Sex abuse allegations trail embattled Olympic track coach. He was sued in Broward, too
A track coach whose Olympic accreditation was revoked Tuesday by the Canadian Olympic Committee amid claims of sexual and emotional abuse has had similar accusations mount against him in recent months, according to multiple lawsuits filed in South Florida.
Rana Reider, 54, was attending the Paris Olympics as the coach of Canada’s Andre de Grasse, Italian Olympian Marcell Jacobs and American Trayvon Bromell, Field Level Media reports. De Grasse, a six-time Olympic medalist, said he left the personal coach in 2022 because of “distractions” but returned after Reider was placed on probation by the U.S. Center for SafeSport, a nonprofit that aims to reduce sexual abuse in Olympic sports.
In a statement, the committee said Reider was provided access to the warm-up area and training venues “based on the understanding that his probation with the US Center for Safe Sport ended in May this year, that he had no other suspensions or sanctions, and otherwise met our eligibility requirements.”
“On Sunday, August 4, we learned of new information about the appropriateness of Mr. Reider remaining accredited by Team Canada at the Paris 2024 Games,” the committee said. “In discussion with Athletics Canada, it was agreed that Mr. Reider’s accreditation be revoked.”
Since December, Reider — and Tumbleweed Track Club, his training facility in Jacksonville — have been slapped with three lawsuits in Broward in which athletes he trained accused him of sexual misconduct.
Attorney Jeffrey Wayne Gutchess, who has represented Reider in the past, slammed the committee’s action as “outrageous.”
“It was completely unfair that the Canadian Olympic Committee made this decision without any notice or due process,” Gutchess told the Miami Herald, adding that the allegations against Reider were “twisted.”
The first, filed in December, alleges that Reider groomed and sexually assaulted a professional sprinter from the United Kingdom for six years, starting when she was 17. The coach, according to the lawsuit, gradually began to spend unsupervised time with the athlete, paying for expensive meals and flaunting his connections to influential people.
“The coach’s abuse was facilitated by the willingness of the track clubs, governing bodies, and athlete sponsor companies, all of which turned a blind eye to and enabled this conduct,” the document states.
Reider’s behavior was an “open secret widely discussed in the community by athletes and others,” according to the lawsuit. It even alleges that Reider was released from British Athletics after a team doctor said he had evidence that the unnamed athlete was being groomed by Reider.
When the athlete left his training camp, Reider followed her to Florida, the filing states. The years of abuse culminated with the athlete attempting suicide twice.
That lawsuit, court records show, was voluntarily dismissed in April. Gutchess said Reider’s relationship with the unnamed athlete was consensual.
In June, Shara Proctor, a retired professional long jumper, and Hannah Cunliffe, a professional sprinter, sued Reider, accusing him of sexual and verbal harassment.
Proctor met Reider in the mid 2000s when she was an athlete at the University of Florida, according to the filing. The lawsuit also states that he was dismissed from a coaching role at the university amid rumors of sexual misconduct.
The athlete and Reider kept in touch, and he trained her at Tumbleweed, where the “unwanted sexual conduct increased,” the document states. Cunliffe, too, moved to Jacksonville to train with Reider — and was subjected to inappropriate touching and sexually explicit comments.
The Miami Herald reached out to Elizabeth M. Velez, the attorney for the three women suing Reider, but hasn’t heard back as of Tuesday afternoon.
Those lawsuits, which remain active, are being handled in Broward because USA Track and Field Florida, through which Reider is registered, is located in the county.
This story was originally published August 6, 2024 at 5:57 PM.