Olympic champ Kripps supports teammates' fight against Bobsleigh Canada Skeleton
Calls for change after having 'never experienced a better culture’ than in 2018, '19
Olympic champion Justin Kripps has thrown his weight behind Canadian bobsled and skeleton athletes who are demanding change in their national sport organization, saying they "can't move forward until there is change at the top."
In an Instagram post, the 35-year-old from Summerland, B.C., wrote "The fundamental rules of governance are not being followed and thus there is no one holding the leadership accountable."
Kripps' post is in response to calls from a group of 87 athletes, and growing, for the resignation of two Bobsleigh Canada Skeleton executives: Sarah Storey, who's the acting CEO and president of the board of directors, and high-performance director Chris Le Bihan.
Kripps raced to gold in the two-man bobsled at the 2018 Games and bronze in the four-man at last month's Beijing Olympics.
"I can only speak to my own experience, and while I haven't felt unsafe or mistreated, I'm aware that is not the case for many," Kripps wrote. "Winning an Olympic medal shouldn't be a pre-requisite to being treated with respect and it breaks my heart to hear the stories coming to light.
"I encourage the athletes who have had those experiences to file complaints with safe sport. We have some phenomenal athletes, coaches and staff at BCS, but clearly none of us can move forward unless there is change at the top."
In my 13 years in the sport I've never experienced a better culture than we've had over the last couple of years.— 2019 statement from Canadian bobsledder Justin Kripps
In a CBC Sports story dated Sept. 14, 2019, Kripps was quoted in a statement as saying "all the returning national team members" he's talked to feel they "train and compete in a safe and supportive environment" following then-teammate Kaillie Humphries' allegations regarding head coach Todd Hays.
Humphries filed a harassment complaint with the organization in August 2018 while petitioning to be freed from the Canadian team, alleging Hays was mentally and emotionally abusive.
Humphries became U.S. citizen in 2021
"In my 13 years in the sport I've never experienced a better culture than we've had over the last couple of years," Kripps said at the time.
WATCH | Kripps defends Bobsleigh Canada culture in 2019:
Humphries, who won Olympic gold in the monobob at the Beijing Games last month, was among the American athletes to tweet out a statement recently in support of Canada's bobsleigh and skeleton athletes.
The Calgary-born slider previously won two Olympic bobsled gold and a bronze for Canada. In 2019, BCS allowed Humphries to switch allegiances to the United States and became a U.S. citizen in 2021.
Kripps' post comes on the heels of Olympic bobsled medallist Christine de Bruin telling The Toronto Star: "The whole way down the track [in Beijing], I was like F-you, F-you, F-you. I really did do it despite BCS."
De Bruin won bronze in monobob in Beijing.
Olympic bobsledders Cynthia Appiah and Chris Spring, and skeleton athlete Mirela Rahneva, who was fifth in Beijing, area among the athletes who've spoken passionately about the athletes' battle with BCS.
WATCH | Athletes describe toxic culture at Bobsleigh Canada Skeleton:
In interviews with The Canadian Press, athletes, some of whom requested anonymity because of fears of reprisal, have raised issues with culture, safety, transparency and governance, claiming staff makes arbitrary decisions on matters like team selection based on biases, and has little concern for athlete safety, among other issues.
Such concerns were raised by more than a dozen current and former bobsleigh and skeleton competitors in interviews with CBC News since the Beijing Games.
Hol alleges BCS didn't follow concussion protocols
Former Canadian bobsled pilot Kori Hol alleges BCS did not follow concussion protocols when she crashed three times in a four-day span during the team selection races — hitting her head each time — while trying to keep her spot on Canada's national team for the 2020-21 season.
"When it was time to get [tested], I was not escorted by team members, therapist, coach or any staff for that matter," Hol told Nick Murray of CBC News, which is contrary to the concussion management protocol on the organization's website. "I was told to drive to the clinic myself and go get the baseline where I then was diagnosed with a concussion."
The skeleton team competed at the Beijing Olympic test event last fall without a coach present, leading to injuries on the unfamiliar track. Many athletes were self-funded in the Olympic season, and athletes on Canada's development bobsleigh team said they didn't have access to medical treatment during several weeks of training in Whistler, B.C., including an athlete who was ejected from a sled.
Olympian Alex Kopacz of London, Ont., won a gold medal at the 2018 Pyeongchang Games as a brakeman with Kripps in the two-man bobsleigh.
Kopacz told CBC News he had a torn abductor muscle in the 2016-17 season. But when a high-profile athlete tried to make a return, Kopacz said he faced a choice: undergo testing injured to land his spot on the team or risk losing it.
Regarding athletes who are injured, Storey said there are provisions whereby athletes can receive medical exemptions from testing.
But Kopacz said in his case, he understood it as having an exemption would not have secured his spot.
BCS has said it will engage in mediation, which the athletes have rejected as a "Band-Aid solution."
The Toronto Star reported Tuesday that Canada's Minister of Sport Pascale St-Onge has ordered a financial audit of BSC and commended the athletes for daring to speak out.
St-Onge told the newspaper that she wants to ensure public funds were used in accordance with the agreement the federal government has with the sport's governing body.
WATCH | Upperton discusses discontent at Bobsleigh Canada Skeleton:
With files from CBC Sports
