U.S. Center for SafeSport

The United States Center for SafeSport is an American 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization set up to reduce sexual abuse of minors and athletes in Olympic sports in the United States.

Established in 2017 under the Protecting Young Victims from Sexual Abuse and Safe Sport Authorization Act, SafeSport has exclusive jurisdiction to review allegations of sexual abuse and misconduct within U.S. Olympic or Paralympic organizations. The Center may also review and act upon other allegations, such as emotional abuse, bullying, and harassment. It cannot indict or jail people accused of sexual misconduct, as it is neither a law enforcement agency nor a legal body of the U.S. judiciary; but it can impose sanctions up to a lifetime ban of a person from involvement in Olympic sports. It can also forward its investigations to state and federal courts for due process and collaborate with law enforcement on investigations. It also maintains a public database of sanctioned people.

As of October 2021, the Center had sanctioned 1,100 people. In May 2023, SafeSport reported that it was receiving 150 reports per week, or about 8,000 per year, and had an annual budget of $21 million and a staff of 117 people.

Responsibilities and operations
SafeSport's primary responsibility, as to which it has exclusive jurisdiction in the United States, is to review allegations of sexual misconduct within U.S. Olympic or Paralympic organizations, and to impose sanctions up to lifetime banning of a person from involvement in all Olympic sports. In the case of sexual abuse or sexual misconduct, the Center’s exclusive jurisdiction means that none of the other U.S. Olympic or Paralympic organizations have authority to investigate sexual misconduct in their own ranks. There are no statute of limitations. Reporting to SafeSport, both online and by telephone, is key to its mission.

Upon receiving a report, Center staff considers the number of individuals who allege that they have experienced misconduct, whether they were minors, the number of witnesses, and the volume of and difficulty in obtaining evidence. The severity of abuse and misconduct can range from inappropriate conduct (such as butt slapping), to rape and forcible sexual assault. On a discretionary basis, SafeSport also reviews and acts on allegations other than those of sexual abuse or sexual misconduct, such as emotional abuse, bullying, and harassment. SafeSport collaborates with law enforcement on reported investigations.

Database
SafeSport maintains a public list of people under sanction who are believed to threaten U.S. Olympic and Paralympic athletes and affiliated organizations. Each name is removed after a sanction has run its course, often leaving no public record of the allegation and sanction. SafeSport does not generally reveal the nature and severity of the alleged misconduct, the evidence gathered by investigators, and whatever aggravating or mitigating factors might have influenced an arbitrator's decision on appeal. Center officials say that to "maintain its legitimacy in [the] community, the center needs to be perceived as fair: tenacious in protecting young athletes while providing due process to those who face reputation-ruining allegations that might prevent them from competing or coaching." SafeSport defends its confidentiality policy, "which prohibits the sharing of documents related to a case, as designed to protect the privacy of everyone involved, including victims and witnesses."

The 2020 U.S. government report said: "'...according to Center staff, as of June 30, 2020, approximately 1,300 individuals were listed in the CDD. The directory includes the names of individuals subject to temporary measures because of the severity of allegations against them, as well as individuals sanctioned with some period of suspension or ineligibility. The Center does not publish the names of every individual sanctioned for violating the SafeSport Code. For example, the Center does not publish the names of minors or individuals whose sanctions do not materially limit their ability to participate in sports. According to the Center, an arbitration hearing may overturn the Center's findings or sanctions when the arbitrator finds insufficient evidence to support violation or sanction. Substantially modified decisions are those where the arbitrator issues a decision and sanction of a different type than the Center issued or reduces the Center's sanction by 50 percent or more.'"

Education
The Center provides education to U.S. Olympic and Paralympic organizations and sells anti-abuse training to other groups.

Funding
In 2019, its second year of operation, Center had a budget of $10.5 million. CEO Shellie Pfohl resigned that year, saying that the Center lacked the resources to deal with the more than 1,800 reports of sexual misconduct or sexual abuse that had "inundated" the organization.

