Former NCAA Champion Kohlton Norys has been suspended by USA Swimming for 5 years, beginning on April 6th, 2017 and running until April 6th, 2022.
Norys was suspended under two sections of the USA Swimming Code of Conduct: 304.3.7 (of the 2016 Code of Conduct) and 304.3.19 (of the 2014-present Codes of Conduct).
Norys swam at Auburn from 2007-2011. In 2009, as a sophomore, he became Auburn’s first men’s NCAA champion in any backstroke event when he won the 100 back in 45.13. He was also on the NCAA Champion and NCAA record-setting 400 free relay, and on the NCAA record-setting 200 free relay.
According to his LinkedIn profile, Norys was the associate head coach with Shore Aquatics in Long Beach, California from February 2014-August 2016.
Update: Kristin Kredell, the head coach/director of Shore Aquatics, says that “the violation of USA Swimmings [sic] Code of Conduct issue was with another club not with Long Beach Shore Aquatics.” We asked for her to clarify what club Norys was employed by at the time of the violation, and have not received a response.
The terms by which Norys was suspended are below.
Correction: A previous version of this article referenced section 304.3.7 of the 2017 Code of Conduct. Norys was banned under 304.3.7 of the 2016 Code of Conduct. The corrected language is below.
(2016) 304.3.7
A Any inappropriate sexual conduct or advance, or other inappropriate oral, written, visual, or physical conduct of a sexual nature at any time, past or present, directed towards an athlete or any person under the age of eighteen (18) by (i) a coach member or other non-athlete member, or (ii) any other adult participating in any capacity what- soever in the activities of USA Swimming (whether such adult is a member or not).
B Any act of sexual harassment, including without limitation unwelcome sexual advances, requests for sexual favors, and other inappropriate oral, written, visual, or physical con- duct of a sexual nature in connection with or incidental to a USA Swimming-related activity by any person participating in the affairs or activities of USA Swimming (whether such person is a member or not) directed toward any member or other person participating in the affairs or activities of USA Swimming.
C A romantic or sexual relationship, even if it is a consensual relationship between adults, which began during the swimming relationship, between athletes and those individuals (i) having direct supervisory or evaluative control, or (ii) who are in a position of power and trust over the athlete. Except in circumstances where no imbalance of power exists, coaches have this direct supervisory or evaluative control and are in a position of power and trust over those athletes they coach. The prohibition on romantic or sex- ual relationships does not include those relationships where it can be demonstrated that there is no imbalance of power. For example, this prohibition does not apply to a relationship between two spouses or life partners which existed prior to the swimming relationship. For factors that may be relevant to determining whether an imbalance of power exists, consult the USOC’s Safe Sport Policies atwww.teamusa.org/Footer/ Legal/Governance-Documents.
D Any peer-to-peer sexual abuse. For the purposes of the Code of Conduct, the term “peer-to-peer sexual abuse” shall mean any unwelcome physical conduct of a sexual nature directed towards a minor athlete by another minor athlete.
304.3.19 .19 Any other material and intentional act, conduct or omission not provided for above, which is detrimental to the image or reputation of USA Swimming, a LSC or the sport of swimming.
We have reached out to Norys for comment, and he has not responded as of posting.
You all are referencing “bullying” but the article references the code of conduct that deals with inappropriate SEXUAL/ROMANTIC contact. I don’t see any reference to bullying.
Swimmom – see the note in the article. We originally reference the 2017 Code, where the section he was banned under related to bullying. USA Swimming has clarified that instead the 2016 Code was the one he was banned under, that involves sexual/romantic misconduct.
Seems odd. I thought with USA Swimming’s zero tolerance policy, the punishment for these cases is either a lifetime ban or nothing.
I can’t remember hearing of a 5-year ban before.
tea rex – there’s a number of coaches who are on specific suspensions, for different reasons. The list is here – https://www.usaswimming.org/utility/landing-pages/safe-sport/banned-member-list—temp
It’s hard to say what can mitigate a lifetime ban to a non-lifetime ban in cases of sexual abuse. Many of the people on the temporary suspended list are more along the lines of financial misdeeds of some kind (mis-accounting club money, for example), or other things that aren’t a direct affront to the safety of children.
As someone who had recently gone through something similar; there are definitely two sides of a story. Don’t pass judgement on someone with out both sides.
Both sides were heard in the hearing and a decision was made. There was sufficient evidence to warrant the suspension. Still don’t understand why he is not banned for life. If I had a daughter, I would pull her from any team he coached at and hope others would as well. Hopefully no team will hire him in 5 years.
Bullying could definitely happen between coach to swimmers. I’ve seen it countless times. Once there was a big family on a big team at lsc championships. Middle boy was prepubescent at an age where few of his peers were. Older and younger sister were way ahead of him in development. All three Swam the 500. Boy had the slowest time. Coach ostracized him for being beaten by a girl, for being the slowest in his family and for a few other things. None of which was appropriate. Boy left and I saw him crying in the hallway. I did the right thing and reported the offender. He didn’t get banned or sanctioned, but me and another coach made sure someone… Read more »
The issue seems to be related to sexual misconduct, not bullying…
War eagle to that
Hmm so is he a pervert or a bully? Or both?
Actually he is neither. I know the whole story behind it personally and the penalty is completely unjust, which is why he is taking this into legal actions.
An update: Norys was banned under 304.3.7 of the 2016 Code of Conduct, not the 2017 Code of Conduct. The 2016 language, which is not bullying-related, has been updated above.