Women Al Fong and Armine Barutyan SafeSport Suspension

[Dahlialover]

I just saw this and I’m interested I hearing what people think of it.

GAGE coaches Al Fong and Armine Barutyan suspended by SafeSport - Gymnastics Now

Elite gymnastics coaches Al Fong and Armine Barutyan of GAGE have been suspended by the U.S. Center for SafeSport – Fong for five years and Barutyan for one year – for physical and emotional misconduct. What the sanctions mean.

gymnastics-now.com

 

[gym_dad32608]

Lets just say I have heard things. About time.

 

[Coach Kate]

It's been a long time coming. I understand innocent until proven guilty as a concept, but I think there should be a certain tier of allegation that suspends you pending investigation, and then accelerate that part of the investigation.

I honestly think any time minors appear to be at imminent risk should qualify. And I would be fine if part of the final outcome/sentencing includes the suspension time during the investigation - so if it took a year to investigate and the ban was five years, then the ban would be four additional years. I guess I'm not sure what you would do if the investigation came up clean, but surely it wouldn't take an excessive amount of time to figure out nothing has happened or it wouldn't be severe enough to trigger the suspension pending investigation.

I look at this case and wonder how many athletes he impacted during the five years it took to ban him. Five years can be a very influential amount of time, especially for pre and early teens, and can really impact an athlete's trajectory.