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Canadian cyclist Maggie Coles-Lyster alleges she was sexually abused by Belgian team member – CBC.ca

Published

5 years ago

March 5, 2020

In the weeks and months after Maggie Coles-Lyster alleges she was sexually assaulted, the Canadian cyclist buried herself in her sport.

The 21-year-old from Maple Ridge, B.C., was just 18 when she joined Doltcini-Van Eyck Sport’s women’s team as a development rider in 2017. It was during a multi-day race in the Netherlands that she said she was repeatedly sexually assaulted during massages by someone associated with the team.

The global body for cycling — the UCI — has launched a formal investigation into the Belgian team after Coles-Lyster and American cyclist Sara Youmans alleged abuses within the squad.

The allegations haven’t been proven in court.

‘This is out of hand’

“I didn’t talk about it for a while,” Coles-Lyster said in a recent phone interview. “I didn’t know what effect that would have on me. You’re always considering your future career. There’s always the not being believed, still kind of wrapping your mind around what happened. And then when I started talking to Sara, she was coming out with her story . . . I realized that it’s shocking how many people don’t really realize this happens in the sport.

“I felt this is a very important message and story that needs to get out for change to start happening because this is out of hand right now.”

Coles-Lyster, who captured two medals for Canada at last summer’s Pan American Games in Lima, Peru, alleged she was assaulted during her first massage with the Belgian team which was then under title sponsors Lares-Waowdeals. The Canadian alleged the individual straddled her around the tops of her legs and touched her genitals, which “seemed like a strange practice to me.” She said the sexual assault was repeated during massage sessions on days that followed.

She also alleged the individual took pictures of her during group meals and sent them to her with intimate messages.

Confiding in parents

Coles-Lyster eventually confided in her parents. It was a difficult conversation.

“It took a lot of courage for me to come forward and talk to them about it, because it’s the whole, as a victim actually understanding and coming to terms with what happened,” she said. “There’s really a big stigma that a lot of women feel around this, even unfortunately embarrassment, guilt, shame, all these emotions and even though you know your parents would always believe you, there’s always just these thoughts in your head. But you know they’re going to support you and love you no matter what.

Coles-Lyster won a silver medal at the 2019 Pan Am Games in Peru. (AFP via Getty Images)

“I have a great relationship with my parents. So once we actually got the conversation rolling, it wasn’t that hard to talk to them about it, and for them to help me.”

Coles-Lyster also reached the podium twice in UCI criterium races last season, and had a UCI victory on the track.

Team director Marc Bracke told The Canadian Press in an email that Coles-Lyster informed staff in April of 2017 that she “didn’t feel safe” around the individual “because he was stalking her with messages and photos . . . I took this seriously as a manager.”

Bracke said he’d been unaware of Coles-Lyster’s allegations of sexual assault until “I had to hear from the press last Saturday. I can understand that Maggy didn’t just dare to say this despite being safe in our team.”

Ethics Commission investigation

The UCI said in a statement it had been informed by the Ethics Commission of the opening of a formal procedure.

“The latter, led directly by the Commission, is under way,” the UCI said.

Cycling Canada’s high performance director Kris Westwood said in an email that it’s committed to the well-being of athletes the principles of Safe Sport particularly around sexual assault.

“Unfortunately, athletes often find themselves in team environments that are outside Cycling Canada’s jurisdiction, and sometimes this environment can be unsafe, as we’ve seen with the allegations brought forward by Maggie Coles-Lyster, who was a minor at the time of the alleged assault,” Westwood said. “We have offered Maggie our support, and we are glad to see the UCI’s ethics commission is investigating. We hope the people who committed these acts will no longer be in a position to victimize athletes in the future.”

Sexual assault in Canadian sport

Coles-Lyster’s allegations are the latest in a list of several high-profile sexual assault and harassment stories in Canadian sport. Canada’s track and field community was rocked recently by allegations against former national distance coach Dave Scott-Thomas. Former middle-distance runner Megan Brown came forward in a Globe and Mail story alleging that Scott-Thomas, a former University of Guelph coach, groomed her for a sexual relationship when she was 17.

The allegations against Scott-Thomas haven’t been proven in court.

Coles-Lyster said, with the current climate in Canadian sport, she felt it was important to speak up.

“It’s empowering other women to come forward and address these topics, not leave them under the rug,” she said. “Lots of people have come up to me and are shocked that this has happened. So it could be because cycling is still considered such a male-dominated sport or who knows, but for whatever reason people seem surprised that this happened.

