The term “Disabled athlete” evokes an entire range of responses from those outside the community. We have all, hopefully, grown together to allow those with physical and/or behavioral impairments to compete, thrive and get the recognition they deserve. The disability community has many allies, and those who have lent love and support in a million ways.
However, just as any generalization is damaging when directed toward a group, it is equally wrong to assume everyone in a group is saintly or beyond fault. Within the disabled athlete grouping are entire spectrums of physical and intellectual limitations. Within that grouping, like society in general, exist the entire range of personalities. It should not be assumed that the Paralympics are one huge cluster of Kumbaya.
Robert Griswold’s Exist Everywhere
American Paralympic gold medalist Robert Griswold is hardly a saint. Griswold is a predator. He is being accused of serial rape and assault directed toward a teammate who suffers from an intellectual impairment. Despite the fact that he is a gold medalist, his athletic abilities
Griswold, a swimmer with cerebral palsy, who won two gold medals at the Tokyo games, allegedly “maliciously targeted and groomed” a 19-year-old autistic teammate and took advantage of his intellectual disability that “rendered him vulnerable and naive to abuse.”
According to the Washington Post, the news source to break the story:
“This case is a horrific tragedy, where a young man who defied all odds to become a world-class Paralympic swimmer had his life utterly shattered by rape and abuse when he was paired with a team member who was a violent sexual predator.”
Strangely, Griswold was suspended from the team in August 2022 for misconduct, which followed a suspension in September of 2020. As a sports ethics keynote speaker and sports ethics consultant, I believe in second chances. However, Griswold seems to have had more second chances than most. In this situation, Griswold attacked his roommate at the Olympic Village; a 19-year-old at the Paralympic trials. The victim has severe autism and is said to have the mental capacity of a 5-year-old.
Griswold had been grooming the man since 2021, when he sort of became what has been described as his “de facto chaperone.” According to reports, the victim was repeatedly raped by Griswold at the Tokyo games.
The Post stated:
“There was at least one witness to the abuse at the Olympics, per the report. That witness punched a wall after he ‘became so enraged’ by the abuse he witnessed, the filing said, and was later reprimanded by team officials.”
Wait a Minute Here
We had to re-read the report several times. Team officials reprimanded the witness to the rapes? Yes, apparently so. The unidentified witness may have had physical impairments which prevented him from interceding. He did the best he could to do something and “team officials” yelled at him?
It was only long after the victim could tell his parents what had happened to him, that his parents reported the incident to the U.S. Olympic and Paralympic Committee. The parents have since filed a lawsuit against the USOPC and Griswold and took their son home. His swimming career is over.
The USOPC issued the following statement:
“The allegations brought forth by the complaint filed today are extremely concerning and we take them very seriously. We’ve made the decision to place two staff members on administrative leave and have also stopped the work of several contractors with U.S. Paralympics Swimming. We’re also continuing our investigation of the allegations to help us determine the facts, and we are committed to taking appropriate action.”
Griswold is a monster, no more or less than a Larry Nasser or Jerry Sandusky, however, Griswold seems to have been enabled by the USOPC, by a continued failure to act when it already knew about Griswold’s behavioral problems.
Was the drive for the USOPC to win gold medals in Paralympics so great that it was willing to turn its back on a 19-year-old man with autism?
Who are the staff members who were placed on leave? What did they know and for how long? Who are the so-called contractors who are implicated in this abuse? What the hell is going on?
Ethically, this scandal is all too familiar and all too ugly. For some sick reason the Olympics frequently seem to be implicated in these types of sexual abuse. Why are the ethical standards set so low. Where is the oversite? Is winning at all costs more important than all other values?
We have come a long way in our recognition of disability. Is the USOPC lagging behind us?
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