by Irvin Muchnick
The petition by swimming sex abuse victims against the International Swimming Hall of Fame induction of USA Swimming executive director Chuck Wielgus is still online at http://www.change.org/petitions/bruce-wigo-rescind-chuck-wielgus-hall-of-fame-nomination?recruiter=97753835&utm_campaign=signature_receipt&utm_medium=email&utm_source=share_petition.
At the beginning of the week, Wielgus rendered the campaign academic when he withdrew his name from the Hall of Fame honor, which had been scheduled for June 14. At the time, the petition had just under 1,000 supporters. As this article was being posted, the petition was up to 1,754 signatures.
The narrow objective of the petition has been met, so in that sense, co-signing it is little more than piling on. But I say, keep piling on. This petition is a rehearsal for the next and more substantive one: getting Wielgus to step down as USA Swimming chief, or the USA Swimming board to fire him.
Complete links to Concussion Inc.’s coverage of the petition drive that forced the withdrawal of the Chuck Wielgus induction into the International Swimming Hall of Fame are at “Chuck Wielgus Belongs in the Hall of Justice, Not the Hall of Fame,” https://concussioninc.net/?p=9233.
This week’s cover story in South Florida’s New Times, “An Underage Sex Scandal Leads to South Florida’s Swimming Hall of Fame,” is at http://www.miaminewtimes.com/2014-06-05/news/sex-scandal-swimming-hall-of-fame-fort-lauderdale/.