American Swimming Coaches Association Chief John Leonard — No. 1 Suspect For Facilitating Irish Rapist George Gibney’s Visa Application — Is Changing His Tune on Abusers in the Ranks
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May 9, 2016
by Irvin Muchnick
There has been no word from Canadian Olympic officials or elected leaders on the call by Canadian citizens Carolyn and Jean-Pierre Cote to keep out of the upcoming Summer Olympics in Rio de Janeiro the swimming commentator on Brazilian television, Alex Pussieldi, who is back in his native country in flight from a record of the cover-ups of his human trafficking, athlete abuse, production of Peeping Tom videos of kids housed with him, and possession of videos of his sex with underage boys.
J.P. Cote is a former Canadian national swim team member who now lives in Florida and is the most outspoken critic of Pussieldi, whose team there disbanded amidst scandals and a hefty fine and suspension by the regional affiliate of USA Swimming. See our coverage of the Cotes’ still-unanswered letter to Canada’s sports minister, Carla Qualtrough, at https://concussioninc.net/?p=10833.
Meanwhile, the president of the Australian Olympic Committee, John Coates, has asked Brazil to bar from access to the Summer Games expatriate coach and accused serial molester Scott Volkers, now coaching in Brazil. (Last year we wrote about Volkers’ otherwise unremarked-upon appearance on deck at the international Arena series meet in Santa Clara, California. See https://concussioninc.net/?p=10145.)
Here’s coverage of Coates’ appeal to the Brazilians in Australia’s Daily Telegraph: http://www.dailytelegraph.com.au/sport/olympics-2016/aoc-president-john-coates-asks-brazil-to-ban-swim-coach-and-alleged-sex-offender-scott-volkers/news-story/12ff646d9b2e98d33161c251324ad5b0.
While the Cotes’ letter to the Canadian government is welcome, the bulk of the allegations against Pussieldi are on American soil. One of Pussieldi’s abuse victims, Leo Martins, was himself recently banned by USA Swimming for abusing one of his own swimmers — a classic pattern of these crimes getting perpetuated across generations. Concussion Inc. will follow up with the U.S. “safe sport” pooh-bahs, at both USA Swimming and the parent Olympic Committee, to see if they intend to do anything about Pussieldi’s presence in Rio — as foul as the dirty water and Zika virus now threatening the Games’ tranquility.