Four women taekwondo athletes file lawsuit against USA taekwondo and USOC over sex trafficking
Four women taekwondo athletes Heidi Gilbert, Mandy Meloon, Amber Means and Gaby Joslin accused the US Olympic Committee (USOC) and USA Taekwondo of sex trafficking. They have filed a lawsuit alleging that they were exploited and sexually abused over two decades. They even stated that they were ccompelled to train and travel with sexual predators.
The case is filed in a court in Colorado against Jean Lopez, an American Taekwondo athlete and coach and brother Steven Lopez two-time Olympic gold medalist in taekwondo. Following the lawsuit, the US Centre for SafeSport issued a lifetime ban on Jean from all Taekwondo events and Steven has issued an interim restriction till the investigation is on.
Mandy Meloon in 2002 World Cup
A two-time world taekwondo medalist Mandy Meloon who was kicked out of the team in 2007 while she was preparing for the Beijing Olympics for making threats against a fellow teammate on MySpace mentioned in a lawsuit that she was raped by her then-coach Jean at the World Cup at Egypt in 1997, she was 15 then.
She quoted, "From 2007 onward, the USOC and USA TKD have knowingly protected, empowered and clothed Jean Lopez with the authority, legitimacy and trustworthiness of being the official coach of Team USA's taekwondo team and his brother Steven with being the superstar of USA Taekwondo," she also added that USOC and USA TKD have exposed hundreds of young female athletes to two adult sexual predators.
Supporting Meloon Gilbert said that his then coach Jean sexually assaulted her in 2002 after events in Ecuador and in 2013 Germany event.
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First published: 8 May 2018, 11:26 IST