Keeping Track of Criminal Cases & SafeSport Suspensions in Skating

[Frau Muller]

Speculating about the identity of the alleged assailant is something that Sharpie does not want happening on FSU, for obvious legal reasons, so let's not even go down the rabbit hole of asking that question.

So it’s a nothing-nothing story! I’ll go with Wikipedia. This ice dancer means nothing to me.

 

[Karen-W]

So it’s a nothing-nothing story!

No - if and when there is public information about the charges then those can be reported and discussed. Until then, no speculating.

 

[Tesla]

So it’s a nothing-nothing story! I’ll go with Wikipedia. This ice dancer means nothing to me.

Um, no it is not! If you read her Instagram post, you would know that she was sexually assaulted. That is all she wants to share and all we need to know. Good for her for speaking out. Wow.

 

[tony]

This ice dancer means nothing to me.

Good God, so because Frau, (the one still obsessed with trying to be a skater who had her crowning moment 30 years ago, mind you) doesn’t know who this ice dancer is, she means nothing and the story is nothing-nothing. I’d say I hope at some point in your life you realize the world doesn’t solely revolve around what you care about, but here we are..

 

[Frau Muller]

Good God, so because Frau, (the one still obsessed with trying to be a skater who had her crowning moment 30 years ago, mind you) doesn’t know who this ice dancer is, she means nothing and the story is nothing-nothing. I’d say I hope at some point in your life you realize the world doesn’t solely revolve around what you care about, but here we are..

I don’t give a darn and your usual vitriol won’t change me!

 

[Tesla]

I don’t give a darn and your usual vitriol won’t change me!

You don't care that a skater was sexually assaulted? Why are you even in this thread? Wow.

 

[Wyliefan]

Apparently if you weren't assaulted on Wikipedia, it didn't happen.

 

[kwanfan1818]

All of our posts tell who we are.

 

[Frau Muller]

You don't care that a skater was sexually assaulted? Why are you even in this thread? Wow.

Just reading the article with big round blonde face. Wondering Who is This? The whole world seems to know - I don’t. (OK - she’s not important.) This blonde could be anyone.

 

[Sparks]

Disgusting

 

[victorskid]

I will not respond directly to the poster who obviously does not follow skating, particularly ice dance, sufficiently to be aware of a lovely young women who was seriously injured, came back to skating, and has now revealed that she was sexually assaulted.

My sympathies and concerns are with the skater and I hope she can once again draw on her obvious inner strengths to move forward safely and healthily.

 

[Karen-W]

Just reading the article with big round blonde face. Wondering Who is This? The whole world seems to know - I don’t. (OK - she’s not important.) This blonde could be anyone.

Seriously? There was a HUGE thread about her accident and comeback when she made that news public in early Jan 2023. It was talked about at Worlds 2023 when they made their competitive return. She very nearly died from a major training accident and the resulting brain injury.

The way you phrased the question and your responses to several other posters who have reminded you of Sharpie's rules about NOT speculating about the identities of sexual assault victims or alleged assailants are grossly out-of-line and you still persist in thinking you have done nothing wrong. Okay then...

 

[tony]

Just reading the article with big round blonde face. Wondering Who is This? The whole world seems to know - I don’t. (OK - she’s not important.) This blonde could be anyone.

Big round face? Doubling down on her not being ‘important’ because you don’t know her?

You’re old enough to be my grandmother. This behavior and this weird ‘I have to let my opinion be known that she doesn’t matter’ is really insane.

 

[On My Own]

So it’s a nothing-nothing story!

That's pretty much me at your posts tbh. I don't see why anyone even bothers with paying attention to you.

 

[Frau Muller]

Seriously? There was a HUGE thread about her accident and comeback when she made that news public in early Jan 2023. It was talked about at Worlds 2023 when they made their competitive return. She very nearly died from a major training accident and the resulting brain injury.

The way you phrased the question and your responses to several other posters who have reminded you of Sharpie's rules about NOT speculating about the identities of sexual assault victims or alleged assailants are grossly out-of-line and you still persist in thinking you have done nothing wrong. Okay then...

I wish her and other violence victims well. I didn’t recall the story and face, as I do Ashley & others who have stepped forward.

 

[Sparks]

So what?

 

[susieB129]

"This ice dancer means nothing to me."

"OK. She's not important."

"This blonde could be anyone."

Are you fcuking kidding me? You are vile, Frau. Although I don't believe in announcing such things, since we're not at the airport and there's no need to broadcast departures, it gives me the bitchiest pleasure to say I'm blocking you and sending you into the cornfield with Casey, where you belong.

Get some help. Seriously.

