Thread by @BuzzFeedNews

Despite allegations of sexual assault, US fencer Alen Hadzic made it to the Olympics — and fellow athletes want accountability.

buzzfeednews.com/article/briann…

“I've worked my entire life to get here,” one Olympic fencer said. “And to see this awful human be able to share this moment and be able to represent Team USA is just deplorable.”

USA Fencing has created a “safety plan” for the Tokyo games to keep Hadzic away from his female counterparts and bar him from the Olympic Village, four Olympic fencers told BuzzFeed News.

This came after six female fencers, including two Olympic athletes, told the Olympic committee that Hadzic should not be allowed to represent the US because he was under investigation for multiple accusations of sexual assault.

But Hadzic, who denies the allegations, remains on the team. The US Olympic and Paralympic Committee provided the women with a list of available mental health services, including a subscription to the meditation app Headspace.

USA Fencing’s precautions, which Hadzic is reportedly fighting, only highlight the lack of action by SafeSport, which Congress designated as the investigative agency for abuses in Olympic sports in 2018.

A U.S Center for SafeSport spokesperson declined to comment on Hadzic’s case, while USA Fencing issued a statement referring to SafeSport’s “exclusive authority to respond to reports of allegations of sexual abuse and sexual misconduct.”

Members of the fencing community say in the case of Hadzic and other athletes, SafeSport has repeatedly overseen what they refer to as spotty, slow, or even non-existent investigations, leaving them to fend off abusers on their own.

“He should have not even had the opportunity to try to make the Olympic team,” one Olympic fencer said. “And now we have to deal with the consequences of having a predator on the team while simultaneously competing in the biggest event of our lives.”

buzzfeednews.com/article/briann…