A letter sent to lawmakers this week charges American rowing officials with failing to cooperate with a U.S. Center for SafeSport investigation that involves Olympic coach Mike Teti, who runs the national team program on the Oakland Estuary.
The letter was sent by Denver employment lawyer Beth Doherty Quinn and addressed to House Energy and Commerce Committee chairman Frank Pallone (D-New Jersey), ranking member Greg Walden (R-Oregon) and Diana DeGette (D-Colorado), who chairs the Oversight and Investigations Panel. This news organization obtained a copy of the letter, which does not list any allegations against Teti, who coached rowing at the Cal from 2008-2018.
The letter said USRowing, the national governing body for the sport, would not produce information on Teti, 63, that SafeSport wanted. The letter said SafeSport officials "requested a report, or information about a report, generated by an investigator or other third-party hired by USRowing prior to the 2008 Olympics to investigate certain behaviors by then USRowing Head Coach, Mike Teti."
Quinn said in the letter that she is unaware of the subject matter of the 2008 report.
"In response, SafeSport was told by USRowing that the report did not contain matters within its exclusive jurisdiction and USRowing did not turn over the report," the letter said.
"If U.S. Rowing, or any other national sports governing body, is withholding information from U.S. SafeSport that is highly concerning," DeGette said in a statement to this news organization. "U.S. SafeSport was created to protect our athletes and every one of our national governing bodies should be working with them to fulfill that goal."
A SafeSport spokesman said Tuesday officials from the center do not discuss ongoing matters publicly.
Quinn declined to discuss anything about the SafeSport investigation but added, "It is important that entities and people put in place to protect athletes work together properly for the protection of those athletes. We want to see the process work well."
Teti, a four-time Olympic coach who is preparing rowers for the Tokyo Games, July 24-Aug. 9, referred a reporter to USRowing officials. Teti added that he has no knowledge of a SafeSport investigation and also was unaware of a USRowing probe into his behavior before the Beijing Games.
Brett Johnson, Senior Director, Programs and Communications at USRowing, said he had not seen the letter and could not immediately comment.
The letter, sent to lawmakers who have held hearings on the sexual abuse of Olympic athletes, said it is not up to a national governing body to determine what information is relevant to a SafeSport investigation.
The letter said SafeSport should be able to determine whether documents or information it has requested from a national governing body fall within its jurisdiction. "That determination certainly should not be left to the self-policing of the NGB (national governing body) itself," the letter said.
Congress created the Denver-based Center for SafeSport as an independent body to investigate all forms of abuse claims in Olympic sports in the aftermath of the Larry Nasser case involving sexual abuse of hundreds of girls and young female gymnasts, including the American stars of the London Games.
In 2016, a year before the Center for SafeSport opened, the University of California hired an outside investigator to examine a sexual assault complaint against a member of the Cal men's crew team, this news organization reported at the time.
The alleged victim, a former female crew member, said at the time that Teti knew she had been sexually assaulted in December 2013 at a rowing team party. She said instead of reporting the incident, Teti told her to stop crying, saying, "You're no angel anyway."
A University of California official in 2016 said the school investigation did not focus on whether Teti failed in his obligation to report the incident. Teti, a three-time Olympian who won a bronze medal at the Seoul Games 32 years ago, left Cal in 2018 to take over the national team program that uses the Golden Bears' rowing facility on the Oakland Estuary. Teti is the only person to be inducted into the National Rowing Hall of Fame as an athlete and a coach.
The letter for lawmakers was sent on the heels of a whistleblower lawsuit filed Feb. 5 against the U.S. Olympics and Paralympic Committee, or USOPC. Bill Moreau, the USOPC's former vice president of sports medicine, said in the suit he was fired for raising concerns about the wellbeing of athletes with regards to sexual abuse and mental health issues. An Olympic Committee spokeswoman released a statement to news outlets that said, in part, "We regret that Dr. Moreau and his attorney have misrepresented the causes of his separation from the USOPC."
According to the letter sent to Congress, the USOPC is aware of USRowing's unwillingness to supply SafeSport with the requested information. The letter said Onye Ikwuakor, the USOPC associate general counsel, litigation and compliance, "has declined to obtain or review the report himself or ask USRowing to turn over the report to SafeSport so that SafeSport can determine for itself whether the report covers matters within its jurisdiction."
It continued, "In addition, it is disappointing that the USOPC, which has final say in whether a head coach will be the designated coach to represent the United States at the Olympics, did not appear to be interested in at least requesting and receiving the report in question."
Ikwuakor did not immediately respond to an email request for comment.
Quinn said in the letter that after informing SafeSport officials she was alerting Congress to the situation, "SafeSport appears to be making another request to USRowing for the report and associated investigative materials."
Quinn also urged lawmakers to give SafeSport more resources. According to an Associated Press story in the fall, SafeSport received a 55% increase in complaints filed in 2019 from 2018.
Senators Jerry Moran (R-Kansas) and Richard Blumenthal (D-Connecticut), the chairman and ranking member of the U.S. Senate Commerce subcommittee that oversees the health and safety of U.S. Olympic and amateur athletes, also were sent a copy of the letter.