(Mods, I apologize if this post is inappropriate, but I can't contain my rage at her insensitive and ignorant comments.)

 

[Frau Muller]

"This ice dancer means nothing to me."

"OK. She's not important."

"This blonde could be anyone."

Are you fcuking kidding me? You are vile, Frau. Although I don't believe in announcing such things, since we're not at the airport and there's no need to broadcast departures, it gives me the bitchiest pleasure to say I'm blocking you and sending you into the cornfield with Casey, where you belong.

Get some help. Seriously.

(Mods, I apologize if this post is inappropriate, but I can't contain my rage at her insensitive and ignorant comments.)

I’ve no idea who is this woman. Wishing her well in her lawsuit. As for you: Chill, babe!

 

[BrightSkates]

I’ve no idea who is this woman. Wishing her well in her lawsuit. As for you: Chill, babe!

Wish I could downvote you...

 

[Prancer]

I’ve no idea who is this woman.

You established this several posts ago. No one else thinks it's remotely relevant, so there is no need to ever repeat it again.

Let's move on.

 

[Karen-W]

Solene made another IG post and shared a bit more information about the assault.

𝕊𝕠𝕝𝕖̀𝕟𝕖 𝕄𝕒𝕫𝕚𝕟𝕘𝕦𝕖 on Instagram: "Thank you from the bottom of my heart for all the messages of support I have received since I made the decision to speak publicly about what I went through. Your words, encouragement, and solidarity have deeply touched

1,281 likes, 35 comments - solenemazingue_ on September 26, 2024: "Thank you from the bottom of my heart for all the messages of support I have received since I made the decision to speak publicly about what I went through. Your words, encouragement, and solidarity have deeply touched me. They...

www.instagram.com

Her alleged assailant saw her take some medication that left her vulnerable and then assaulted her.

At what point will the ISU step in and take a very firm position on the issue of sexual assaults that occur at competitions? Frankly, I think it is high time for them to include as a part of their code of conduct/participation in any ISU-sanctioned international competition or ISU Member-sanctioned domestic competition that a guilty verdict in a court of law or a finding of guilt from a domestic SafeSport authority will result in a full ban from all ISU & ISU Member competitions. There needs to be zero tolerance for this kind of conduct. I know that won't prevent all of these incidents, but this is the second fairly high profile "sexual assault at a competition" incident that has been revealed in the last year - Gracie Gold and now Solene. They are the ones willing to speak out, but how many others go unreported?

 

[Sylvia]

I’ve no idea who is this woman.

Solène Mazingue & Marko Gaidajenko (EST): Their Journey & Her Miracle

Ice-Dance.com article by Daphne Backman (April 14, 2023): https://www.ice-dance.com/site/mazingue-gaidajenko-the-journey-and-the-miracle/ How You Can Help As you can imagine the cost of Mazingue’s ongoing therapy is costly on its own, but coupled with training expenses the team needs help to...

www.fsuniverse.net

ETA - cross-posting here that Brendan Kerry was ruled permanently ineligible by the U.S. Center for SafeSport on Sept. 16, 2024:

Allegations of abuse in Australian figure skating and related issues

Thanks for posting the links @Sylvia. Personally I am glad that SIA is getting involved. As a sport we all need to learn about how we can manage these situations. But as we have discussed in previous posts SIA can play a role in helping ISA through it. They are going through a massive...

www.fsuniverse.net

 

[IHH0628]

Solene made another IG post and shared a bit more information about the assault.

𝕊𝕠𝕝𝕖̀𝕟𝕖 𝕄𝕒𝕫𝕚𝕟𝕘𝕦𝕖 on Instagram: "Thank you from the bottom of my heart for all the messages of support I have received since I made the decision to speak publicly about what I went through. Your words, encouragement, and solidarity have deeply touched

1,281 likes, 35 comments - solenemazingue_ on September 26, 2024: "Thank you from the bottom of my heart for all the messages of support I have received since I made the decision to speak publicly about what I went through. Your words, encouragement, and solidarity have deeply touched me. They...

www.instagram.com

Her alleged assailant saw her take some medication that left her vulnerable and then assaulted her.

At what point will the ISU step in and take a very firm position on the issue of sexual assaults that occur at competitions? Frankly, I think it is high time for them to include as a part of their code of conduct/participation in any ISU-sanctioned international competition or ISU Member-sanctioned domestic competition that a guilty verdict in a court of law or a finding of guilt from a domestic SafeSport authority will result in a full ban from all ISU & ISU Member competitions. There needs to be zero tolerance for this kind of conduct. I know that won't prevent all of these incidents, but this is the second fairly high profile "sexual assault at a competition" incident that has been revealed in the last year - Gracie Gold and now Solene. They are the ones willing to speak out, but how many others go unreported?

