Paris is welcoming the Olympic Games much as Chicago is getting ready for next month’s Democratic National Convention, imposing strict security, boosting hotel rates and cleaning up the Seine River, among other dirty spots.
But there’s one page from France’s playbook that the U.S. still needs to follow: Cleaning up the acts of its coaches and other powerful sports figures. Ahead of the Games, France undertook a far-reaching review of coaching behavior that turned up hundreds of cases of abuse, including dozens in which male coaches had sexually assaulted young female athletes.
It would be nice to pretend that such terrible things can’t happen here, but obviously they can. Consider Dr. Larry Nassar, who abused hundreds of girls and young women for years while his supervisors at USA Gymnastics and Michigan State University failed to act on complaints about him or take basic steps to protect the athletes.
Among his victims was Simone Biles, the world’s most decorated gymnast and the current face of the U.S. team in Paris. Nassar is serving a 60-year federal prison term.
Even closer to home, a former teacher and softball coach at Bloom Trail High School in far south suburban Steger faces an alarming charge of criminal sexual assault. Ron Giglio of Cedar Lake, Indiana, is accused of exploiting his position of authority to manipulate a then-underage student into a sexual relationship. More than 20 years later, she sued Giglio and the school district, prompting the criminal case.
Prosecutors told a Cook County judge earlier this month that other female teachers and students as recently as May had alleged inappropriate behavior by Giglio, who was fired in July and placed under electronic home monitoring. (Giglio and others facing criminal charges are presumed innocent unless proved otherwise.)
In many cases of alleged abuse, nothing happens until whistleblowers force authorities to confront the wrongdoing head-on — rather than covering it up to protect the reputations of those who failed to act sooner.
France got its wake-up call four years ago when a champion figure skater published a book alleging that her coach had raped her years earlier, when she was a teen. After Sarah Abitbol came forward, an outpouring followed. As of last month, French athletes had filed formal complaints against 1,284 coaches, teachers and sports officials affiliated with 45 different sports federations. Of those accused, 186 have faced criminal proceedings and 624 received temporary or permanent bans.
That’s a good example of taking action. Unfortunately, similar efforts in the U.S. have lagged.
The U.S. is one of the few countries to have no national sports ministry and to provide no government funding for its National Olympic Committee. In practice, each sport has a governing body responsible for policing itself. That can perpetuate wrongdoing when the fear of retaliation keeps athletes from speaking up, as at USA Gymnastics in the Nassar case. For years, many of these organizations have operated with little oversight, leaving athletes at their mercy.
In the aftermath of the Nassar scandal, Congress passed the Protecting Young Victims From Sexual Abuse and Safe Sport Authorization Act of 2017 and the Empowering Olympic, Paralympic, and Amateur Athlete Act of 2020. These were overdue efforts to unify a patchwork of state laws governing abuse.
Among other steps, the legislation set up a central authority to protect athletes. That was the right idea, and the nonprofit Center for SafeSport can point to some successes, but its work has not yet lived up to its potential.
The center has struggled to carve out its independence from the Olympic Committee and other powers that be that have huge financial incentives to maintain the status quo. Its penalties are sometimes overturned and attorneys for some abused athletes have advised against reporting cases to the center, which they consider too friendly to defendants.
Some observers have urged Congress to appoint an inspector general for amateur sports to perform investigations, audits and other oversight. Lawmakers also could take up additional legislation to strengthen the two bills they already approved. But establishing a new bureaucracy that expands government control over sports would create its own issues, so we’re wary. Still, there’s a role for congressional scrutiny to make certain the existing laws are fulfilling their purpose.
As it stands, law enforcement and the courts have been left to deal with these sensitive matters, and the jury is still out regarding the effectiveness of the post-Nassar legislation. The jury won’t be out for long, though. Los Angeles is hosting the Games in four years, and if the past is any guide, the U.S. had better get its act together before 2028.
When Russia, China and Brazil served as host countries, each got plenty of criticism for everything from mistreating vulnerable citizens to exposing athletes to unsafe conditions. As the world’s scrutiny turns shortly to the 2028 Games, the U.S. needs to ensure the current framework for protecting athletes has teeth. The pressure is on to prove America can compete without subjecting its young talent to abuse.
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