Peter Foley (born ) is an American former U.S. Ski & Snowboard (USSS) snowboarding coach. Foley served as the head coach of the U.S. Snowboard team starting with when it was founded in 1994, including at three Olympics. In 2001, he was named USSS Coach of the Year, and in 2021 he was selected by USSS as Snowboard Coach of the Year. He was fired by USSS in March 2022, after

sexual misconduct Sexual misconduct is misconduct of a sexual nature which exists on a spectrum that may include a broad range of sexual behaviors considered unwelcome. This includes conduct considered inappropriate on an individual or societal basis of morality, s ...

allegations were made. He had been the coach of the U.S. snowboarding team for 28 years. On August 8, 2023,

SafeSport The United States Center for SafeSport is an American 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization established in 2017 under the auspices of the Protecting Young Victims from Sexual Abuse and Safe Sport Authorization Act of 2017. SafeSport is tasked with ...

suspended him for ten years for sexual misconduct.

Biography

Early years

Foley is the son of Terry Foley, a

Bend, Oregon Bend is a city in and the county seat of Deschutes County, Oregon, United States. It is the principal city of the Bend Metropolitan Statistical Area. Bend is Central Oregon's largest city, with a population of 99,178 at the time of the 2020 U ...

native, former

alpine ski ''Alpine Ski'' (アルパイン・スキ一) is an Alpine skiing arcade game, released by Taito in 1981. The player controls a skier, who can move left, right, or increase forward speed. The aim is to maneuver a skier through a downhill ski cour ...

racer, and

ski A ski is a narrow strip of semi-rigid material worn underfoot to glide over snow. Substantially longer than wide and characteristically employed in pairs, skis are attached to ski boots with ski bindings, with either a free, lockable, or partia ...

coach. He grew up as a ski racer in

Colorado Colorado (, other variants) is a state in the Mountain states, Mountain West subregion of the Western United States. It encompasses most of the Southern Rocky Mountains, as well as the northeastern portion of the Colorado Plateau and the wes ...

. He initially attended the

University of Colorado Boulder The University of Colorado Boulder (CU Boulder, CU, or Colorado) is a public research university in Boulder, Colorado. Founded in 1876, five months before Colorado became a state, it is the flagship university of the University of Colorado s ...

, and then transferred to the

University of Oregon The University of Oregon (UO, U of O or Oregon) is a public research university in Eugene, Oregon. Founded in 1876, the institution is well known for its strong ties to the sports apparel and marketing firm Nike, Inc, and its co-founder, billion ...

, where he studied journalism. He began snowboarding in the early 1990s, and raced as a professional for two seasons. As of 2010 he lived in

Mt. Hood, Oregon Mount Hood is an unincorporated community and census-designated place (CDP) in Hood River County, Oregon, United States, about northeast of Parkdale on Oregon Route 35. As of the 2010 census it had a population of 286. Mount Hood is the ter ...

, and in 2014 with his wife and two children in

Hood River, Oregon The city of Hood River is the seat of Hood River County, Oregon, United States. It is a port on the Columbia River, and is named for the nearby Hood River. As of the 2020 census, the city population was 8,313. It is the only city in Oregon whe ...

. He is also director of Product Development at Insight Replay, which he co-founded in 2013.

Team USA snowboard team head coach

Foley served as the head coach of the U.S. Snowboard team starting in 1994, when it was founded, including at three Olympics, through 2022. By 2022, he had led it to seven

Olympic Games The modern Olympic Games or Olympics (french: link=no, Jeux olympiques) are the leading international sporting events featuring summer and winter sports competitions in which thousands of athletes from around the world participate in a multi ...

, at which team members won a combined 35

Olympic medal An Olympic medal is awarded to successful competitors at one of the Olympic Games. There are three classes of medal to be won: gold, silver, and bronze, awarded to first, second, and third place, respectively. The granting of awards is laid ou ...

s. Foley was in charge of seeding and deciding which athletes competed in

World Cup A world cup is a global sporting competition in which the participant entities – usually international teams or individuals representing their countries – compete for the title of world champion. The event most associated with the concept i ...

competitions, in addition to the Olympic team. In 2001 he was named U.S. Ski & Snowboard (USSS) Coach of the Year, and in 2021 he was selected by USSS as Snowboard Coach of the Year.