Our child was sexually assaulted at a national level competition by another athlete. Competitions are when these athletes gather and socialize. She has so far chosen not to report that incident or any of the others she suffered by this individual. There was another victim that we know of as well but we do not know whether she chose to report.

I know I'm repeating myself to the point of venting, especially since ours unfortunately remains an unreported incident. But I want the powers that be to know this is an ongoing and insidious problem in skating. From our experience I would claim that the root and the place to start fixing things would be examining how male figure skaters are revered in skating and how much adulation they receive and therefore unchecked power they enjoy. Also, skating has a performance and charismatic piece and it's sometimes hard to imagine that a charming performer could do something so vile. Of course this issue extends far beyond skating and sports and seems pervasive all over - esp when the perpetrator is "famous".

 

[Willin]

A lot of high level athletes - in skating and in other sports - are raised with weird boundaries. Some SafeSport is trying to eliminate (traveling with/staying with/living with coaches, increasing locker room boundaries), but others are much harder to tackle. Wild parties involving both underage and adult athletes are quite common: I've heard about them in high school, college (including on official recruiting visits), and at a level as high as the Olympic games themselves. Of course some sports (swimming) are much more notorious than others, but it happens. I don't think there's much SafeSport can do to stop it beyond education of athletes.

I would imagine the place of men in skating certainly helps them get away with a lot - even legal but bad things get passed up. All those guys who dump their partners unceremoniously immediately find new partners.

At what point will the ISU step in and take a very firm position on the issue of sexual assaults that occur at competitions? Frankly, I think it is high time for them to include as a part of their code of conduct/participation in any ISU-sanctioned international competition or ISU Member-sanctioned domestic competition that a guilty verdict in a court of law or a finding of guilt from a domestic SafeSport authority will result in a full ban from all ISU & ISU Member competitions. There needs to be zero tolerance for this kind of conduct. I know that won't prevent all of these incidents, but this is the second fairly high profile "sexual assault at a competition" incident that has been revealed in the last year - Gracie Gold and now Solene. They are the ones willing to speak out, but how many others go unreported?

The hardest part is that we've seen that zero tolerance is overruled by other courts. SafeSport has tried to ban people for life - and yet their rulings are so often challenged and overturned in court. I'd imagine ISU would have to be very, very careful on how they do this if they want to come out on top of similar legal action - and they'd probably have to let certain past cases slide.

But that would require the ISU to want to do something, which I doubt they do. They like to protect their own and I'm sure some of their own have skeletons in their closet.

And while the West is trying to solve this issue, we also know there's predators in powerful feds like Russia that the federation will protect in perpetuity. It took a while for USFS to let go of Dalilah, but I can't imagine Russia will ever drop Morozov despite his history of dating his own students and at least one underage woman. And even though they've since fallen out, I couldn't imagine them banning Rozanov (Eteri's former jump coach) for allegedly repeatedly dating underage students.

 

[Vagabond]

To stop the parties, the ISU and host federations would have to confine skaters to quarters during competitions and monitor them. Good luck treating Deanna Stellato-Dudek like a fourteen-year-old!

 

[PRlady]

To stop the parties, the ISU and host federations would have to confine skaters to quarters during competitions and monitor them. Good luck treating Deanna Stellato-Dudek like a fourteen-year-old!

They could hire bouncers to keep out underage skaters. Of course in some places that’s 16.

 

[jmtfti]

The skaters don't have to be minors for bad things to happen at parties. See Gracie's case.

 

[Sparks]

Here's an idea. Don't be rapey. Don't allow others to be rapey.
Young people are allowed to have fun and attend parties after events. Not to abuse others. I'm so tired

 

[Wyliefan]

Here's an idea. Don't be rapey.

Easier said than done, I'm afraid. I mean, you can tell a rapist "Don't be rapey" all you want, and he (or she) isn't going to give a crap.

 

[Vagabond]

They could hire bouncers to keep out underage skaters. Of course in some places that’s 16.

Wow! Not for the first time, I almost don't know where to begin in response to one of your posts about sexual assault.

Children under the age of twenty-one, eighteen, or even sixteen can commit sexual assault. My brothers were younger than sixteen when they assaulted me. But, of course, most assailants are older than that. Bouncers aren't going to keep them out due to age.

People can be sexually assaulted at any age. Many victims are in their thirties and older.

And who is "they"? Gracie Gold? Her assailant was well into his twenties when he assaulted her. And if you are suggesting that Gold has only herself to blame for inviting him into her suite, then I really don't know what to say except that you need to educate yourself.