As Canada’s speed skating team begins competition at the 2018 Winter Olympics, they are going to have to do it without their head coach.
Chance Q. Cook of the Montana Standard reported on Saturday that Michael Crowe, who has coached the team since 2015, is not at PyeongChang after being placed on leave. An internal investigation has also been launched.
More from Cook:
Speed Skating Canada confirmed there is an internal investigation underway, but the organization declined to divulge details of the situation.
“Michael Crowe is currently on leave from his position as head coach until at least after the Olympic Games. Speed Skating Canada has launched an internal investigation and there is currently a process in place,” the organization said in an email to The Montana Standard.
The 64-year-old Crowe is something of a familiar figure in the speed skating world — he served as the head coach of the United States speed skating team from 1985 to 1991 and again from 1999 to 2002. He then was promoted to team director (overseeing two Winter Olympics in 2002 and 2006) before departing to work with Canada’s team in 2007.
Cook also relays that, according to reports that surfaced in the Canadian media last month, former United States speed skaters claimed that Crowe had sexual relationships with some of the athletes that he coached as head of the U.S. team in the early 1990s. Those reports have not yet been confirmed by any of the involved parties however.