The next year, its funding was increased to $23 million under proposals by U.S. Senators Richard Blumenthal and Jerry Moran. The situation started to improve in latter years, as the federal government stepped in. In October 2020, the Center had about 1,200 open investigations, and about half of its staff were devoted to clearing the backlog; by October 2021, it had resolved 40% of its backlog.

Launched in 2017 with just three full-time employees to investigate thousands of complaints, which were filed without any statute of limitations, the Center in 2020 had 91 employees, 57 contractors, 13 outside counsel, and 3 interns. As of 2021, the organization had more than 100 employees, has gotten through 40% of its backlog, and had sanctioned 1,100 people.

, SafeSport reported that it was receiving 150 reports per week, or about 8,000 per year, and had an annual budget of $21 million and a staff of 117 people.

Cases and outcomes
Sexual misconduct claims in U.S. Olympic & Paralympic sports rose 55% between 2018 and 2019. In that latter year, the Center received 2,770 reports of sexual abuse, bringing the total since its establishment to more than 4,000 reports. By February 2020, the total was almost 5,000 reports; the Center had sanctioned 627 people.

In 2020, the Pulitzer Center reported that "it is unclear in particular public informational materials, such as congressional testimony, how many of those individuals were banned for sexual abuse and how many were banned for other infractions of the Code, such as bullying or hazing. However, it is possible to see specific reasons for bans on the national database."

By October 2021, SafeSport had sanctioned 1,100 people.

Temporary measures
From July 1, 2019, through June 30, 2020, the Center imposed temporary measures in 123 of 2,027 cases that were created (6%); in all the other cases the measures imposed are final and cannot be appealed. The Center imposes temporary measures only when it believes that they are necessary, based on the evidentiary support for the allegations, the severity of the allegations, and/or the perceived risk to athletes or the sport community.

Appeals
The Center guarantees appeal hearings on temporary suspensions within 72 hours, if requested by the Respondent. At the hearing before the arbitrator, the Respondent who has been sanctioned, usually with their attorney, argues to have their punishment reduced or revoked. The Arbitrator considers the reasonableness of the suspension based on the evidence and the seriousness of the allegations. The Arbitrator's decision is issued within 24 hours of the hearing's end, and is not subject to appeal.

At a temporary measures hearing, the Arbitrator does not resolve whether the Respondent committed a violation, or what the appropriate sanctions should be if a violation is found. It is not a hearing on the merits. The hearing is strictly limited to determining if there was reasonable cause to impose the temporary measures. If an Arbitrator modifies or denies temporary measures, the Center nevertheless can again impose temporary measures in the same case in the future. In addition, the Arbitrator's decision is inadmissible, and is not given any weight, if there is a subsequent final decision with sanctions imposed, which in turn goes to arbitration.

Cases
The Center refers to an allegation of misconduct as a "case" when the Center has what it deems to be enough information to launch an investigation.

According to the December 2020 U.S. Government Accountability Office report, "from July 1, 2019, through June 30, 2020, the Center created 2,027 cases, but only 1,223 included claimant information. According to Center staff, oftentimes when third parties make a report, claimants are unwilling to participate in cases, and the Center is unable to record claimant data. Additionally, cases often involve multiple allegations against the same individual, which is why the number of total claimants exceeds the number of cases with claimant data." The report further states that "From February 2018, through June 2020, the Center created and resolved 3,909 cases. Most cases (63 percent) were resolved in 1 to 3 months, although 536 cases (14 percent) took over a year to resolve. According to Center staff, the length of time to resolve cases depends on the circumstances of the case, such as law enforcement involvement or reluctant or nonresponsive claimants." In 424 cases, the Center referred reports of alleged abuse to law enforcement. The report also explains that "the Center may reassess its jurisdictional decision at any time. If the Center declines to exercise jurisdiction over a matter in its discretionary jurisdiction, the Center may refer the matter to the appropriate sport’s national governing body."

