US Ski & Snowboard investigating allegations of sexual misconduct and inappropriate behavior
United States Ski & Snowboard claims it has opened an investigation into allegations of sexual misconduct and inappropriate behavior involving longtime head mentor Peter Foley.
“U.S. Ski & Snowboard has been designed knowledgeable of the latest allegations,” the organization stated in a statement to CNN. “We choose these allegations very severely and the allegations are remaining investigated.”
The allegations had been introduced to the surface by Instagram posts created by previous athlete former athlete Callan Chythlook-Sifsof, a member of the 2010 US Olympic snowboard crew.
In a collection of Instagram posts, 32-12 months-old Chythlook-Sifsof accused Foley of taking “bare pictures of feminine athletes for in excess of a ten years.”
Chythlook-Sifsof’s post also accused fellow athlete Hagen Kearney of daunting habits and using racial slurs. Kearney is at the moment competing in snowboard cross in Beijing.
Chythlook-Sifsof reposted the allegations to her website page and her story immediately after Instagram eliminated them for violating “our pointers on nudity or sexual action” and “bullying.”
What Foley claims: Foley has served as a head mentor of the US snowboard crew since it was launched in 1994. He has denied the accusations and told Newsweek he was “stunned by them.”
He stated: “I’m surprised by the allegations. I vehemently deny the allegations. I am undertaking my greatest to concentrate on supporting the athletes at the Olympics.”
The allegations: In a person write-up, Chythlook-Sifsof commenced by indicating: “I cannot watch a further Olympic Games with out indicating this publicly.”
She went on to say that during a race in in Lake Louise, Alberta, Canada, in 2014, Foley made an express remark to her and a woman teammate about sexual functions with a further female.
In the similar put up, she stated Kearney used the n-word routinely to “deliberately to get beneath my pores and skin.”
In an e mail to United states Right now, Kearney stated, “I created a blunder yrs in the past with my words and phrases and acceptable action was taken. I figured out from my oversight and I’m a improved man or woman now for it.”
US Ski & Snowboard spokesperson Tom Horrocks did not react to questions asking no matter if Foley, who is currently in Beijing, will keep on to coach in the course of the Olympics, and would not comment even more at this time.
The US Centre for SafeSport advised CNN that they do not comment on “matters to defend the integrity of the investigative method.”
CNN has achieved out to Chythlook-Sifsof, Foley, and Kearney for added comment, but did not immediately hear back.
CNN’s Kevin Dotson contributed to this report