USA Swimming Calls for Probe Into Sex Abuse

Managers of the USA Swimming national organization have called for an emergency disciplinary hearing to probe sex abuse charges against a coach, reports ABC News. Rick Curl, who coached swimmer Tom Dolan to medals in the 1996 and 2000 Olympics, attended last month’s US Olympic trials in Omaha on a coaching credential, according to the Washington Post. Former swimmer Kelly Currin told the Post that Curl molested her from 1983 to 1986—beginning when she was 13 and Curl was 33. He then agreed to pay her family $150,000 in exchange for their silence, according to documents obtained by the Post. "Now, I've gotten to the point in my life where I'm done being quiet about it," said Currin. "It was a crime, what happened."

She said when her parents found out about the abuse, they were advised by an attorney that the worst Curl, now 62, could expect was a slap on the wrist if they pressed charges. “My parents were great parents, but they were as naive as I was,” said Currin. A USA Swimming investigator contacted Currin months ago, and officials this week initiated a National Board of Review proceeding, requesting an expedited hearing. Neither Curl nor his attorney have commented about the investigation. Currin won a gold medal in the 1987 Pan Pacific Championships in Australia, and a fourth place in the 1986 Goodwill Games in Moscow. She failed to make the '88 Olympic team, later dropped out of college, and underwent years of therapy and treatment for an eating disorder. Some 36 swimming coaches across the country have been banned from USA Swimming over the last 10 years following allegations of sex abuse of young swimmers, notes ABC. (More Kelly Currin stories.)