The 2022 Yates Report by former US Attorney General Sally Yates, which was commissioned by the United States Soccer Federation (USSF) in response to the 2021 NWSL abuse scandal, states that "according to a December 2020 SafeSport report, it investigated 1,509 claims from July 1, 2019 to June 30, 2020. Of those claims, it administratively closed 515 cases, put 115 cases on administrative hold, and closed 720 claims based on jurisdiction." According to the December 2020 U.S. Government Accountability Office report, the Center imposed sanctions in 262 cases during that period; in 71% consisting of some level of suspension or ineligibility. In 95 cases, "ineligibility until further notice" was the highest sanction imposed by the Center. In 57 cases, "permanent ineligibility" was the highest sanction imposed by the Center. In 33 cases, the sanction was "suspension for a specified period of time," in 58 cases it was probation, while in 19 cases it was a warning. SafeSport explains that for the purpose of "maintain[ing] its legitimacy in [the] community, the center needs to be perceived as fair: tenacious in protecting young athletes while providing due process to those who face reputation-ruining allegations that might prevent them from competing or coaching." The Center cannot indict or jail individuals accused of sexual misconduct, as it is neither a law enforcement agency nor a legal body of the U.S. judiciary, instead being a sports investigative body; however, it can forward its investigations to state and federal courts, which in turn can impose criminal penalties on the defendants.

The aforementioned report states that "from February 2018, through June 2020, the Center created and resolved 3,909 cases. Most cases (63 percent) were resolved in 1 to 3 months, although 536 cases (14 percent) took over a year to resolve. According to Center staff, the length of time to resolve cases depends on the circumstances of the case, such as law enforcement involvement or reluctant or nonresponsive claimants."

SafeSport's 2022 annual report stated that since it was created in March 2017, it had used administrative closures in 4,500 out of 12,751 cases, and found violations in 1,720.

Merits arbitration appeals
According to the December 2020 U.S. government report, "from July 1, 2019, through June 30, 2020, 27 cases were referred to arbitration. Of the 27 cases referred to arbitration, six cases were referred to Temporary Measures Hearings, and the remaining 21 were referred to Merits Arbitration. Of the 21 cases referred to Merits Arbitration, 11 cases resulted in the Center’s findings and sanctions being substantially upheld, three cases resulted in the Center’s findings and sanctions being substantially modified, three cases resulted in the Center’s findings and sanctions being overturned, and four cases were in progress as of late August 2020. The Center publishes the names of sanctioned adults who the Center believes pose a potential risk to U.S. Olympic and Paralympic athletes and affiliated organizations in its online Centralized Disciplinary Database (CDD). According to Center staff, as of June 30, 2020, approximately 1,300 individuals were listed in the CDD. The directory includes the names of individuals subject to temporary measures because of the severity of allegations against them, as well as individuals sanctioned with some period of suspension or ineligibility. The Center does not publish the names of every individual sanctioned for violating the SafeSport Code. For example, the Center does not publish the names of minors or individuals whose sanctions do not materially limit their ability to participate in sports. According to the Center, an arbitration hearing may overturn the Center's findings or sanctions when the arbitrator finds insufficient evidence to support violation or sanction. Substantially modified decisions are those where the arbitrator issues a decision and sanction of a different type than the Center issued or reduces the Center's sanction by 50 percent or more.

Criticism
SafeSport has been criticized for not being sufficiently independent from the United States Olympic & Paralympic Committee (USOPC), from which it receives most of its funding. An example that has been pointed to is that SafeSport was not the first organization to publish a list of banned coaches; critics questioned why the organization created to protect athletes was not leading that effort. It is a claim SafeSport officials denied, but which was the subject of focus of the new U.S. federal law of 2020. U.S. Senators Richard Blumenthal and Jerry Moran proposed measures to strengthen oversight of the SafeSport program in 2019, which were adopted in 2020. SafeSport critic attorney John Manly said that "SafeSport is solely designed to provide public relations cover for the US Olympic Committee", and that it "does an excellent job of keeping the facts secret."

