The US Olympic & Paralympic Committee has fired a coach and a director after The Related Press reported that the coach was accused of sexually abusing a younger biathlete, inflicting her a lot misery that she tried 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 informed the AP.
He refused to supply a motive, saying solely that Colliander was placed on administrative depart from the Paralympic crew in December — days after the AP report on the alleged misconduct.
The 2 had been fired on March 14.
Colliander was accused of sexually abusing Grace Boutot, a biathlete he coached on the Maine Winter Sports activities Middle over 4 years starting in 2006 when she was 15, the AP reported.
Colliander stop the job after Boutot’s October 2010 suicide try and was later employed by the US Paralympic Nordic crew.
Carey was the Maine heart’s vp on the time of the abuse and had mentioned it with Boutot’s mom.
After leaving the middle in December 2010, Carey was employed as a coach and later promoted to director of the Paralympic crew. She was there when Colliander got here onboard.
Mason declined to say whether or not Carey employed Colliander or how the Paralympic crew vets the coaches they rent.
The US Middle for SafeSport, created to analyze sex-abuse allegations in Olympic sports activities within the aftermath of the Larry Nassar US Gymnastics scandal, launched an investigation into Colliander in December.
“Please note that Mr. Colliander’s case remains active with SafeSport,” Mason informed the AP.
Colliander’s lawyer, Simone Montoya, stated officers didn’t inform 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 informed the AP in an electronic mail. “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 telephone and electronic mail messages in search of remark from Carey weren’t instantly returned.
Boutot was amongst a half-dozen Olympians and different biathletes who got here ahead after the AP reported final yr that Olympian Joanne Reid was sexually abused and harassed for years, in accordance with SafeSport findings.
Biathlon is a winter sport that combines cross-country snowboarding with goal taking pictures.
The AP usually doesn’t determine victims of sexual abuse besides in circumstances the place they publicly determine themselves or share their tales brazenly.
Boutot, 34, informed the AP that when Colliander started teaching her, he gave her lots of consideration, together with inappropriate touching.
The conduct escalated after she turned 18 to “kissing, sexual fondling and oral sex,” in accordance with a remedy abstract by her therapist, Jacqueline Pauli-Ritz, shared with the AP.
Boutot stated she begged Colliander to cease however he ignored her. She grew to become severely depressed and began chopping herself, in accordance with the therapist’s notes.
In September 2010, Pauli-Ritz contacted Colliander and informed him Boutot was affected by main despair and he ought to cease teaching her, the remedy abstract stated.
“He did not do this until after the suicide attempt,” Pauli-Ritz wrote, referring to Boutot’s Oct. 7, 2010, overdose on antidepressants throughout a Utah coaching camp.
Colliander resigned the subsequent day. He took a training job in Colorado and was employed in December 2016 by the US Paralympic crew. He was affiliate director of excessive efficiency for US Paralympics Nordic Snowboarding earlier than being fired.
Boutot tried to maintain racing however confronted discrimination by the middle’s workers and teammates, who blamed her for his departure, in accordance with a letter she wrote to the Maine Sports activities Middle’s board in January 2011.
Boutot’s mom, Karen Gorman, had repeated discussions and electronic mail exchanges with Carey and the middle’s CEO, Andy Shepard, in regards to the abuse her daughter suffered, Gorman informed the AP.
In an Oct. 22, 2010, electronic mail, Gorman informed them, “the issue of any coach-athlete relationships … must be scrutinized” by the Maine sports activities heart.
Carey responded that she was “working really hard” to make that occur. “I am very supportive of having positive things come out of this situation for everyone involved,” she stated in an Oct. 25, 2010, electronic mail.
However, Boutot informed the AP, no investigation was ever carried out.
In a 2011 grievance she filed with the Maine Human Rights Fee, Boutot accused the Maine sports activities heart of failing to forestall Colliander’s sexual misconduct and retaliating towards her when she reported it — denying her teaching and ending financing of apparatus, journey, athlete housing and different US Biathlon competition-related bills.
The middle settled for $75,000 in September 2011 and Boutot stop racing.
