters into the street. Minutes later, the Los Angeles Police Department fired rounds of crowd-control munitions to disperse the protesters, who they said were assembled unlawfully. Much of the group then moved to block traffic on the 101 freeway until state patrol officers cleared them from the roadway by late afternoon. Nearby, at least four self-driving Waymo cars were set on fire, sending large plumes of black smoke into the sky and exploding intermittently as the electric vehicles burned. By evening, police had issued an unlawful assembly order shutting down several blocks of downtown Los Angeles. Flash bangs echoed out every few seconds into the evening. Governor says Guard not needed Democratic Gov. Gavin Newsom requested Trump remove the guard members in a letter Sunday afternoon, calling their deployment a 'serious breach of state sovereignty.' He was in Los Angeles meeting with local law enforcement and officials. The deployment appeared to be the first time in decades that a state's national guard was activated without a request from its governor, a significant escalation against those who have sought to hinder the administration's mass deportation efforts. Newsom and Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass blamed the increasingly aggressive protests on Trump's decision to deploy the Guard, calling it a move designed to enflame tensions. They've both urged protesters to remain peaceful. 'What we're seeing in Los Angeles is chaos that is provoked by the administration," she said in an afternoon press conference. 'This is about another agenda, this isn't about public safety.' But McDonnell, the LAPD chief, said the protests were following a similar pattern for episodes of civil unrest, with things ramping up in the second and third days. He pushed back against claims by the Trump administration that the LAPD had failed to help federal authorities when protests broke out Friday after a series of immigration raids. His department responded as quickly as it could, and had not been notified in advance of the raids and therefore was not pre-positioned for protests, he said. Newsom, meanwhile, has repeatedly said that California authorities had the situation under control. He mocked Trump for posting a congratulatory message to the Guard on social media before troops had even arrived in Los Angeles, and said on MSNBC that Trump never floated deploying the Guard during a Friday phone call. He called Trump a 'stone cold liar.' The admonishments did not deter the administration. 'It's a bald-faced lie for Newsom to claim there was no problem in Los Angeles before President Trump got involved,' White House spokesperson Abigail Jackson said in a statement. Deployment follows days of protest The arrival of the National Guard followed two days of protests that began Friday in downtown Los Angeles before spreading on Saturday to Paramount, a heavily Latino city south of the city, and neighboring Compton. Federal agents arrested immigrants in LA's fashion district, in a Home Depot parking lot and at several other locations on Friday. The next day, they were staging at a Department of Homeland Security office near another Home Depot in Paramount, which drew out protesters who suspected another raid. Federal authorities later said there was no enforcement activity at that Home Depot. The weeklong tally of immigrant arrests in the LA area climbed above 100, federal authorities said. Many more were arrested while protesting, including a prominent union leader who was accused of impeding law enforcement. The protests did not reach the size of past demonstrations that brought the National Guard to Los Angeles, including the Watts and Rodney King riots, and the 2020 protests against police violence, in which Newsom requested the assistance of federal troops. The last time the National Guard was activated without a governor's permission was in 1965, when President Lyndon B. Johnson sent troops to protect a civil rights march in Alabama, according to the Brennan Center for Justice. Trump says there will be 'very strong law and order' In a directive Saturday, Trump invoked a legal provision allowing him to deploy federal service members when there is 'a rebellion or danger of a rebellion against the authority of the Government of the United States.' He said he had authorized the deployment of 2,000 members of the National Guard. Trump told reporters as he prepared to board Air Force One in Morristown, New Jersey, Sunday that there were 'violent people' in Los Angeles 'and they're not gonna get away with it.' Asked if he planned to send U.S. troops to Los Angeles, Trump replied: 'We're gonna have troops everywhere. We're not going to let this happen to our country.' He didn't elaborate. About 500 Marines stationed at Twentynine Palms, about 125 miles (200 kilometers) east of Los Angeles were in a 'prepared to deploy status' Sunday afternoon, according to the U.S. Northern Command.

Brown, Milam drive in 4 runs each, LSU beats West Virginia 12-5 to clinch 20th CWS berth
Brown, Milam drive in 4 runs each, LSU beats West Virginia 12-5 to clinch 20th CWS berth

Fox Sports

time2 hours ago

  • Fox Sports

Brown, Milam drive in 4 runs each, LSU beats West Virginia 12-5 to clinch 20th CWS berth

Associated Press BATON ROUGE, La. (AP) — Jake Brown hit a home run and had four RBIs, Steven Milam had two doubles and also drove in four runs and LSU beat West Virginia 12-5 on Sunday night to sweep the best-of-three Baton Rouge Super Regional. No. 6 seed LSU (48-15) clinched the program's 20th berth in the College World Series, where the Tigers will try to win their eighth national championship — all since 1991, the most recent in 2023. Derek Curiel led off the game with a double and scored to make it 1-0 when Brown reached on a fielder's choice in the first inning and the Tigers led the rest of the way. Anthony Eyanson (11-2) gave up four runs on five hits with three walks and seven strikeouts in five innings. Chris Stanfield, Curiel and Ethan Frey each drew a two-out walk to load the bases before Milam cleared the bases with a double off starter Jack Kartsonas (6-4) to spark a five-run second that made it 6-0. After Jace Rinehart hit a two-out solo shot and pinch-hitter Chase Swain drew a walk, Chase Shores came on a struck out Brodie Kresser swinging to end the eighth and the pitched a 1-2-3 ninth. Sam White hit a leadoff homer and Ben Lumsden added a two-run shot in the fourth before White added an RBI single in the fifth to cut the deficit to 6-4. Stanfield hit a two-RBI single to spark a six-run seventh, capped when Brown's two-run home run gave LSU an eight-run lead. Milam and Josh Pearson each hit a grand slam as LSU beat the Mountaineers 16-9 in Game 1 on Saturday. West Virginia (44-16) set the program's single-season record for wins under first-year coach Steve Sabins. The Mountains advanced to their first-ever super regional last season. The game had originally been scheduled for 5:06 p.m. local time but was delayed approximately three hours due to inclement weather in the area. ___ AP college sports: recommended

DOWNLOAD THE APP

Get Started Now: Download the App

Ready to dive into the world of global news and events? Download our app today from your preferred app store and start exploring.
app-storeplay-store