The U.S. Center for Safesport fired CEO Ju’Riese Colón earlier this week as the organization deals with controversy.
Colón led the U.S. Congress-created organization starting in 2019. SafeSport has jurisdiction to review reports of abuse and sexual misconduct within U.S. Olympic or Paralympic organizations.
Since the organization’s 2017 start date, it has consistently been subject to a variety of criticisms. Many believe investigations take too long and that the organization doesn’t adequately protect abuse victims. Some even question whether its true priority is protecting athletes or shielding the U.S Olympic and Paralympic Committee, its primary source of funding.
“If you’re SafeSport, and you’re funded by the organization you’re investigating, they’re likely not going to do the right thing,” said Aly Raisman to the U.S. Senate Judiciary Committee in 2021. “It’s a complete mess, and the priority doesn’t seem to be the safety and well-being of athletes.” Raisman, a U.S. Olympic gold medalist in gymnastics, was a victim in the high-profile Larry Nassar case.
Criticisms reached a new level in late 2024 when SafeSport investigator Jason Krasley was arrested on rape and other sexual assault charges. Krasley’s alleged crimes took place before SafeSport hired him as an investigator. Earlier this month, Senator Chuck Grassley revealed that the organization knew he was the subject under an internal investigation at his previous job when they hired him.
Colón held a news conference in January following Krasley’s and the consequential backlash. At the conference, she announced that she would personally interview every new investigator candidate. She also said the organization would establish a complaint system against investigators.
Following Colón’s departure, SafeSport board chair April Holmes stepped in as interim CEO.
“We are grateful for Ju’Riese’s leadership and service,” Holmes said in a statement. “As we look ahead, we will continue to focus on the Center’s core mission of changing sport culture to keep athletes safe from abuse.”
Has Safesport released any findings on the files they have on the coach that is leaving a club/HS program in Pennsylvania to take over another club/HS in Indiana?
Shocking! Or in other words, we saw this coming for quite some time. The Center is a mess with very little transparency. What are they doing and how has the millions invested made sports safer?
SafeSport started by the NGBs to protect the NGBs under the guise of athlete protection.
I don’t talk about this a lot because it took so much out of me, but SafeSport and USA Swimming both refused to help me clear my name when I was falsely accused of misconduct, forcing me to sue the person who made the accusation.
If USA Swimming or Safesport had reached out to the coach who spread the rumor and said, “You need to retract this statement immediately, or we are sanctioning your club.”, everything would have resolved in a matter of hours. Instead, they took a very weak position — they claimed there is no rule against spreading rumors, only filing false reports — and refused to do anything.
I dealt with a months-long lawsuit that took… Read more »
The long-running dysfunction of the U.S. Center for SafeSport is one of the worst chapters in the attempt to protect athletes from the predations of those whom they should be able to trust.
How in the world do you need “new rules” to raise a “red flag” NOT to hire somebody being actively investigated for rape to conduct sexual assault investigations into other people on the behalf of kids?
Maybe I’m missing something…
“The center provided the AP with its response to Grassley, dated March 14, in which Colon writes that the case has triggered several changes in the center’s vetting process. Under the new rules, she wrote, “this disclosure would have raised a red flag and prompted additional scrutiny into the alleged conduct that led to the internal investigation.”
Methinks it’s might just be intentional for organizations like USA gymnastics to say the investigated them and found nothing… sigh