Former U.S. Olympian and current figure skating coach Peter Oppegard was suspended Monday following an investigation into abuse allegations.
According to USA Today’s Christine Brennan, the U.S. Center for SafeSport suspended the 1988 bronze medalist for an unspecified duration after identifying “physical & emotional” misconduct.
In 2013, Oppegard allegedly bit 15-year-old skater Jessica Pfund during a practice session. Pfund recalled the incident to Brennan.
“He was helping to position me on the ice to show me a landing position on a jump. Both of his hands were holding me, and he leaned over and bit me on the skin on my upper right arm, near the bicep,” Pfund said. “I remember being completely baffled why he did it. I went home with a bruise and a bite mark on my arm. My mom said, ‘I can see the teeth marks.’”
Pfund said the marks persisted for about a week. She asked her mother, who also corroborated the story to Brennan and called the bite marks “obvious,” not to talk about Oppegard’s actions “because every time she would try, everything would get worse with him, our lessons and the criticism would get worse.”
Pfund also said they were worried about what could happen to Oppegard’s wife at the time, Karen Kwan, and their two daughters.
The investigation, which started in 2020, additionally looked into claims that Oppegard threw hot water and coffee at skaters he coached in California’s East West Ice Palace in Artesia, where he coached from 2005 to 2018.
SafeSport spokesman Dan Hill declined to comment on the investigation “to protect the integrity of the process and the parties involved.”
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