Thread by @polevaultpower

Alberto Salazar has been ruled permanently ineligible by the US Center for SafeSport.

A thread on what that means and the difference between a SafeSport ban and a doping ban…

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#TrackToo

When someone is banned in the Olympic movement, whether for doping or SafeSport, that ban only can stretch as far as the Olympic movement.

For example, a coach who is banned can still coach at a high school or AAU or do their own independent private thing.

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The key difference between a SafeSport ban and a doping ban is that with a doping ban, the athletes can be punished if they train with a banned coach.

Once a coach is permanently banned, there is no more leverage over them. Your only leverage is the people around them.

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It is debatable whether or not athletes who train with a coach serving a SafeSport ban should have any consequences, but they don’t.

Sometimes athletes are also victims but don’t realize it yet, but allowing NGB members to train with banned coaches enables those coaches.

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So theoretically, when Salazar’s doping ban expires, athletes could work with him again if they want.

He cannot be associated with a USATF club. He cannot coach at a USATF sanctioned event.

But could Nike keep supporting him? Sure.

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USATF’s umbrella over our sport is not very big. It is easy for coaches under SafeSport bans to keep coaching, especially if they can still pass a background check.

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For example, someone who is banned by SafeSport could coach club athletes at college meets, unless the host schools individually trespass that person.

They can have an AAU club and coach at AAU meets.

They could just get private insurance and do their own thing.

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What is next for Salazar?

Well unfortunately for those who care about protecting athletes, the Center for SafeSport loses in arbitration a lot. Especially if the perpetrator has good lawyers, which Salazar does.

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So I hate to be pessimistic, but I kind of doubt this will stick, unless there are allegations that have not been made public.

I want this to stick. But after dealing with the Center for SafeSport for over 4 years, I have very little faith in their competence.

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Looking at the #TrackToo issue more broadly, the reality is that the vast majority of track coaches who abuse athletes are not USATF members and do not fall under SafeSport’s jurisdiction. The coaches on USATF’s banned list are barely the tip of the iceberg.

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In the rare instance when a coach is banned, there have been no consequences for those who enable them and allow them to keep working with children. Just stay away from banned people coaching at USATF events and you are good.

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There are very few people in sports leadership who actually want to protect athletes. Most of this is for show and to reduce the liability of the organizations in charge.

We have slapped a SafeSport bumper sticker on the Olympic movement and called it good. 😕

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Would you like a specific example?

@usatf used to prohibit minor athletes from sharing a hotel room with an unrelated coach.

Then the Center released their suggested wording for this portion of the MAAPPs.

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We copied their wording. Now minor athletes may share a hotel room with an unrelated coach if the parent signs a waiver 🤦🏻‍♀️

I begged USATF at a board meeting to change this back.

They changed the bylaws to prohibit me from addressing the board at meetings.

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USATF paid $$$ for a Daniels Report to improve our SafeSport policies. This report also suggested this change be made.

The report was never published.

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I got Center employees to state multiple times, on the record, that USATF was free to change this policy back to our old wording.

We are updating our MAAPPs, but no one will tell me if this policy will be changing.

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Two years ago, I proposed a bylaw change that would create a SafeSport Advisory Committee, to have better dialogue between the National Office and the volunteers on the education and outreach components of SafeSport.

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USATF’s board insisted that this should be a board committee instead and the L&L committee approved that, against my protests.

Over this past two years this board committee has gone through three different chairs and I’m not sure has ever met or accomplished anything.

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Honestly, Salazar having a SafeSport ban doesn’t mean that much at the end of the day and I bet it will get overturned in arbitration.

We have made progress as a sport over the past five years. We have a public banned list now!

But we still have a long way to go.

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