“This has been really empowering to see the conversations this has opened up and the other women I’ve talked to about this who have had similar experiences, and just talking it through and what the steps should be. There’s a bunch of other athletes who have come forward recently, and I have considered reaching out to them. I think the strength of women banding together through issues like this is really important.”

Call for stronger policies

Coles-Lyster said policies within professional teams and national sport organizations need to be considerably stronger and more accessible. She pointed out that Canadian athletes must complete an annual anti-doping seminar, but there isn’t similar information about safe sport.

“What needs to be implemented, probably not even within just sport, but everybody . . . boys and girls need to have education on what sexual harassment looks like, so this all starts before anybody becomes a victim,” she said. “They need to know what it looks like, where to go if it happens. There’s still a lot of stigma, so people don’t talk about it enough.”

It was more than a year before Coles-Lyster finally felt comfortable opening about the alleged abuse, and reached out to a psychologist among others.

“I really had pushed it under the rug, and just tried to focus on racing and I was still going back to Belgium to race and just wanted to focus on that and doing well, because so much of doing well in the sport and succeeding as a cyclist seems to be how well you can do in Europe. So that kind of was my focus,” she said.

Coles-Lyster, who no longer competes for Doltcini-Van Eyck Sport, will race in the Manchester Six Day Series track race beginning March 13.

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Red Wings sign Moritz Seider to 7-year deal worth nearly $60M

Published

3 hours ago

September 19, 2024

Anne Joseph

DETROIT (AP) — The Detroit Red Wings made another investment this week in a young standout, signing Moritz Seider to a seven-year contract worth nearly $60 million.

The Red Wings announced the move with the 23-year-old German defenseman on Thursday, three days after keeping 22-year-old forward Lucas Raymond with a $64.6 million, eight-year deal.

Detroit drafted Seider with the No. 6 pick overall eight years ago and he has proven to be a great pick. He has 134 career points, the most by a defenseman drafted in 2019.

He was the NHL’s only player to have at least 200 hits and block 200-plus shots last season, when he scored a career-high nine goals and had 42 points for the second straight year.

Seider won the Calder Trophy as the league’s top rookie in 2022 after he had a career-high 50 points.

Red Wings general manager Steve Yzerman is banking on Seider, whose contract will count $8.55 million annually against the cap, and Raymond to turn a rebuilding team into a winner.

Detroit has failed to make the playoffs in eight straight seasons, the longest postseason drought in franchise history.

The Red Wings, who won four Stanley Cups from 1997 to 2008, have been reeling since their run of 25 straight postseasons ended in 2016.

Detroit was 41-32-9 last season and finished with a winning record for the first time since its last playoff appearance.

Yzerman re-signed Patrick Kane last summer and signed some free agents, including Vladimir Tarasenko to a two-year contract worth $9.5 million after he helped the Florida Panthers hoist the Cup.

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Veterans Tyson Beukeboom, Karen Paquin lead Canada’s team at WXV rugby tournament

Published

4 hours ago

September 19, 2024

Anne Joseph

Veterans Tyson Beukeboom and Karen Paquin will lead Canada at the WXV 1 women’s rugby tournament starting later this month in the Vancouver area.

WXV 1 includes the top three teams from the Women’s Six Nations (England, France and Ireland) and the top three teams from the Pacific Four Series (Canada, New Zealand, and the United States).

Third-ranked Canada faces No. 4 France, No. 7 Ireland and No. 1 England in the elite division of the three-tiered WXV tournament that runs Sept. 29 to Oct. 12 in Vancouver and Langley, B.C. No. 2 New Zealand and the eighth-ranked U.S. make up the six-team WVX 1 field.

“Our preparation time was short but efficient. This will be a strong team,” Canada coach Kevin Rouet said in a statement. “All the players have worked very hard for the last couple of weeks to prepare for WXV and we are excited for these next three matches and for the chance to play on home soil here in Vancouver against the best rugby teams in the world.

“France, Ireland and England will each challenge us in different ways but it’s another opportunity to test ourselves and another step in our journey to the Rugby World Cup next year.”

Beukeboom serves as captain in the injury absence of Sophie de Goede. The 33-year-old from Uxbridge, Ont., earned her Canadian-record 68th international cap in Canada’s first-ever victory over New Zealand in May at the Pacific Four Series.

Twenty three of the 30 Canadian players selected for WXV 1 were part of that Pacific Four Series squad.

Rouet’s roster includes the uncapped Asia Hogan-Rochester, Caroline Crossley and Rori Wood.

