Blind eye turned to years of abuse of pole vaulters

Pole vault coach Alex Parnov, 65, who is believed to have returned to Russia, is unlikely to face justice in Australia for his fiendish and in some cases potentially criminal abuse of young female athletes for more than 15 years. But who knew what, when and how – especially past and present officials of the Western Australian Institute of Sport and Athletics Australia, and others – must be identified through thorough inquiries and held to account. Sporting and Olympic officials also must do all in their power through international bodies to ensure Parnov is barred from coaching.

On Sunday, Athletics Australia chief executive Simon Hollingsworth said the organisation revoked Parnov’s coaching accreditation and imposed a lifetime ban on him obtaining re-accreditation following a WAIS investigation in 2019, and tried to prevent his participation in any athletics-related activity in Australia and abroad.

But the extent of Parnov’s predatory behaviour, reported on Saturday by Jessica Halloran and Stephen Rice, and the fallout suffered by his victims and whistleblowers, is so alarming that a stronger and more serious message is needed that abuse will not be tolerated at any level of any sport, including among elite performers and coaches. No leading figure in sport, or any other sector, should be considered too important to get away with sexual harassment, inappropriate touching, inviting into his room when he was wearing only a towel those for whom he had a duty of care, propositioning and grooming vulnerable minors, and booking hotel rooms with just one bed for himself and a young athlete. Some who resisted his advances for sex were punished by being barred from training and body-shamed, becoming ill from under-eating and developing long-term eating disorders.

One of the most appalling aspects of the scandal is that Parnov’s diabolical conduct was known for years yet he was allowed to get away with it. Paris Olympic Games gold medallist Nina Kennedy, who endured Parnov’s grossly inappropriate behaviour for years and says she tried to fight this battle behind closed doors, has broken her silence for our investigation. “I believe the organisations responsible for safeguarding us failed to protect myself and others, and enabled my former coach’s harmful conduct to persist over a decade,” she said. Parnov barely bothered to hide his tracks. In 2016, when Kennedy was 18, a video (available on our website) showed him sliding his hand down her back and bottom.

On Monday Halloran and Rice set out a timeline of the lost opportunities, across 20 years, when WAIS, Athletics Australia and other sporting officials ignored or rebuffed at least eight athletes who came forward about Parnov’s behaviour. As early as 2002, young pole vaulter Simone Carre told a WAIS sports psychologist about Parnov’s behaviour towards her. She was advised that if she reported it she would be “ruining the careers” of her fellow athletes because Parnov was “the best pole vault coach in the world”. Such disregard for young athletes’ wellbeing off the field is breathtaking. In 2013, when Olympian Alana Quade (nee Boyd) reported Parnov’s inappropriate behaviour to Athletics Australia she was told condescendingly: “You obviously feel more comfortable with your father as your coach.” In 2015, Emma Draisey, who had been propositioned by Parnov in 1997, shared her story with Athletics Australia, which did not follow up with her. In the same year, a female athlete made a disclosure about Parnov to a WAIS sports psychologist. Steve Lawrence, WAIS chief executive at the time, promised an investigation but assured Parnov: “We confirm you have not breached WAIS policy in a manner that has infringed on the personal rights of athletes under your guidance.”

Many complaints against Parnov stretch back decades. But officials’ hostility towards whistleblowers has persisted until recently. As reported on Monday, coach Paul Burgess, who helped Kennedy win Olympic gold and a world championship last year, and collaborated with her in blowing the whistle on Parnov, was forced to resign as WAIS head pole vault coach in April, losing his livelihood for trying to protect Kennedy and other athletes by reporting Parnov.

Sports officials probably would resent the term cover-up being used to describe their responses. But after so much harm inflicted on young people, stonewalling, indifference and seemingly turning a blind eye because Parnov was regarded as a good coach, only a comprehensive independent inquiry can begin to rectify the damage and establish effective processes to prevent such abuses re-occurring in this or other sports.