Sexual Abuse of Olympic Athletes: Under 18

Gymnastics is a sexy sport.  But they all are.  Every sport is sexy.  Rigorous study of Canadian Olympic athletes reveals that children are easy to exploit.  They are handed over to charismatic coaches-- willingly-- by their parents to train for the gold.

Now, apparently, we have this here in the United States.   This game is as old as the sport, unfortunately, no matter which one.

Don Peters, a U.S. gymnastics coach, resigned Tuesday following allegations of sexual and physical abuse of minors dating as far back as the 1980's.  The statute of limitations has run out for Mr. Peters, but now, you can be sure, other stories, more crimes like his will surface.  Already two other Olympic gymnastics coaches have been dismissed from their positions, Doug Boger and Michael Zapp.  We shudder to think about it.

Team Wise, a division of Relationship-Wise, Inc., launched in 2009 with this in mind, that children are vulnerable, as are women in sports, and men, too.  Athletes are often perpetrators of sexual assault (studies on college campuses find their acquaintance rape statistics higher than any other group, except, perhaps fraternity men).  But young athletes are vulnerable to that assault.  Players grow up to be coaches, and coaches are in positions of authority, power.  They coerce, seduce, and they have time.

It is up to parents to communicate well with their children about dangers facing them in their chosen avocation and profession.  Losing is the least of a child's worries when he or she leaves home to become a hero, a competitor.  Athletes are attractive.

And it is surely up to the institution that hires, be it a corporation, a club, a school, a not-for-profit, a team, whoever is in that position, to be sure that excellence in athletics doesn't compromise ethics off the field, outside the gymnasium, in the locker room.  Young people who compete travel.  They live in hotels.

How it happens isn't a mystery.  That it still happens, systematically, all over the world and in America, in our enlightened era, 2011, when the rights of animals, even whales are protected, is the travesty.  It has to stop.

Linda Freedman, PhD