Spanish newspaper ARA has published a report exposing allegations of abuse against two well-known swimming authorities.
The first is swim coach Leo Armentano, who was twice sent to prison for sexual offenses. Armentano was sentenced to two years in prison back in 2003 after three swimmers accused him of sexually abusing them. Yet Armentano was back with a swim club in 2009, and was later sentenced to another year in prison in 2016 after another swimmer accused him of touching her inappropriately.
The ARA report says Armentano would help swimmers stretch while they were completely nude, and that he would touch their sexual organs during the stretching. One swimmer in the ARA report says she believed his claims that he was helping her swimming ability by drawing a link between physical activity and sexual activity.
The report also accuses a club president of abuse, noting five swimmers who alleged abuse. Three of those swimmers were anonymous, but two did use their real names to bring the allegations forward. This coach, identified by the initials “JL,” was “suspended after an incident with a minor in July 2001.” But instead of being removed from the club, he was eventually reinstated, and the report says he holds a “senior management position” today.
Just a few days after the ARA report, Federation of Catalan Swimming Committee chairman Jordi Lorca was relegated from his chairman position. Nataccion.com reports that the decision “is related to the report on sexual abuse in sports published by the newspaper ARA last Friday.” The Nataccion report goes on to say that Lorca won’t officially resign, and will remain part of the board of directors.
