|
Post by thetruth on Oct 9, 2012 8:39:19 GMT -8
Steven Austin; "The kids parents allegedly lied about his age when he skated in Northbrook when he was a 8 years old! Suprise Suprise!, October 5 at 2:48pm"
Someone posted this on US Speedskating facebook. So, I will explain about this.
When Simon was around 8 years old as he said, Simon went to "US LT National Championship in Minneapolis. We were living in Chicago. In the middle of competition, I was called by a USS (At that time, it was ASU - Amateur Speedskating Union) officer . He said, "Simon should go back home, he cannot race", without any explanation. I asked why. He said, "Simon cheated his age and he is not eligible to race".
I was confused and embarrassed if I knew eligible age wrong for the group Simon raced. I was sure Simon's age was correct. Later, a couple of black ladies came. And I knew they reported to the officer that Simon cheated his age. At that time I couldn't prove the age because I did not have any document in my hand. ASU had it but they did not check at all and just said I should go back home.
When I was about to leave, because I cannot prove, the father of Mitchell Whitmore (LT skater), who was a starter, came and he confirmed that Simon's age was right. He explained them they misunderstood because Simon had raced in that group since he was very young. He usually raced with 2 - 4 years older than him.
We submit birth certificate document to USS, and it is impossible to cheat the age. If we cheat the birth certificate at the beginning, we have to cheat it until we retire. Steven, if you read this, remove your posting.
More to be continued....
|
|
|
Post by sk8er on Oct 9, 2012 8:54:37 GMT -8
"Little said in his report that it may take the arbitration process, with witnesses testifying under oath and with cross-examination, to ferret out the truth."
Do it.
|
|
|
Post by Laura (Lori) on Oct 9, 2012 14:10:22 GMT -8
Here's more on the article that Jay Cho refers to above ( welcome to the board, Jay ). All of this simply serves to remind us that this is not over yet, and many things have yet to be revealed. As Sk8er said above, the arbitration hearing will allow for subpoenas and cross-examination, and the witnesses will be under oath.
Patience is a virtue...Speedskate case conundrum: Simon says, Simon doesn'tFederation still should seize chance to oust coachesOctober 08, 2012 | Globetrotting by Philip Hersh ...One thing is clear: the allegations about the coach would have been a lot stronger had Jeff Simon corroborated Cho’s statements.
In a Monday text message, Jeff Simon said, “I have been truthful and forthright in my perspective as it pertains to this particular situation.”
...Jeff Simon, two-event world bronze medalist in 2011, seemingly would have gained by echoing Cho’s story. After all, Jeff Simon had a significant role in the allegations of abuse against Chun.
He was among more than a dozen skaters who signed complaints against Chun, Yeo and a former U.S. coach, Jimmy Jang, with charges that triggered the investigation and sought the coaches’ dismissal. Jeff Simon, 23, also filed a report with the Salt Lake City police department alleging Chun had threatened, intimidated and physically assaulted him.Read the entire article articles.chicagotribune.com/2012-10-08/sports/chi-speedskate-case-conundrum-simon-says-simon-doesnt-20121008_1_simon-cho-hyung-yeo-jae-su-chun+++
|
|
|
Post by Laura (Lori) on Oct 9, 2012 15:03:46 GMT -8
The Executive Summary of the investigation - www.chicagotribune.com/media/acrobat/2012-10/155256820-05163704.pdf- notes that an athlete who reportedly had a violent altercation with Jae Su Chun later sent him a glowing email - but this article says that the email was mistakenly attributed to Ryan Leveille - and Ryan sets the record straight in the following statement: www.dropbox.com/sh/lx1kntvjdc5hhoa/05hKjYRSTK/FinalReleaseStatement.pdfI'm kind'a wondering which skater should have been credited with the email... The article also has a very interesting passage: NPR has also learned that the U.S. Speedskating investigators did not interview any skaters or staff from Speed Skating Canada who were present last year at an international meet in Poland when American skater Simon Cho sabotaged a Canadian's skate.
Team Canada's Olivier Jean was forced out of the final relay of the competition because his skate blade had been bent.
Jean told NPR that Chun approached him before the race and said, "I wish you bad luck. I hope you lose."
The speedskating report does not include any reference to the alleged comment; it says "we do not believe that there is sufficient evidence to conclude that Coach Chun directed Simon Cho to tamper with the skate."
