A new lawsuit filed this week by the three athletes accuses coach Peter Foley of sexual assault, harassment and infliction of emotional distress — and alleges USSS leaders, including former CEO Gale “Tiger” Shaw, enabled and covered up the misconduct.
Former U.S. Ski and Snowboard coach Peter Foley, left, goes over some instructions with a competitor at the start of the skier cross at the 11th Winter X Games at Buttermilk Ski Area near Aspen, Colo. on Friday, Jan. 26, 2007. Foley was fired by U.S. Ski and Snowboard earlier this year amid allegations of sexual assault and misconduct during his 25 years with the program.Callan Chythlook-Sifsof turned on her car radio and heard an ad for the Winter Olympics. Then she heard another.
“It’s even bigger than just Peter Foley himself,” said Erin O’Malley, a plaintiff in the lawsuit who competed for the U.S. snowboard team from 1995-2001. “Yes, he is to blame for all of the one-on-one misconduct but I think because of the lack of checks and balances, and potential protection for females, it is more than him. … It’s the underpinning of dysfunction [throughout the organization].”Foley was hired by USSS as the first head coach of the U.S. boardercross team in 1994.
Chythlook-Sifsof said she was exposed to Foley’s misconduct on multiple occasions, but her attempts to report wrongdoing were ignored. She also alleges she was raped by another male coach on a different team, something she says was the consequence of the “toxic environment” Foley created, according to the lawsuit.
Former athletes, coaches and staffers, meanwhile, said they believe USSS leaders are responsible for enabling the alleged misconduct and failing to properly report it when it came to their attention. Multiple coaches and athletes who spoke to The Tribune said Forster and others in USSS relinquished power and deferred to Foley’s judgment to the detriment of athletes.
“When families entrust their young athletes to the care of the coaches and staff of the Olympics movement, they should be able to rest easy knowing that their daughters will not be harmed in any way by the very adults who the Olympics and the sport have placed in the all-important position of trust,” said Kenya Davis, a second attorney for the plaintiffs.
Chythlook-Sifsof said her first attempt to report Foley for sexual misconduct was in April of 2020 when she called team manager Abbi Nyberg. On that call, Chythlook-Sifsof said, she told Nyberg about allegations that Foley took nude photos of snowboard athletes on trips to Austria and Fiji.protocol adopted in 2017, Nyberg would have been required to report the alleged sexual misconduct directly to SafeSport. Nyberg could not be reached for comment.
About the same time, Chythlook-Sifsof said she contacted a lawyer who specialized in sexual assault. Eventually, Chythlook-Sifsof said, Nyberg stopped answering her phone calls. The athletes and staffers spoke on condition of anonymity because they feared reprisal that could impact their futures in the industry.
“I’m not saying that coaches and athletes don’t go to the same parties sometimes, but [not like this],” said a male skier who is now retired from the U.S. national team. “Coaches are not dancing with athletes. You know, coaches are congregating in one corner and athletes are in another corner. He was very blatant about creating a party culture. He used it as a tool.”
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