Moral bankruptcy for the win! Disgusting what people will do for a scrap of ribbon or a medal.
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They have to be aware of the SS investigation and ongoing suit, right?
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Oh my… I was actually a huge fan of Adrienne/Salvino. To find out that she has been working with Debbie and keeps training with her makes me sad…
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The safe sport investigation is against Bob McDonald, not Debbie. The pending civil suit is against both.
Debbie McDonald was the US dressage coach during the first and only US Olympic team silver medal in dressage.
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Adrienne Lyle has been a student of Debbie McDonald’s for a long time, dating from before Debbie was the team coach. Salvino may be a great horse, but he was put on the Olympic team based on just a few competitions after coming back from an injury.
I watched a couple of the qualifying events, and thought Adrienne/Salvino made the team partly through favoritism by Debbie as team coach. Then in the Olympics, not surprisingly, Salvino was the weakest of the three US horses, and was withdrawn.
Debbie is not banned or suspended by SafeSport. She is being sued by women allegedly abused by Bob McDonald for abuse that allegedly occurred when Debbie was only a couple of years older than the victims.
Virginia Guiffre is apparently accused of playing a role in the recruitment of additional, younger women in the Epstein scandal. That may be why she was not called as a witness in the Maxwell trial. If Guiffre was a victim of Epstein/Maxwell, does her alleged participation in the procurement pipeline while she was being victimized herself negate her status as victim? I don’t think so.
BTW, I think Prince Andrew is trying to make that argument in his defense - that Guiffre participated in the illegal procurement of other trafficked girls, and therefore as someone involved in the trafficking, does not have a basis to sue as a victim.
I just don’t see the demonization of Debbie McDonald as a black and white kind of thing.
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I don’t see it as demonization. She has publicly stood by and defended him.
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Morals out the window for clout and prizes
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It would be interesting to find out why the two Canadian riders in question parted very suddenly with their previous coach, Christilot Boylen, some time ago.
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JenerationxAdvanced
100% this. I’m not “demonizing” her for what her husband did. She has to answer for what SHE HERSELF did around and with respect to what her husband did. And I’m not talking about when she was younger, but in the last couple years since this came out. She as an adult, a member, and someone with a position of authority, she failed to follow her SS training, failed to report what Bob was doing, and compounded it all with what she said in her support statements.
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Thanks @CurrentlyHorseless for the in-depth explanation.
I’m not from the US, so I have no insight into who-trains-with-who and who-belongs-to-which-clique.
All I knew of Adrienne/Salvino was that I liked their performaces that I’ve seen on video so far.
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I also want to add that, re-framing holding someone accountable for their own actions as “demonization” is part of the problem - a HUGE part of the problem - not the solution.
She owes parents, SS-abiding members, law-abiding citizens, and just baseline decent human beings an explanation for her behaviour. She must be accountable and answerable for her own behaviour. Period.
And, until she is, she and anyone who knowingly hires her or associates with her professionally goes straight on the “person of interest” list for me.
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The bottom line - such as it is - is that until Debbie and her husband are clearly on the hook for something and punished for it, there’s no way that private customers won’t engage them for their services. After the Safesport sanction happened, the USEF probed discreetly into the McDonalds and their involvement in the upper level stuff and decided it just wasn’t worth the legal trouble and bad press to keep Debbie as a contracted individual. Assuming they found nothing, the one and only reason that the USEF walked away from the negotiations to renew her contract was the potential liability that they would face if her husband did something in the future, because of his close proximity and attachment to her in all business and personal matters. All it would take is one clearly documented “Show me your tits or you’re done for, you damn whore!” incident from Bob McDonald and the USEF would be in a totally compromised position, similar to that of US Gymnastics after Larry Nassar became known as a menace without restraint.
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Good question
I agree that in terms of private individuals choosing to train with Debbie, it’s pertinent that 1) there was never a SS case directed at her, 2) that even the SS case against Bob was dropped (I’m guessing the ban would have been upheld if the arbitration had gone through, but it didn’t), and 3) the civil suit hasn’t even started, as far as I know.
I agree with the decision of USEF not to renew her contract, because having that role is a high privilege and not a right, and the role would make her “the face” of US dressage.
The US team lost something by not having a Debbie in that role, however necessary the decision was. I have zero problem with Adrienne Lyle showing loyalty to her long time mentor by continuing to train with her, or other private individuals choosing to train with her.
What did you mean by USEF checking into “their involvement in upper level stuff”?
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You have no idea how strongly I agree with this statement. Trust me, I’d love to get her in a room, sit her down and ask oh so many questions.
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I wish I could like this more than once.
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One of my coaches many years ago worked for Christilot Boylen briefly in Germany. She left abruptly because of expectations that had nothing to do with horses.
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WOW
as in?
Take a guess.