Little acknowledges that neither Jean nor any of the other Canadian athletes or staff was interviewed for the speedskating investigation.------------------------------- Speedskating Abuse Report Inaccurate & Incomplete?By NPR / October 8, 2012 www.npr.org/blogs/thetwo-way/2012/10/08/162533163/speedskating-abuse-report-inaccurate-and-incomplete+++
|
|
|
Post by Laura (Lori) on Oct 9, 2012 15:59:54 GMT -8
Going back to the Executive Summary from last Friday: www.chicagotribune.com/media/acrobat/2012-10/155256820-05163704.pdfOn Page 5, under the heading, 'Physical Abuse', you will find the info that Ryan Cox (Leveille) disputes. He says he did not send this email. (See the article I linked to in my prior post) Going forward to Page 6, 'Emotional Abuse', I have a question: Who is this sports psychology consultant/mental skills coach whose 'independent, careful and credible assessment' they relied on in determining no pattern of emotional abuse? If it's who I think it is, how can they say a person is 'independent' who is an employee of USS, depending upon them for a job - and closely involved on a daily basis with the very people who ignored the skaters' complaints in the first place? Forgive me, but I couldn't resist:
|
|
|
Post by Laura (Lori) on Oct 9, 2012 18:23:28 GMT -8
Here's my last comment of the night - then I'm off to focus on summarizing Single Distance Championships on the skaters' threads - and I also need to start prepping on the 'Game Day' threads! When USS did their press conference last Friday, I listened to the audio file from beginning to end, and made this comment (it's back on Page 5): There was an interesting Q & A from Washington Post reporter Liz Clark(?) at around the 23-24-min point that went something like this: "How many incidences of abuse constitute a 'pattern', i.e., what is USS' threshhold for the definition of abuse?".The audio file is no longer available, but thankfully, Jordan Malone was as struck by it as I was, and had the forethought to transcribe Liz's question word for word. From Jordan, here is Liz's question ( bold added by me): ..."When the gentlemen from the law firm explained that no pattern of abuse was found, it sounds to me almost like an exoneration. And so my question to you is this, what is USS' threshold for disciplinary action of a coach. Would it not be a single incident of abuse? Or are you looking a pattern of abuse? Or you have to have abused more than half the skaters?" ... "Would something short of a pattern and evidence of even a single case. Would that be enough for you all to discipline a coach?"The question, especially the part that I interpreted as, "How many skaters need to be abused before it's considered a 'pattern'? Half?" struck me as profound. Unfortunately Liz, though she was onto a good point, didn't include this logic in her subsequent article... I also remember a reference near the end of the audio file about 'standards' of abuse, and it seemed that they looked back at the case against Dong Sung Kim, where he was banned from coaching because of abusive coaching tactics against children (you'll find a thread about that scandal here on the Hot Topics board). Using the DSK case in their decision-making process begs a question: Does the fact that the complainants are adults rather than youths - or that they are elite athletes rather than office workers make their claims less egregious? What if your spouse, father, mother or adult child was sitting at his/her desk at IBM & had water poured over his/her head in front of co-workers by an angry supervisor? What if he/she were ill and denied a respite to the loo to 'unload'?
|
|
|
Post by Laura (Lori) on Oct 10, 2012 6:55:02 GMT -8
Steven Austin; "The kids parents allegedly lied about his age when he skated in Northbrook when he was a 8 years old! Suprise Suprise!,October 5 at 2:48pm" Steven, if you read this, remove your posting. Yes, I saw that on Facebook, too - and yes, this is an untrue claim by Steven Austin, - and yes, he (or USS) SHOULD remove his post!
|
|
Deleted
Deleted Member
Posts: 0
|
Post by Deleted on Oct 10, 2012 7:47:03 GMT -8
Agree. Internet information is neither the judge, jury nor the arbitrator in this concern.
