Kansas senator one step from getting landmark Olympic sex-abuse reform through Congress
Federal oversight legislation initially introduced in part by a Kansas senator on Jan. 25, 2018 in the wake of the Dr. Larry Nassar in U.S. gymnastics is about to pass through Congress.
Sen. Jerry Moran, R-Kansas, and Sen. Richard Blumenthal, D-Connecticut, drafted the Empowering Olympic, Paralympic and Amateur Athlete Act following Nassar’s conviction and prison sentence on charges he sexually abused U.S. gymnasts. It passed a Senate vote Tuesday and will next to go before the House of Representatives.
“Were it not for the pandemic, hundreds of our athletes would have been in Tokyo right now representing the United States of America at the Olympics,” Moran said in his speech to the Senate. “Even though our athletes are unable to compete today, we owe it to them to create, for future athletes and future competitors, a safe place in which to compete.”
After an 18-month investigation into systemic abuse, four subcommittee hearings, interviews with Olympic athletes like former U.S. gymnasts Aly Raisman and McKayla Maroney and the review of 70,000 pages of documents, the bill passed unanimously through the Senate and is expected to be similarly passed by the House.
It’s expected the legislation will reform the U.S. Olympic and Paralympic Committee (USOPC).
“While we have already modified our bylaws to address important components of the bill, there are still many reform provisions we will need to implement,” Sarah Hirshland, CEO of the USOPC, said in a news release. “I want to assure you that we are committed to addressing all outstanding provisions immediately.”
Here is a brief outline of what the bill includes:
- Empowerment of athletes by giving them a seat at the decision-making table, and a significantly increase in athlete representation on governing boards, committees and panels within amateur athletics’ national governing bodies and the USOPC to help identify problematic policies and practices faster, while prioritizing athlete-centric solutions
- More resources directed toward the U.S. Center for SafeSport while ensuring its independence from the USOPC and sports’ national governing bodies
- Relevant SafeSport training so athletes know how to identify abuse and adults around them know how to prevent it
- Strengthening and codifying of reporting mandates for adults with knowledge of any allegation of child abuse of an amateur athlete
- Protection of individuals who report emotional, physical or sexual abuse of an athlete from retaliation within the Olympic movement
- Promotion of safety by requiring national governing bodies of amateur sports to enforce SafeSport sanctions, with SafeSport continuing to maintain a public list of all barred coaches and individuals
- More USOC auditing and reporting so that Congress can better provide regular oversight
- Establishment of legislative mechanisms through which Congress can dissolve the board of the U.S. Olympic Committee and de-certify national governing bodies that fail to respond to problems
For a one-page summary of the Empowering Olympic, Paralympic and Amateur Athlete Act, click here.
For the entire revised bill text, click here.
“I can honestly say this effort could very well be the most important bipartisan efforts and pieces of legislation resulting therefrom that I have been a part of as a United States senator,” Moran told the Senate Tuesday.
“One (abuse) is too many, but why was there ever more than one? May we never have to ask that question again. And may there never be one in the first place.”
This story was originally published August 4, 2020 at 1:40 PM.