Olympic athlete calls for drastic changes in leadership at the U.S. Olympic Committee
An Olympic athlete, representing dozens more, wants drastic changes in leadership at the United States Olympic Committee.
He said the same lax governance which allowed Larry Nassar to sexually assault athletes has not changed.
The USOC has been in the national spotlight for years now and under scrutiny for what the Ropes & Gray report said was known about at the highest level.
“They blew it,” Eli Bremer, Pentathlete, and Athletes Advisory Council member, said.
Bremer said the USOC Board of Directors new appointments needs to go, citing a lack of faith in newly-minted CEO, Sarah Hirshland.
“It does not appear that she is taking the reform of the organization as seriously as we needed to happen,” Bremer said.
Hirshland has only been on the job since August 2018.
Then, there’s the board itself. Bremer is pointing the finger at USA Wrestling Director Rich Bender, who is one of the new appointees.
“He had attacked me and the chairman of the Athlete Counsel for speaking up for athlete rights,” Bremer said. “These are exactly the things that the Ropes & Gray Report and that the Congressional report stated were cultural problems within the Olympic community.”
Bremer adds, he told the new board chairman, Susanne Lyons, about the issue.
In a press release announcing the new board appointments, recognized the need to protect athletes and said she’s “looking forward” to working with the new appointees in that need.
Now, Bremer is calling for drastic change.
“This is coming down to hurt athletes. It’s hurting them through sexual assaults. It’s hurting them through financial problems. It’s hurting their training their competitions,” Bremer said. “I think we’ve reached the point of no return with the Board of Directors of the Olympic Committee. It’s time for them to go.”
Bremer hopes reform can come from actions following their words.
“Their words are ‘hey we support athletes and we listen to athletes,’ and their actions are ‘we don’t care.’,” Bremer said.
KRDO NewsChannel 13 did email the USOC asking for their comment on these accusations, the only comment in reference to the questions that was sent back was, “No thanks.”
