Olympic swimmer Ariana Kukors Smith has filed a lawsuit against USA Swimming alleging that officials knew she was sexually abused by coach Sean Hutchison while she was a minor.
The lawsuit filed in Orange County (Calif.) Supreme Court on Monday alleges that USA Swimming officials covered up the sexual abuse Kukors Smith suffered and manipulated the background check system so Hutchison would not be subject to a negative background check.
Kukors Smith says Hutchison, her coach at a club in the Seattle area, groomed her from the time she was 13 and that he began sexually molesting her when she was 16.