|
|
|
Post by mtnme on Oct 10, 2012 8:22:12 GMT -8
Steven Austin; "The kids parents allegedly lied about his age when he skated in Northbrook when he was a 8 years old! Suprise Suprise!,October 5 at 2:48pm" Steven, if you read this, remove your posting. Yes, I saw that on Facebook, too - and yes, this is an untrue claim by Steven Austin, - and yes, he SHOULD remove his post! Ya know, the more this kind of information comes out, the more I think the skaters didn't go FAR ENOUGH in their allegations. Certainly USS has shown a 'pattern of abuse' when it comes to dealing with the skaters and their families. The fact that someone made an allegation about Simon's age and USS(ASU at the time) refused to even bother to look it up before pronouncing judgement shows a 'pattern of half a-s-s-ed investigation'. Sound familiar? To attribute a letter praising the coaches to Ryan Levielle who hadn't even written it to not even bothering to contact Olivier Jean about the tampering incident to his skates shows an absolutely stunning lack of due diligence. I said it before on Jordan's thread on FB when he posted about this story, and I'll say it here: MAJOR PROPS to both Ryan Levielle and Olivier Jean for coming forward ON THEIR OWN to dispute the claims made by White and Case. And let me elaborate on those props for a moment. Ryan has retired from skating, so he has no dog in this fight. Add to that situation; rumor had it that Ryan did not always have the warmest of relationships with his teammates. Despite that, he talked to his attorney (which I'm sure cost him some bucks) and not only took the initiative to let everyone know that he did NOT write the praising letter to the coaches, but also came forward as the skater that got shoved around in the elevator AND also admitted it happened and it was inappropriate. I don't see any personal 'upside' for Ryan doing this, he has little to gain by doing so. My only conclusion is that he did it for love of the sport, passion of an Olympian and the desire to see USS clean up thier act. Then add to it Olivier Jean coming forward about the comments made to him by the U.S. coach wishing him bad luck just before he went out to compete on his tampered blades. Once again, what personal gain would Olivier get by coming forward? If anything, NOT doing so would surely make it easier for USS to ignore the allegations and proceed with 'business as usual' in making life miserable for what is essentially, skaters that are his competition. Those sort of distractions on the U.S. team can't help but be good for Team Canada, n'est pas? Once again, I can only attribute his coming forward as love of the sport, passion of an Olympian, and a desire for ALL the governing bodies of the sport to clean up their acts. But wait!!! it gets better!!! After all of that, White and Case has the brass cajones to declare that all that new information doesn't change their findings??? *place face palm emotie here* WTF? I'll admit that I've never considered the powers that be for USS to exactly be the brightest crayons in the box...but seriously? This flagrant disregard of evidence just smacks of USS and the USOC trying to merely sweep the allegations under the rug. And White and Case comes off looking either spectacularly incompetent or just the bought and paid for mouthpiece for the NGB's. (a skaters parent laughed when in my naivety as a newbie to the sport thought NGB was short for 'No Good B@stards'. I think my original assessment was correct if not my definition). Oh, and Lori... on the 'Most Interesting Man' meme!
|
|
Deleted
Deleted Member
Posts: 0
|
Post by Deleted on Oct 10, 2012 12:11:59 GMT -8
One would think USS would be more vigilant now, more than ever before about what is being posted on their social media pages.
|
|
|
Post by Laura (Lori) on Oct 10, 2012 12:36:43 GMT -8
Austin's comment hasn't been removed by USS - it's still there under the Oct 5 apology to Speedskating Canada...
|
|
Deleted
Deleted Member
Posts: 0
|
Post by Deleted on Oct 10, 2012 13:03:51 GMT -8
Hmmm....that's just not right.
|
|
Deleted
Deleted Member
Posts: 0
|
Post by Deleted on Oct 11, 2012 10:47:30 GMT -8
Steven Austin; "The kids parents allegedly lied about his age when he skated in Northbrook when he was a 8 years old! Suprise Suprise!,October 5 at 2:48pm" Steven, if you read this, remove your posting. Yes, I saw that on Facebook, too - and yes, this is an untrue claim by Steven Austin, - and yes, he (or USS) SHOULD remove his post! I have just challenged the fans on USS's FB site to demand Steven Austin's post be deleted. Who will join me?
|
|
|
Post by wildfire on Oct 11, 2012 15:16:45 GMT -8
|
|
|
Post by Laura (Lori) on Oct 11, 2012 17:28:00 GMT -8
Thanks, wildfire... U.S. short track coaches resign Federation had suspended them through 2014 Olympicsby Philip Hersh / Chicago Tribune / Oct 11, 2012 "Facing the prospect of being cross-examined under oath, with respect to the boycotting athletes' allegations of abuse, the two accused coaches have seen fit to resign and give up their coaching (US) licenses through the 2014 Sochi Games," Williams said. "The athletes are pleased with this resolution."Read the entire article: US short track coaches resign----------------------------- Accused short-track coaches resign from U.S. Speedskating By Michael C. Lewis / The Salt Lake Tribune First Published 1 hour ago • Updated 1 minute ago "We’re going to continue with the grievance" against U.S. Speedskating, said Edward Williams, the attorney for the skaters who accused the coaches. The federation has "neither the managerial nor financial capability to carry out their obligations. ... We want to reform this national governing body."Read the entire story: Accused short track coaches resign from US Speedskating+++
|
|