A new lawsuit has engulfed USA Swimming, and this time the organization is being accused of having knowledge of sexual misconduct by a California swim coach and still allowing him to coach children.
A new lawsuit has engulfed USA Swimming, and this time the organization is being accused of having knowledge of sexual misconduct by a California swim coach and still allowing him to coach children.u00a0
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The suit was filed by Jancy Thompson, a former Olympic hopeful who alleges that her former swim coach Norm Havercroft at West Valley swim club in San Jose, California, began sexually molesting her when she was 15-years-old.
Also named as defendants are Havercroft, West Valley, and Pacific Swimming, the regional swim organization under USA Swimming.
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"What I''ve gone through has been absolute hell. I was robbed of a normal childhood and never performed to my full potential," ABC News quoted Thomson, as saying.
Sources say that USA Swimming attorneys and insurance brokers attended a mediation session with another alleged victim of Havercroft''s in 2002, which ended in a confidential civil settlement with Havercroft.
Documentation obtained by ABC News shows two mediation sessions in the case held that year.
In a discovery document from a 2009 sexual abuse lawsuit against USA swimming involving another coach, the organization denied having any knowledge that Havercroft had "inappropriate relations" with any swimmers.
USA Swimming and Pacific Swimming did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
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