Government Probe of Swimming Australia Coach Sex Abuse Blows Congress Out of the Water on USA Swimming – While All Lanes Lead to Alex Pussieldi’s Brazil
Australia’s Royal Commission Shows the Way For U.S. Congress – Turns Attention From Catholic Church Priests to Swimming Coaches
July 7, 2014Time For Women’s Sports Foundation to Disclose Financial Ties to USA Swimming and U.S. Olympic Committee
July 11, 2014by Irvin Muchnick
Naturally, the only thing the American media care about swimming is that Michael Phelps has come back. But with no one except Concussion Inc. taking note, the sport’s international troubled waters just got a lot hotter, and it’s not El Niño that’s to blame.
We’ve been reporting on the work of Australia’s royal commission inquiry into child sexual abuse, which has pivoted from the Catholic Church to the sleazy leadership of that country’s counterpart to USA Swimming. Here’s the newest from Australian ABC News (http://www.abc.net.au/pm/content/2014/s4042708.htm?source=rss):
“A former chief executive of Swimming Australia has admitted that the body did not investigate a complaint against national women’s coach Scott Volkers, made by a former member of the national team. Glenn Tasker also told the child abuse royal commission into today that Volkers was appointed in 2002 despite sexual assault charges against him which had just been dropped. Swimming Australia has confirmed to the commission today that Volkers is now coaching in Brazil. And it says it’s advised the swimming body there of Volkers’ alleged history.”
Let’s see if any such “advising” gets reported by Brazil’s SporTV network, where Alex Pussieldi is the face of swimming coverage. Fresh off its World Cup infrastructure debacle, Rio de Janeiro is gearing up to host the 2016 Summer Olympics. Brazilian native son Pussieldi high-tailed it back there last year from South Florida, where he had been trafficking in youth swimmers from all over the world (especially Latin America), and getting away with sex crimes against some of them, for more than a decade. Pussieldi “retired” from coaching last year and landed his broadcasting coup with SporTV. See this site, passim.
As this article was being posted, we are awaiting the next action by Broward County Circuit Court Judge John B. Bowman, who is reviewing redacted documents on Pussieldi from 2004 that were provided to us by the City of Fort Lauderdale. We are pleading for restoration of much of the redacted material, which would shed further light on the years of cover-up of Pussieldi by both local governments and police, and by USA Swimming and its disgraced chief executive, the no-longer-Hall-of-Fame-bound Chuck Wielgus.
United States Congress, where are you?