Rana Reider, a coach of Olympic champion sprinters Andre De Grasse and Lamont Marcell Jacobs, has had his accreditation for the Paris Games revoked amid allegations of sexual and emotional abuse.
The Canadian Olympic Committee (COC) made the decision to pull Reider’s accreditation on Monday after a report from The Times on Sunday first revealed three female athletes had filed lawsuits against the longtime coach.
Reider was a personal coach to De Grasse, the Tokyo 200m champion, in Paris. De Grasse competed in the 100m event over the weekend and has qualified for the 200m semi-finals. Tokyo 100m champion Jacobs, another of Reider’s athletes, finished fifth in the 100m final on Sunday.
A statement from the COC read: “Rana Reider was accredited as a personal coach, with access only to the athletics warm-up area and training venues.
“The decision to provide him with that access was 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 4th we learned of new information about the appropriateness of Mr Reider remaining accredited by Team Canada at the Paris 2024 Games.
“In discussion with Athletics Canada, it was agreed that Mr Reider’s accreditation be revoked.”
Two athletes named in the court documents and a third who has remained anonymous have accused Reider of a number of offences.
Two of the athletes have accused the 54-year-old of repeated sexual and emotional abuse while another has also accused him of sexual and verbal harassment. He is also accused in the lawsuits of “grooming” one of the athletes while she was still a minor.
Reider previously served a one-year probation after admitting to a “consensual romantic relationship with an adult athlete, which presented a power imbalance.”
At the time Reider’s lawyer said he had “credibly and consistently denied all other allegations of sexual misconduct.”
When the U.S. Center for SafeSport investigation began in November 2021, UK Athletics instructed their athletes to “cease all association” with Reider before he was not accredited to coach at the last two World Championships in Eugene in 2022 and Budapest a year ago.
Reider’s U.S.-based attorney criticised the decision to deny him the right to continue coaching athletes in Paris “suddenly, and without due process.”
Ryan Stevens also said Reider has “no pending sanctions against him by any governing body” including the U.S. Center for SafeSport, USA Track & Field or Athletics Canada.
He said the decision to revoke accreditation was “based on years-old claims in a lawsuit by former athletes seeking financial gain … The only investigative body (U.S. Center for SafeSport) that has looked into the years-old claims closed its investigation in 2023 and dismissed the large majority of the claims.”
“It’s a bad day for the Olympics when a governing body’s fear of bad publicity is prioritized over the athletes,” Stevens added.
“The ones who are being hurt in all of this are the athletes suddenly forced to compete without their chosen coach, including one of Canada’s finest sprinters.”
(Photo: Kirby Lee-USA TODAY Sports)
