World Athletics is awaiting a US Center for SafeSport report into Rana Reider after the renowned sprint coach revealed he had been sanctioned for a relationship that “presented a power imbalance” with one of his athletes.
Reider, who guided Andre de Grasse to the Olympic 200m title and also coached British athletes Adam Gemili and Daryll Neita before they left him, will now have to undergo a 12-month probation after acknowledging his behaviour. However his lawyer, Ryan Stevens, said that Reider “was not found in violation of any other sexual misconduct claims” made against him.
The Guardian understands that may not be the end of the matter as there could be further repercussions once World Athletics and the Athletics Integrity Unit have seen the full US SafeSport report.
Last year Reider was denied accreditation to the world championships in Eugene as a result of the investigation against him, before being subsequently cautioned by police after gaining unauthorised access to the athlete warm-up area before the world 100m final. It is understood that World Athletics could yet exercise that right again for this year’s event in Budapest, while USA Track & Field were also discussing their response on Wednesday evening.
The Guardian first broke the story of the US Safesport investigation into Reider over sexual misconduct claims in November 2021 , after which it emerged that he had had an alleged affair with a teenage British athlete 26 years his junior when she was 18 and he was UK Athletics sprints and relays lead.
UKA also confirmed it had conducted an internal investigation into Reider in 2014 and that its contract with the coach was terminated “soon after”. It also said that an inquiry now would be handled differently.
There has been no further details from US Safesport about its decision to sanction Reider, with the safeguarding body telling the Guardian it did “not discuss matters to protect the integrity of its investigative processes”. However it did not dispute a statement and subsequent comments from Reider’s lawyer which said the coach had entered into an “informal resolution with the US Center for Safesport”, had been sanctioned but was free to continue his elite level coaching of sprinters and jumpers.
“Mr Reider acknowledged his consensual romantic relationship with an adult athlete, which presented a power imbalance during the relationship,” the statement from Stevens added. “Mr Reider was not found in violation of any other sexual misconduct claims. All other claims are now administratively closed. Mr. Reider has credibly and consistently denied all other allegations of sexual misconduct.”
In a further clarification, Stevens added: “His sanctions include one year of probation and SafeSport education [already completed].” Stevens also confirmed that Reider was able to coach elite athletes again without supervision.
World Athletics said it would consider any implications and communicate further once it had received the US SafeSport report. Meanwhile the head of the Athletics Integrity Unit, Brett Clothier, said: “The AIU has just learnt of this development today. We will consider the matter, but we are not in a position to comment at the moment.”
