U.S. Center for SafeSport, Olympic Movement’s misconduct watchdog, struggles to shed ‘paper tiger’ reputation

The U.S. Center for SafeSport, a watchdog organization created in 2017 to police issues related to sexual abuse and other misconduct in Olympic sports and its amateur pipeline, is still struggling to gain the trust of the community it is designed to protect.

The center is a relatively small outfit with a big mission: “ending abuse in sport.” It is structured to take allegations of abuse and misconduct out of the hands of the U.S. Olympic and Paralympic Committee (USOPC) and its national governing bodies, handle them free from the influence of money and medals, and maintain a public database of sanctioned individuals — a much-needed cure for sporting institutions beset by an epidemic of sexual abuse cases.

But confidential documents obtained by ESPN and ABC News coupled with more than a dozen interviews with athletes, attorneys and lawmakers over the course of an 18-month investigation paint a portrait of an organization hampered by significant legal setbacks, disputes over transparency and lingering questions about its independence.

In some extreme cases, that system has allowed alleged serial abusers to return to their sports with little to no public warning, undermining the faith of some athletes and their advocates in the center’s work, which in turn threatens the center’s ability to function effectively.

Among the findings:

• Investigative reports and arbitration decisions reveal several instances in which the center’s investigators substantiated allegations against prominent coaches, compiling detailed dossiers of alleged sexual misconduct that initially led to lifetime bans from their respective sports, only to see those punishments set aside after appeals to independent arbitrators.

• The center’s record in defending its sanctions on appeal has hurt its credibility with some athletes and advocates: Nearly half (42%) of those…