Swimming Australia yesterday said that there is “unacceptable behavior” in the sport dated back decades after reports that six more elite athletes plan to make complaints about misconduct.
The governing body has been under the gun since dual Olympic silver-medalist Maddie Groves pulled out of the Australian trials this month, blaming “misogynistic perverts” and “their boot lickers.”
In response, it announced plans to set up an independent female panel to investigate issues relating to women and girls, and on Friday held a “productive” meeting with Groves.
Photo: AP
“We acknowledge some members of the swimming community have experienced unacceptable behavior, some of this dates back decades,” it said in a statement. “The work to address and remedy this has been ongoing.”
Local media reported another six former swimmers had come forward with new complaints, at least one of which was of a sexual nature.
The governing body said that it had not been formally notified and was not aware of the specifics, but that it was “deeply concerned and understands the gravity of such claims.”
“Swimming Australia has ethics and integrity processes in place, including independent avenues,” it said. “We will always investigate any complaint with rigor.”
A chair of the independent panel is to be announced within days, with the governing body having already spoken to parents and swimmers, and asked them to make submissions.
Swimming Australia has previously announced a separate strategic review across the organization led by new chief executive Alex Baumann, a two-time Canadian Olympic gold medalist.
Groves, who came second in the 200m butterfly and 4x100 medley relay at the 2016 Rio de Janeiro Olympics, sent shockwaves through the sport with her allegations.
The target of her comments was not clear, but she said: “Let this be a lesson to all misogynistic perverts in sport and their boot lickers.”
“You can no longer exploit young women and girls, body shame or medically gaslight them, and then expect them to represent you so you can earn your annual bonus. Time’s up.”
Former elite swimmer Jenny McMahon, a Commonwealth Games gold medalist who is now a senior academic at the University of Tasmania, subsequently said that the sport had long suffered from a “degrading and abusive” culture.
McMahon said she had spent 14 years interviewing hundreds of swimmers and coaches, uncovering a pattern of “toxic” coaching habits.
A runner who stopped during a marathon in China to pose doing the splits and another who hoarded energy gels have been banned for two years, the local athletics association said yesterday. The incidents happened during Sunday’s marathon in Sichuan Province’s Chengdu and were widely shared online. Videos showed a female runner stopping suddenly and dropping to the ground in the splits position, holding up her arms in a heart shape as she apparently posed for a photograph. She “committed obstructive fouls during the race, affecting the safe participation of other runners,” the Sichuan Athletics Association said in a statement, which identified
Liverpool star Mohamed Salah on Tuesday said that he would leave the English club at the end of the Premier League season, marking an earlier-than-planned departure for one of the club’s greatest-ever scorers and soccer’s biggest names. The 33-year-old Egypt forward, who has scored 255 goals in 435 appearances for Liverpool, “reached an agreement” to quit the team a year before his contract was due to expire, the Premier League champions said. Salah’s form has dipped in his ninth year at Anfield, to such an extent that he was dropped for a stretch of games late last year — leading to the
Mercedes’ Kimi Antonelli yesterday vowed to “keep raising the bar” after winning the Japanese Grand Prix to become the youngest driver in Formula One history to lead the championship standings. The 19-year-old Italian took advantage of a mid-race safety car to jump into the lead after a dreadful start from pole position, crossing the line ahead of McLaren’s Oscar Piastri and Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc. Antonelli’s Suzuka victory came two weeks after the first grand prix win of his career in China, and sent him top of the championship standings after three races, nine points ahead of team-mate George Russell. Mercedes are struggling to
There were some big games to be played yesterday in the NBA, with the Atlanta Hawks to play the Detroit Pistons in a matchup pitting a Hawks team who are rolling against a Pistons team trying to lock up the Eastern Conference’s No. 1 seed. The Oklahoma City Thunder were to play the Boston Celtics, a showdown featuring the two most recent champions, while the Houston Rockets faced the Minnesota Timberwolves, a game that could factor mightily into Western Conference seeding. Elsewhere, the Washington Wizards were to play the Utah Jazz, with the Wizards on a 16-game slide visiting against a team
RSS