2022; Safety plan, dismissal as coach, temporary suspension

In February 2022 former USSS team member and 2010 Olympian

Callan Chythlook-Sifsof Callan Chythlook-Sifsof (born February 14, 1989) is an American snowboarder who has competed in snowboard cross since 2005. In 2006, she was invited to her first Winter X Games competition and won a silver medal in 2011. She won the U.S. Nation ...

made social posts on Instagram during the

2022 Beijing Winter Olympics The 2022 Winter Olympics (2022年冬季奥林匹克运动会), officially called the XXIV Olympic Winter Games () and commonly known as Beijing 2022 (2022), was an international winter multi-sport event held from 4 to 20 February 2022 in Beij ...

accusing Foley of

. She wrote: "I cannot watch another Olympic Games without saying this publicly." Foley denied the allegations vehemently. USSS immediately implemented an "athlete safety plan" that prohibited Foley from having "one-on-one interaction with female athletes," and from going into an athlete village. USSS also immediately notified the

U.S. Center for SafeSport The United States Center for SafeSport is an American 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization established in 2017 under the auspices of the Protecting Young Victims from Sexual Abuse and Safe Sport Authorization Act of 2017. SafeSport is tasked with ad ...

, an organization authorized by the

U.S. Congress The United States Congress is the legislature of the federal government of the United States. It is bicameral, composed of a lower body, the House of Representatives, and an upper body, the Senate. It meets in the U.S. Capitol in Washing ...

to police reports related to sexual abuse in U.S. Olympic sports, upon learning of Chythlook-Sifsof’s Instagram post. But on February 16, SafeSport Center vice president Bobby Click emailed USSS that: "based on the information the center has, we have chosen not to implement any types of measure." On February 21, 2022, USSS placed Foley on a leave of absence. It fired him on March 20, 2022, days after the Beijing Olympics concluded. He had been coach of the U.S. snowboarding team for 28 years. In March 2022, three former athletes and a former USSS employee also filed sexual misconduct complaints about Foley with SafeSport. A former USSS employee said that in 2008 Foley coerced her into taking nude photos, and then sexually assaulted her as she said no and tried to move away from him, and eventually rolled her over and ejaculated on her back. She alleged that he sexually assaulted her on two separate occasions. One former athlete said that she was asleep in a hotel room when Foley slid in behind her, reached his "arm over my body and put his fingers inside me.” SafeSport temporarily suspended Foley on March 18, 2022, pending its investigation. The SafeSport temporary suspension was handed down over five weeks after the original Instagram post accusing Foley of sexual misconduct. USSS said that it had reported the allegations to the

United States Olympic & Paralympic Committee The United States Olympic & Paralympic Committee (USOPC) is the National Olympic Committee and the National Paralympic Committee for the United States. It was founded in 1895 as the United States Olympic Committee, and is headquartered in C ...

(USOPC), as well as to SafeSport.

2023; lawsuits, and 10-year suspension

In February 2023, Olympic bronze medalist

Rosey Fletcher Gabrielle Rose "Rosey" Fletcher (born November 30, 1975, in Anchorage, Alaska) is an American three-time Olympian snowboarder. She competed at the 1998 Winter Olympics, the 2002 Winter Olympics, and the 2006 Winter Olympics. Fletcher won ...

(

parallel giant slalom Giant slalom (GS) is an alpine skiing and alpine snowboarding discipline. It involves skiing between sets of poles ("gates") spaced at a greater distance from each other than in slalom but less than in Super-G. Giant slalom and slalom make up t ...

) and other former USSS team members sued Foley, along with the national federation, its former CEO, and the USOPC, in

U.S. District Court The United States district courts are the trial courts of the U.S. federal judiciary. There is one district court for each federal judicial district, which each cover one U.S. state or, in some cases, a portion of a state. Each district cou ...

in Los Angeles for sex trafficking, harassment, and enabling and covering up repeated acts of

sexual assault Sexual assault is an act in which one intentionally sexually touches another person without that person's consent, or coerces or physically forces a person to engage in a sexual act against their will. It is a form of sexual violence, whi ...

and misconduct, alleging that the defendants "conspired and acted in concert with one another to commit unlawful acts." They alleged that Foley exploited his position of trust to "coerce sexual acts through force, manipulation, emotional abuse, intimidation, and retaliation." Fletcher said that Foley sexually assaulted her at a U.S. team camp when she was 19, and again at a post-race event at the Olympics. Former national team member Erin O'Malley alleged that she was "sexually assaulted and harassed ... by Foley, who exploited their unequal power dynamic." Foley and the other defendants asked the court to throw out the lawsuit; a hearing is set for October 2023. Separately in February 2023, the former USSS employee who had previously filed a report with Safesport filed a lawsuit against Foley and others for the alleged sexual assaults. On August 8, 2023, after an 18-month investigation, SafeSport suspended Foley for ten years for sexual misconduct.

References