Former elite fencer Kirsten Hawkes feels let down by the U.S. Center for SafeSport after filing a complaint to the agency formed six years ago to combat sexual misconduct in Olympic sports.
Fencer Kirsten Hawkes poses for a portrait at a fencing studio Tuesday, Sept. 12, 2023, in San Diego. The former elite fencer feels let down by the U.S. Center for SafeSport after filing a complaint to the agency formed six years ago to combat sexual misconduct in Olympic sports.
“The whole point is, it shouldn’t be an undue burden for a victim to come forward. But that’s how it ended up.”for what critics, from athletes to high-ranking Olympics officials, contend is an opaque, confusing process that often takes far too long to resolve cases. But Hawkes’ former coach never went on that list — not after SafeSport handed him a three-month probation in May, six months after its initial hearing in December, nor after he was immediately removed from his Paralympics coaching job by USA Fencing. Then, an eight-hour arbitration hearing in August overturned the probation and other sanctions.
SafeSport told Hawkes those allegations were not pursued because New York state law and fencing rules at the time would not have resulted in charges or sanctions. Hawkes said the center’s response fed into her belief that the process is flawed if it won't even consider older allegations like hers. Hawkes also said she was thinking about good memories from her childhood fencing days when she decided to meet with the coach to pick his brain about a business venture she was considering to open her own fencing center in San Diego.
In seeking evidence the kiss was unwanted, Hawkes said she asked the hotel for surveillance video and was told it was caught on camera. But the hotel refused to hand it over without a subpoena. But to Hawkes, the arbitration hearing prompted by the coach's appeal of SafeSport's sanctions was, in fact, traumatic. It included cross-examination and what she described as “slut shaming” by the coach's lawyer, Howard Jacobs, a top sports attorney involved in some 100 SafeSport cases over the agency's six years.
It also led Hawkes to wish she’d hired her own attorney — something she said she believed was unnecessary according to SafeSport rules and a center intake coordinator.
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Forced kiss claim leads to 'helplessness' for accuser who turned to Olympics abuse-fighting agencyFormer elite fencer Kirsten Hawkes feels let down by the U.S. Center for SafeSport after filing a complaint to the agency formed six years ago to combat sexual misconduct in Olympic sports.
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