The Swiss bust and extradition to the U.S. of 14 officials of FIFA, the international soccer organization, on corruption charges offers the faintest ripple of hope in investigations of USA Swimming and its global parent, FINA — the largest historical nest of sex abusers outside the Catholic Church.
Granted, the death toll in swimming is nothing like the thousands of workers who perished in Qatar building a secular temple for the 2022 World Cup there, in a decision driven by a network of bribes. Still, the FIFA story is a reminder that swimming corruption, which is mostly about the cover-up on behalf of abusive authority figures who permanently damaged the lives of countless young athletes — commonly girls in their early and mid teens — displays the blood of literal death in its narrative, too.