Senate subcommittee presses US Center for SafeSport on closures, backlogs and funding

Chair Senator Hickenlooper opened the subcommittee hearing on athlete safety and described Congress’s role after revelations in USA Gymnastics. He introduced witnesses and said the session would examine how to ensure athletes can train and compete free from abuse.

Jurece Colon, CEO of the U.S. Center for SafeSport, told the subcommittee the center has driven a major increase in reporting since it opened, noting the office received roughly 300 reports in its first year, 7,500 last year and ‘‘more than 25,000 reports’’ to date. Colon acknowledged problems with timeliness and communication and described a nine-month, top-to-bottom review that produced operational changes: staff realignment, tighter rules on administrative closures, trauma-sensitivity training, greater data collection and enhanced audits of national governing bodies (NGBs). She said the center typically declines jurisdiction of many emotional and physical-abuse matters back to NGBs but keeps cases that present conflicts or are particularly egregious.

Dionne Koehler, co-chair of the bipartisan Commission on the State of U.S. Olympics and Paralympics, said the commission’s report — based on tens of thousands of documents, surveys and interviews — recommends systemic reforms, not piecemeal fixes. The commission’s top recommendation, Koehler testified, is to ‘‘delink’’…