2012 Olympian Ariana Kukors Smith has settled her lawsuit against USA Swimming over sexual abuse she says she suffered at the hands of former coach Sean Hutchison.
Kukors Smith’s attorney Bob Allard announced the news today in a joint statement with USA Swimming.
Kukors Smith, a 2012 U.S. Olympian, came forward in 2017 with allegations that Hutchison had groomed and sexually abused her starting when she was a teenager swimming for him at KING Aquatic Club in Washington. Kukors filed suit against multiple defendants, accusing USA Swimming of covering up sex crimes committed by Hutchison. She settled her civil suit against one of those defendents, former USA Swimming national team director Mark Schubert, in July of 2019.
Today’s release announces a settlement with USA Swimming, but Allard also confirmed that USA Swimming‘s insurance company paid for a settlement with all of the remaining defendants and that the entire case has been settled. The original suit included USA Swimming, KING Aquatic Club, Pacific Northwest Swimming and Hutchison as defendants.
The full release from Kukors Smith’s attorney and USA Swimming is below:
SAN JOSE, CA – March 11, 2020 — The sexual abuse lawsuit brought forth by Olympian Ariana Kukors Smith has been resolved nearly two years after Mrs. Kukors Smith filed the action. The monetary settlement reached by USA Swimming’s insurance companies and Mrs. Kukors Smith will allow the 2012 Olympian to re-focus on the sport that she loves and to begin healing.
“I am glad that we were able to come to a resolution to this difficult process. As I begin the next chapter of my life, I hope that these last two years, along with the efforts of so many others, will help to provide athletes with a safer environment in which to compete,” Mrs. Kukors Smith said.
USA Swimming added the following: Throughout this process, Mrs. Kukors Smith has shown incredible strength and bravery and offered a powerful voice to all survivors. In sharing her story, Mrs. Kukors Smith thrust the very important subject matter of sexual abuse within youth serving organizations into focus and furthered important dialogue about the continued need for robust athlete protection policies and strong athlete and parent education.
Mrs. Kukors Smith is a former world record holder in the 200-meter individual medley and placed 5th at the 2012 London Olympic Games in the event.
USA Swimming added the following comment:
As an organization, we continue to adapt and embrace new abuse prevention initiatives in an effort to create the safest possible environment for our athletes and members.
In addition to building upon the Safe Sport program introduced in 2010, in the last 24 months we have launched the Safe Sport Recognize Club Program, which encourages member clubs to educate parents and minor athletes on recognizing, responding and reporting misconduct, we implemented a required Minor Athlete Abuse Prevention Policy (MAAPP) designed to limit one-on-one interactions between adults and minor athletes and we provided enhanced parent and minor athlete training on misconduct in sport in addition to expanded required adult athlete and non-athlete trainings.
Most recently, the USA Swimming Board of Directors approved, and will directly fund, the Keeping Athletes First Action Plan. The $5 million action plan will provide the resources necessary for staff to plan, provide and implement appropriate tools and platforms for our athletes and our clubs to thrive. Several of the initiatives are already underway, such as providing funds to Swim Assist, the development of a customer relations management (CRM) system, online member registration, a new educational platform, and increased Safe Sport staff and development. Additionally, there will be the creation of the Keeping Athletes First Working Group, which will work with our staff to build a five-year plan to lead the future development and implementation of the initiative.
We remain committed to being leaders in making a difference.
Splash of Truth?
Didn’t she say this was about ensuring changes at USA Swimming and not money?? But then this ends with a monetary settlement??
Don’t hate the player hate the game
but hate the player if they first claim to change the game instead of playing it
Thats part of the game tho
There was a change in insurance premiums.
Do you think her attorney works for free?
I wish they didn’t have a confidentiality clause
Guess the total payout from ALL parties if more than $400,000 vote up, if less than vote down.
very happy for Ariana, but what happened to Hutchinson, seems like he got off easy?