Nearly four years to the day after sexual misconduct allegations against now-former Team USA snowboard coach Peter Foley came to light during the Beijing 2022 Olympics, three of his accusers filed suit against him and U.S Ski & Snowboard on Tuesday in U.S. District Court in Utah.
Olympians Rosey Fletcher and Callan Chythlook-Sifsof and fellow Team USA snowboarder Erin O’Malley say that Foley abused them across the span of decades, starting in 1994. Furthermore, they allege that U.S. Ski & Snowboard executives knew about the abuse and turned a blind eye to it, at times interfering with or discouraging their reporting of the interactions to the U.S. Center for SafeSport.
The trio currently has a similar case pending on appeal in federal court. The defendants in that case — which was filed in 2023 — include Foley, U.S. Ski & Snowboard and its former CEO, Gale “Tiger” Shaw, and the United States Olympic and Paralympic Committee.
Kenya Davis is the lead lawyer for the athletes in both cases. She said the statute of limitations was about to expire on the complaint of interference by U.S. Ski & Snowboard personnel. The Utah lawsuit was filed to ensure the athletes could pursue redress from the national federation and Foley if anything goes sideways with their current case.
In both lawsuits, the athletes are seeking unspecified compensation.
The Utah lawsuit accuses the defendants of ”a deliberate and reckless campaign ... to discredit, silence, intimidate, and emotionally harm survivors and reporters of sexual abuse in U.S. Snowboarding, including through public denials, disparagement, interference with reporting to the U.S. Center for SafeSport.”
The allegations against Foley were made public in the midst of the Beijing Winter Games when Chythlook-Sifsof — who was not on team but had competed in snowboard cross during the 2010 Olympics — posted on her Instagram account on Feb. 6, 2022. In a series of posts, she said Foley had for years collected pictures of naked athletes and built a toxic climate ripe for sexual misconduct.
“I cannot watch another Olympic Games without saying this publicly,” she wrote in one post in which she tagged Foley and U.S. Ski & Snowboard.
Foley was the head coach of the U.S. men’s and women’s snowboard team from its inception in 1994 until shortly after the Beijing Olympics. His athletes won 35 medals during that time.
(Nathan Bilow | AP) Former U.S. Ski and Snowboard coach Peter Foley, left, goes over some instructions with a competitor at the start of the skier cross at the 11th Winter X Games at Buttermilk Ski Area near Aspen, Colo. on Friday, Jan. 26, 2007. Foley was fired by U.S. Ski and Snowboard in 2022 amid allegations of sexual assault and misconduct during his 25 years with the program.
At least five women filed complaints against Foley with SafeSport, according to an ESPN report. The center was created by Congress in 2018 to protect athletes against abuse within the Olympic and Paralympic movement.
None of the women who are known to have filed complaints will represent Team USA this month at the Milan Cortina Olympics in Italy.
In a statement provided to The Salt Lake Tribune, U.S. Ski & Snowboard said it “strongly believes that there is no place in sport for abuse and misconduct, and will continue to prioritize the safety, health and well-being of athletes and staff.”
U.S. Ski & Snowboard suspended Foley on Feb. 21, 2022 — immediately following the Beijing Games — and fired him that March. Still, both lawsuits claim that officials within the sport’s national governing body — including current CEO Sophie Goldschmidt and former general counsel Alison Pitt — obstructed investigations into the coach by providing the athletes with “false and misleading information regarding the SafeSport reporting process.”
U.S. Ski and Snowboard personnel, according to the lawsuit, “knowingly and intentionally engaged in a coordinated course of conduct designed to silence, discredit, and intimidate” the athletes.
Among their accusations, the athletes said Goldschmidt and Pitt told them they could not report their concerns to SafeSport anonymously. They also told the athletes, per the lawsuit, that reporting Foley’s alleged abuse would require a direct confrontation with the coach.
O’Malley was on the national snowboard team from 1995 to 2003. Chythlook-Sifsof competed on the team from 2005 until 2014, including the 2010 Winter Games. Fletcher is a three-time Olympian, who was on the national team from 1994 until 2006, when she won a bronze medal in parallel giant slalom. The women said they feared speaking out against Foley because of the influence he had on their competitive and post-competition careers.
SafeSport ultimately suspended Foley in August 2023, and an arbiter upheld that suspension in early 2024. According to reporting by ESPN, Foley’s suspension is for 10 years with five years of probation. He is not allowed to take part in Olympic or Paralympic activity at any level during that time, per ESPN’s report.
Lisa Kosglow, a former snowboard athlete and U.S. Ski & Snowboard board member, was also suspended by SafeSport for interfering in the investigation. According to the lawsuit, she reached out to Fletcher — a former teammate — on Foley’s behalf. ESPN reported that her suspension was for three years, with two years of probation.
Chythlook-Sifsof, Fletcher and O’Malley “suffered severe and lasting emotional distress, including anxiety, depression, panic attacks, and physical manifestations of trauma,” the lawsuit claims.
The Utah case has been stayed, however, while the athletes appeal a December 2023 decision to dismiss their original federal lawsuit for lack of jurisdiction.
The federal lawsuit was filed in tandem with one from a former U.S. Ski & Snowboard employee who worked in the national federation’s communications department. She filed a separate lawsuit against Foley, alleging he had sexually assaulted her and made her take nude photos.
That case is also on appeal.