Reigning Olympic champion Tristan Gale and other members of the United States women’s skeleton team have accused US coach Tim Nardiello of sexual harassment, The New York Times reported on Saturday.
Nardiello denied the claims to the newspaper but the US Bobsled and Skeleton Federation has decided that Nardiello will remain as coach through the Torino Winter Olympics in February but be asked to resign three days after the Games.
That outcome upset those who made the charges, according to the Times, which cited e-mail messages and interviews asserting Nardiello made sexually explicit comments and sexual advances to members of the US World Cup skeleton squad.
”Although I’ve never pressed sexual harassment charges against him, I guess a lot of it comes from the fact that you can’t stand up to somebody who determines whether or not you are on the team,” Gale said.
Terry Allen, another women’s coach, said he told federation officials back in 2002 about improper incidents involving Nardiello (45) of Lake Placid, a two-time US Olympian in luge who was hired as US coach in September of 2002.
An early December letter from Gale’s mother, Marsha, to federation officials detailing incidents regarding Nardiello added fuel to the fire.
”I would have to say that is absolutely not true,” Nardiello told the paper when asked about the allegations, dismissing them as complaints from people who failed to qualify for the Torino Olympics.
”I’ve been working for four years and never had any problem at all and six weeks out from the Olympics and this is going on? Unfortunately this will hurt the entire US team.”
Robbie Vaughn, interim executive director of the US skeleton governing body, said an investigation is under way.
”We will take this very seriously and we are looking into it,” he told the Times. ”We’re pursuing it with all vigour.”
US Olympic Committee executive director Jim Scherr vowed a quick probe into the accusations. USOC officials can deny Olympic accreditation to members of the US delegation.
”His appointment to the Olympic team is our issue,” Scherr said.
Vaughn, in an e-mail sent to the Times, told the federation that Nardiello would be kept as coach through the Olympics because most of those on the US Olympic squad supported him.
”The last thing our athletes currently need is a change in coaching and the related distraction,” Vaughn wrote, sidestepping the issue of the distraction that years of harassment might present.
Felicia Canfield, a skeleton competitor who failed to qualify for Torino, e-mailed the federation asking her complaint be considered a grievance against Nardiello.
”Many times at the start line of a race… Time would look me up and down and comment how good I looked in my speedsuit,” Canfield said. ”He has even patted my butt… tried to kiss me on the lips but I’ve turned my cheek.”
Canfield said Nardiello has typically told sliders in performance critiques that ”the only time I want to see your legs spread like that is if I’m between them”.
Canfield was also unhappy at Vaughn’s decision to keep Nardiello in charge of the Olympic team, the Times saying the decision prompted Canfield to make her accusations public.
”I’m saddened to learn that an issue such as sexual harassment can be treated so dismissively by our interim executive director,” Canfield typed in her e-mail, the paper reported.
Results from a World Cup race next week in Germany will decide if US women receive one or two berths at Torino. American Noelle Pikus-Pace is trying to secure a berth after suffering a broken leg in October. – Sapa-AFP