Head of USA Swimming has Hall of Fame Invite Rescinded

Chuck Wielgus, the executive director of USA Swimming, was due to be inducted into the USA Swimming Hall of Fame, however, with the recent revelations about widespread sexual abuse of minors by swimming coaches, there was an outcry against his induction.

According to the Women’s Sports Foundation’s letter to the HOF committee:

“more than 100 USA Swimming coaches have been banned for life, making this one of the worst sexual abuse scandals in the US Olympics sports world. Many of these coaches had well-known, long histories of sexual abuse, yet Wielgus enabled these men to continue to coach for years.”

After this sort of public outcry, and accusations that he did not do nearly enough to properly lead the organization out of that dark history, it’s clear that putting him in the sport’s Hall of Fame was not the message USA Swimming wanted to send to it past, current, and future athletes. Good for them.

You can read more details at USA Today