In September 2020, SafeSport temporarily suspended Paralympic swimmer Robert Griswold for alleged misconduct, but he was reinstated on appeal one month later. Another Paralympic swimmer, Parker Egbert, who has the mental capacity of a 5-year-old, alleged that subsequent to Griswold's reinstatement, Griswold violently and repeatedly raped him, including in the room that Griswold shared with the claimant at the Paralympic Games in 2021. The claimant has filed a lawsuit against Griswold, SafeSport (for negligence, claiming SafeSport failed to protect Egbert from Griswold, despite previous complaints of sexual assault by Griswold having been made to SafeSport in 2020), and the U.S. Olympic & Paralympic Committee in federal court in Colorado.

At a September 2021 hearing before the US Senate Judiciary Committee, American Olympic gold medal gymnast Aly Raisman said: "I don't like SafeSport ... it's a complete mess, and the priority doesn't seem to be the safety and well-being of athletes."

New York State Senator & Judiciary Chairman Brad Hoylman wrote a letter to U.S. Senator Maria Cantwell on September 24, 2021, requesting that the US Senate Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation engage in oversight of SafeSport, and step in to ensure that SafeSport is adequately conducting investigations. He referred to what he called SafeSport's failure to carry out impartial and thorough investigations and ensure the safety of athletes it is charged with protecting. He highlighted the fact that despite serious outstanding allegations of sexual misconduct, sexual coercion, and other violent behaviors by former friends, peers, and current teammates, and an ongoing investigation, fencer Alen Hadzic was allowed to travel to the Tokyo Olympics in 2021 as an alternate, although he was forced to stay at a separate hotel due to an ongoing investigation. USA Fencing specifically prohibited him from staying at his teammates' hotel due to their complaints about Hadzic.

USA Fencing's website in 2022 stated the following about the Hadzic situation: "We understand that many in the USA Fencing community will question Alen Hadzic’s inclusion on our 2022 Senior World Team, given that he is still under investigation by the U.S. Center for SafeSport — an independent body separate from USA Fencing. We had hoped for a swifter resolution to this investigation, which has now stretched on for more than a year. We share in the frustration of fencers and fencing fans. The U.S. Center for SafeSport has the exclusive authority to adjudicate reports of alleged sexual abuse and sexual misconduct. As long as the outcome of this investigation remains unresolved, USA Fencing is obligated to allow Hadzic to compete internationally. But we have taken decisive action where we can. For the past year, we have implemented a safety plan designed to protect athletes, coaches and staff at all tournaments at which Hadzic has been a participant. While we await the conclusion of this protracted investigation, we will continue to put the safety of our athletes, coaches and staff above all else.", SafeSport's investigation into Hadzic was still open.

In February 2022, in an ABC News' Nightline program on criticisms of SafeSport titled "Sports misconduct watchdog faces crisis of confidence," U.S. Senator Blumenthal said: "There is simply no way that SafeSport can be given a passing grade," that "these young athletes deserve better protection," and that SafeSport does not have his confidence and trust. U.S. Senator Moran echoed the sentiment, stating that every athlete-victim he visited "had little or no confidence in SafeSport." The Senators said they believe that more transparency is required from SafeSport – which does not make public its investigative findings or arbitration decisions – to protect young athletes, and that SafeSport must make its work public. Academics, athletes, and activists have also criticized SafeSport for lack of transparency. Blumenthal said: "The burden is on them to show they can do better. If not, we'll change the leadership. We'll provide more resources, we'll alter the rules. But [...] the burden is on SafeSport to show they can do the job, which so far they haven't. [...] we're going to hold them accountable." SafeSport defends its confidentiality policy, "which prohibits the sharing of documents related to a case, as designed to protect the privacy of everyone involved, including victims and witnesses."

