Diving coach Zhuliang failed to protect athletes from sexual abuse: Khairy

PUTRAJAYA: The decision to discontinue the contract of national diving head coach Yang Zhuliang was due to his failure to protect athletes from the environment of rape, sexual harassment, violence, bullying and threats, said Youth and Sports Minister Khairy Jamaluddin today.
In a statement, Khairy said despite Yang's undeniable success as a coach since 2008, having trained divers such as Olympic medallist Pandelela Rinong and Cheong Jun Hoong, numerous issues had worried certain parties such as the National Sports Institute (ISN), Malaysian Amateur Swimming Association (ASUM) and the National Sports Council (MSN).
"They made their respective recommendations with detailed information and in the end, I decided not to continue Yang's contract.
"Although Yang himself was not involved in those things, he had allowed the culture to spread uncontrollably even though several warnings had been issued to him and another coach who was quite close to him.
"After that coach was charged at the Kuala Lumpur Sessions court on Oct 11, 2017, under Section 376(1) of the Penal Code for the offence of raping a national diving athlete, the national diving team's training environment and surroundings became more complicated," he said.
It was reported that national diving coach Huang Qiang, a Malaysian citizen originally from China, was charged with raping a 20-year-old national diver at the National Aquatic Centre at Bukit Jalil on September 2016.
"Following the rape case involving coaches and athletes in October last year, I asked SEA Games chef-de-mission Datuk Marina Chin to investigate how such a thing could be avoided within the national sports.
"Her investigation revealed the existence of a toxic culture enveloped by fear or 'culture and environment of fear' across the national diving scene," he said adding that it was the main reason for not opting to renew Yang's contract.
With the Commonwealth Games and Asian Games only a few months away, Khairy said the ISN and ASUM have since identified a coach from Australia who can assist existing coach, Zhang Yukun, who will carry out his duties as Head Coach for the national diving team.
"This reshuffle will ensure that athlete's preparation for the two games is uninterrupted. The new coaching lineup have been asked to fully integrate aspects of sports science such as conditioning, mental training, biomechanical analysis and nutrition aspects that have not been fully utilised before.
"That said, the welfare and security of athletes in the country is my priority when making this decision.
"No gold medal is worth more than the national athlete's safety," he said.