Re: Child abuse is OK with IOC?

anton2468@xxxxxxx wrote: 
Carl, You are so quick to give people you speak about nasty and
underhand reasons for doing things they do.



Tragically, some of this abuse is indeed parent driven.  Parents who
have succeeded financially but regret their own lack of athletic prowess
now seeking to succeed athletically through their kids: keeping
performance diaries, interviewing coaches, driving wilting offspring to
ever longer training sessions at ever less congenial hours of the day.
You see it with ballet.  You see it with gymnastics.  You see it with
swimming.  I've seen it, with tragic outcome, even in rowing.  (And I
fear the possible adverse consequences of this hot-house attitude in the
World Class Start program fro rowing in the UK.)




I have working with parents who have done all of the above simply
because the child is so keen. They get up to drive to a swimmingpool or

the boat club, they are tired from work but they do it to support their

kids and show interest. 99% of parents have the right motivations and
1% wrong but you are far more prepared to accept the nasty view. Not
everyone in life is crooked, evil or motivated by their possible gain.

Also I think we should be EXCEPTIONALLY careful quoting comments about
people being banned from the Canoe Association etc. because they were
reporting child abuse? Maybe they were wrong? maybe it was inspired by
jealosy and this person is now aggrieved?
We should not take a snap shot and assume that the worst happened.


Lets absolutely not let this conversation get to specific examples
under any circumstances even if names are not mentioned. Lets not
mention sports.....


I guarantee there was another side to the canoe story, and if there is
a problem go to the parent.


I was not generalising.  Nor did I suggest that I was.

When you have seen someone go off the rails through parental pressure in sport & school, you know both that it is uncommon, & that it can & does happen. However, & I was careful to say this, there are many fine & caring coaches. I'm proud to have some as friends, & they are as unhappy about the fringe as I am.

I was also careful not to add comment on a matter on which Allan is better informed than me but of which I am not unaware. And I kept my discussion pretty general. Or would my mentioning widely reported child protection shortcomings by couple of Archbishops, one live, one dead, be thought overly specific? I think not.

Those cases to which I there referred show how ruthlessly inconvenient news of misdemeanours is buried, & how whistleblowers are marginalised, when officialdom wants to present a benign & faultless image of its own governance. Which was the IOC's & Coe's reaction to Pinsent's inconvenient report "for the good of the Games". And that's what the ARA, whose Council meeting is this coming weekend, has tried & is still trying to do over the fatal defects in its own safety administration.

The pathology of power is a subject all should study. Power is rarely gained except by those who covet it, & why they so crave power is a question with few attractive answers. The situation was perfectly summed up by Lord Acton: "All power tends to corrupt; absolute power corrupts absolutely".

60 years after the start of the Nuremberg/Nuernburg Tribunal seems an excellent time to recall & repeat Acton's warning & to ponder its lessons for today. Especially when considering the words & deeds of self-perpetuating oligarchies, such as the IOC or even (dare I say it?) the ARA.

Carl

--
Carl Douglas Racing Shells        -
    Fine Small-Boats/AeRoWing low-drag Riggers/Advanced Accessories
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