Nancy Hogshead-Makar, an American Olympic gold medalist swimmer and now an attorney, described it as "defendant-friendly." Attorney and law professor Jack Wiener, who represents three claimants in the SafeSport matter of fencer Alen Hadzic, alleged in an interview with The New York Times that "SafeSport's system is rigged. It tilts overwhelmingly against victims of sexual assault." A USA Today article in May 2023 published an account of emails between Wiener and a SafeSport investigator in which Wiener suggested SafeSport had not followed up with his clients on the investigation in two years. Dan Hill, a SafeSport spokesperson defended the organization, saying that "the voices that are critical are the loudest. But there have to be a lot of people who are grateful for the fact that they finally had a place to go that could be trusted and something was done." Hill also stated: "It is not uncommon for both sides to feel frustration with SafeSport’s procedures. But, even with its flaws, the agency's protections against abuse appear superior to those in most of the other countries, where they do not exist, and the ineffective system operated previously by the United States Olympic and Paralympic Committee and national sports federations."

Regarding the Yates Report commissioned by the United States Soccer Federation, SafeSport CEO Ju'Riese Cólon said in a May 2023 interview with USA Today that she could not comment on the report's numbers due to SafeSport not having been interviewed for it. However, the Yates Report described interviews with "representatives from the U.S. Center for SafeSport." The USA Today report also noted that SafeSport's administrative closures included coaches who were actively being sanctioned by their governing bodies, and due to SafeSport's exclusive jurisdiction, those governing bodies were required to end their sanctions, in some cases restoring licenses to coaches accused of abuse. The Yates Report included details of accusations of abuse against Chicago Red Stars and youth soccer coach Rory Dames, which resulted in Dames being banned for life from the National Women's Soccer League. The USA Today report of May 2023 states that SafeSport's investigation into Dames remained open 18 months later, and that SafeSport had also required that USSF lift its suspension of Dames and restore his license, despite allegations both public and private that remained unresolved by SafeSport. The organization also did not explain its actions in the case, and its jurisdiction prohibited US Soccer from continuing the investigation into Dames on its own. Former U.S. Attorney General Sally Yates, who authored the report, suggested that the USSF not rely exclusively on SafeSport to investigate claims of abuse, and blamed the inaction by multiple governing bodies on the lack of jurisdictional clarity introduced by SafeSport's exclusive jurisdiction over abuse investigations. The Yates Report also included a section dedicated to improvements to SafeSport, including its appeals process, which the report described as being hostile to victims in a manner that engendered re-victimization of accusers, while also allowing the accused to be reinstated.

On July 19, 2023, 103 current and former U.S. Soccer senior and youth national team players representing the USSF Athlete's Council wrote an open letter to members of the U.S. Senate and U.S. House of Representatives critical of SafeSport and calling upon the legislative bodies to reform the organization. They wrote that "the arbitration process can be damaging and retraumatizing for victims of abuse who have already participated in the process and shared their stories in full, only to have to do it all over again. If the victim decides not to go through the whole process again on appeal, the decision is automatically overturned, and the perpetrator is free to enter back into the sport. […] Victims cannot appeal a decision that finds their alleged abuser was not culpable. And SafeSport does not turn over records to the victim so that they can be sure that justice was done."

Notable cases

 * Rory Dames (born 1973), soccer coach
 * Peter Foley (born 1965/1966), snowboarding coach; 10-year suspension
 * Alen Hadzic (born 1991), fencer; lifetime ban
 * Mauro Hamza (born 1965 or 1966), Egyptian fencing coach; lifetime ban
 * Ross Miner (born 1991), figure skater and coach
 * George H. Morris (born 1938), equestrian and coach; lifetime ban
 * Alberto Salazar (born 1958), track coach; lifetime ban
 * Keith Sanderson (born 1975), sport shooter
 * Angelo Taylor (born 1978), track and field athlete

Died following criminal charges

 * John Coughlin (1985–2019), figure skater
 * Stephen Kovacs (1972–2022), fencer and fencing coach, died in jail pending criminal charges

Criminal convictions

 * Rich Fellers (born 1959), Olympic equestrian, world champion show jumper and trainer, plead guilty to sexual abuse of a minor (his student) on state and federal charges; lifetime ban