A former athlete on the College of Pennsylvania (UPenn) ladies’s monitor and subject program has alleged inappropriate conduct by the group’s teaching workers, based on The Every day Pennsylvania. Thrower Kira Lindner of Chappaqua, N.Y., described quite a few incidents involving sexual innuendo and non-consensual touching, and claimed nothing was performed to deal with the problems when she reported them to UPenn head coach Steve Dolan.
Lindner, 21, was on the UPenn roster as a hammer and discus thrower from 2021 to 2023. She claimed volunteer assistant coach Vlad Pavlenko often made sexually inappropriate feedback, typically focused at her. When she reported the behaviour to Dolan, he dismissed the considerations as “not a problem,” as a result of the alleged misconduct didn’t contain bodily contact. The coach additionally mentioned Pavlenko wouldn’t be faraway from the group, and it was as much as Lindner to resolve if she needed to return.
Claims of inappropriate touching
Throwing coach Fletcher Brooks requested a person assembly with Lindner in April 2022, the place he expressed anger towards the athlete for going to the top coach, somewhat than coming to him immediately. Later within the assembly, the coach allegedly positioned his hand on Lindner’s higher thigh.
Lindner reported an expertise of “retaliatory behaviour” following the incidents, together with additional inappropriate touching from Brooks and hostility towards her and her household. The athlete additionally claims to have confronted efficiency repercussions; she was left off competitors rosters regardless of being ranked extremely in her convention. In April 2023, Lindner launched a 48.07m hammer throw on the Penn Huge 5 Championships–the ninth-best throw in UPenn historical past.
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Lindner submitted an official Title IX criticism to the college in June 2023. She detailed that the bodily touching from Brooks “felt like [Brooks] was making an attempt to exert energy in a sexual manner.” In August 2023, with the brand new season approaching and the scenario nonetheless unresolved, Lindner determined to go away this system and the game after 12 years of throwing.
When interviewed concerning the teaching workers, male throwers on the group reportedly spoke extremely of Dolan and Brooks. (Brooks is now the throwing coach at Harvard College.)
Unsupportive remedy
Different feminine UPenn throwers, together with Nigeria’s Inumidun Oyebode and Canada’s Omonye Osezua, reported unsupportive remedy from coaches after they have been coming back from accidents. Oyebode alleged that Brooks threatened to chop her from the group; she left this system in January 2022. Osezua claimed that in January 2024, Dolan mentioned the teaching workers determined it might be “greatest for the group” if she didn’t return.
Like mom, like daughter
Lindner’s mother, Kimberly, was additionally a thrower at UPenn; she graduated in 1993. Kimberly reportedly retired after her collegiate profession, however started throwing once more when her 10-year-old daughter needed to check out the game. Kimberly nonetheless throws immediately, and holds quite a few U.S. masters monitor and subject throwing titles.