Hogan-Rochester and Crossley were part of the Canadian team that won rugby sevens silver at the Paris Olympics, along with WXV teammates Fancy Bermudez, Olivia Apps, Alysha Corrigan and Taylor Perry. Wood is a veteran of five seasons at UBC.

The 37-year-old Paquin, who has 38 caps for Canada including the 2014 Rugby World Cup, returns to the team for the first time since the 2021 World Cup.

Canada opens the tournament Sept. 29 against France at B.C. Place Stadium in Vancouver before facing Ireland on Oct. 5 at Willoughby Stadium at Langley Events Centre, and England on Oct. 12 at B.C. Place.

The second-tier WXV 2 and third-tier WXV 3 are slated to run Sept. 27 to Oct. 12, in South Africa and Dubai, respectively.

WXV 2 features Australia, Italy, Japan, Scotland, South Africa and Wales while WXV 3 is made up of Fiji, Hong Kong, Madagascar, the Netherlands, Samoa and Spain.

The tournament has 2025 World Cup qualification implications, although Canada, New Zealand and France, like host England, had already qualified by reaching the semifinals of the last tournament.

Ireland, South Africa, the U.S., Japan, Fiji and Brazil have also booked their ticket, with the final six berths going to the highest-finishing WXV teams who have not yet qualified through regional tournaments.

Canada’s Women’s Rugby Team WXV 1 Squad

Forwards

Alexandria Ellis, Ottawa, Stade Français Paris (France); Brittany Kassil, Guelph, Ont., Guelph Goats; Caroline Crossley, Victoria, Castaway Wanderers; Courtney Holtkamp, Rimbey, Alta., Red Deer Titans Rugby; DaLeaka Menin, Vulcan, Alta., Exeter Chiefs (England); Emily Tuttosi, Souris, Man., Exeter Chiefs (England); Fabiola Forteza, Quebec City, Stade Bordelais (France); Gabrielle Senft, Regina, Saracens (England); Gillian Boag, Calgary, Gloucester-Hartpury (England); Julia Omokhuale, Calgary, Leicester Tigers (England); Karen Paquin, Quebec City, Club de rugby de Quebec; Laetitia Royer, Loretteville, Que., ASM Romagnat (France); McKinley Hunt, King City, Ont., Saracens (England); Pamphinette Buisa, Gatineau, Que., Ottawa Irish; Rori Wood, Sooke, B.C., College Rifles RFC; Sara Cline, Edmonton, Leprechaun Tigers; Tyson Beukeboom, Uxbridge, Ont., Ealing Trailfinders (England);

Backs

Alexandra Tessier, Sainte-Clotilde-de-Horton, Que., Exeter Chiefs (England); Alysha Corrigan, Charlottetown, P.E.I., CRFC; Asia Hogan-Rochester, Toronto, Toronto Nomads; Claire Gallagher, Caledon, Ont., Leicester Tigers (England); Fancy Bermudez, Edmonton, Saracens (England); Julia Schell, Uxbridge, Ont., Ealing Trailfinders (England); Justine Pelletier, Rivière-du-Loup, Que, Stade Bordelais (France); Mahalia Robinson, Fulford, Que., Town of Mount Royal RFC; Olivia Apps, Lindsay, Ont., Lindsay RFC; Paige Farries, Red Deer, Alta., Saracens (England); Sara Kaljuvee, Ajax, Ont., Westshore RFC; Shoshanah Seumanutafa, White Rock, B.C., Counties Manukau (New Zealand); Taylor Perry, Oakville, Ont., Exeter Chiefs (England).

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This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 18, 2024.

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Vancouver Canucks star goalie Thatcher Demko working through rare muscle injury

Published

4 hours ago

September 19, 2024

Anne Joseph

PENTICTON, B.C. – Vancouver Canucks goalie Thatcher Demko says he’s been working his way back from a rare lower-body muscle injury since being sidelined in last season’s playoffs.

The 28-year-old all star says the rehabilitation process has been frustrating, but he has made good progress in recent weeks and is confident he’ll be able to return to playing.

He says he and his medical team have spent the last few months talking to specialists around the world, and have not found a single other hockey player who has dealt with the same injury.

Demko missed several weeks of the last season with a knee ailment and played just one game in Vancouver’s playoff run last spring before going down with the current injury.

He was not on the ice with his teammates as the Canucks started training camp in Penticton, B.C., on Thursday, but skated on his own before the sessions began.

Demko posted a 35-14-2 record with a .918 percentage, a 2.45 goals-against average and five shutouts for Vancouver last season.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 19, 2024.

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