U.S. speed skating coach accused of abuse

[UMBS Go Blue]

Thought this might be interesting to some:
http://espn.go.com/olympics/speedska...hun-vast-abuse

A group of 14 U.S. speedskaters that includes five Olympic bronze medalists has boycotted the team, accusing the head coach and his two assistants of vast, unchecked abuse, according to newspaper reports.

The speedskaters, among them 2010 Vancouver bronze medalists Allison Baver, J.R. Celski, Alyson Dudek, Travis Jayner and Jordan Malone, say Chun and assistants Jun Hyung Yeo and Jimmy Jang have engaged in discrimination against women, inappropriate sexual conduct and have provided alcohol to minors.

Chun is alleged to have slammed a skater against a wall before hitting him repeatedly for "disrespecting" the coach. The alleged abuse also included screamed insults in front of staff members and fellow athletes, tantrums in which chairs and sports equipment were thrown, athletes forced to train despite injury and humiliating treatment that included women being called "fat" and "disgusting" and told to "stop eating," according to the Salt Lake Tribune report.

[peibeck]

That is pretty disgusting behaviour if true.

[DimaToe]

Oh wow If true that is extremely horrid behavior and I hope that the coaches are punished as much as possible.

[TygerLily]

Also, the coach allegedly told one of the competitors to sabotage a Canadian speedskater's skates. It was truly weird to wake up from a nap to hear an interview with Phil Hersch! (On "As It Happens")

http://www.cbc.ca/sports/story/2012/...-sabotage.html

[barbk]

The sabotage thing is unbelievable. I wonder if the ISU will take action.

[4rkidz]

The sabotage thing is unbelievable. I wonder if the ISU will take action.

they should.. even though Simon has said he feels really bad and others have suggested he was 'brave' for coming forward to admit what he did.. I have mixed feelings

[Buzz]

That truly is horrible if true.

[professordeb]

If the sabotage is true and it benefitted the U.S. so they got a medal, then I think it's only right to strip them of their medals and let the next team get it. Sucks to be the rest of the team who didn't do anything but hey, that part is a team sport and you win/lose as a team. I can almost believe that incident is true since one of Canada's top skaters did have a problem with his skate and the team could only use three skaters for that race.
Here's a
Canadian article's take on the same

[4rkidz]

If the sabotage is true and it benefitted the U.S. so they got a medal, then I think it's only right to strip them of their medals and let the next team get it. Sucks to be the rest of the team who didn't do anything but hey, that part is a team sport and you win/lose as a team. I can almost believe that incident is true since one of Canada's top skaters did have a problem with his skate and the team could only use three skaters for that race.
Here's a
Canadian article's take on the same

oh it is true.. trust me.. the kid who did it admitted as such.. but the officials can't say anything yet as its in the legal system..

[Jem X]

If the sabotage is true and it benefitted the U.S. so they got a medal, then I think it's only right to strip them of their medals and let the next team get it. Sucks to be the rest of the team who didn't do anything but hey, that part is a team sport and you win/lose as a team. I can almost believe that incident is true since one of Canada's top skaters did have a problem with his skate and the team could only use three skaters for that race.
Here's a
Canadian article's take on the same

From what I recall, the U.S. team wasn't in the finals. The U.S. coach had some personal bias against this particular Canadian skater so he ordered the sabotage. I could be mis-remembering this.

[professordeb]

From what I recall, the U.S. team wasn't in the finals. The U.S. coach had some personal bias against this particular Canadian skater so he ordered the sabotage. I could be mis-remembering this.

Went and did some digging and found this
So it would seem that Canada still managed to win the gold but the U.S. got bronze with China in the 4 spot. If the U.S. did tamper with the skate of Jean, then they still should be bumped off the podium, medals returned and new ones given to China.

ETA: just watched a video of the race and at the end, I *think* i only saw three Canadian skaters with their helmets covered in some sort of blue cloth to indicate they were participating. If, indeed, they did win with only 3 skaters I'm even more impressed.

[sequins]

Actually it happened at the 2011 World Team Championship to Olivier Jean. He noticed at the start line and always suspected sabatoge but couldn't prove it. He said he had a good relationship with the accused coach. Canada finished 3rd( I believe they were the reigning champs) and the U.S. funny enough failed to even qualify for the finals.

[liv]

Well, he confessed to the sabotage today saying he did it because the coach told him to. He said when he approached the coach about it a month ago, he denied ever telling him to do it...but it was witnessed by another team member. Bad coach for many, many, many reasons.

Now team Canada (and I'm sure other teams) does not leave the room with the skates unattended by a team member.