“It didn’t feel right at all.”Ī week later, Burns’ 10-year ban was lifted by the arbitration panel which ruled that SafeSport had not proved Burns had sexually assaulted Roberts by a preponderance of the evidence. “I thought, ‘What the hell?’ But I tried to remain calm and answer all their questions,” Roberts said. She said, ‘Sorry to having to ask this in this way but were you a virgin?’” Roberts recalled Chapman asking her about the night of the Rio incident. Then Roberts was blindsided by a line of questioning by arbitrator Rosalyn Chapman. Under SafeSport rules, neither Roberts nor Burns could appeal the panel’s decision. The arbitration panel’s ruling would be final. Burns was banned for 10 years for the non-consensual sexual contact and another two years for lying repeatedly to investigators.īurns appealed the rulings and an arbitration hearing was scheduled.Ī three-member panel made up of former federal judges would decide whether to uphold SafeSport’s decision that Burns had sexually assaulted Roberts in her hotel room while she was incapacitated by sleep and alcohol intoxication, or clear Burns and allow him to continue participating in the sport.

Center for SafeSport, after a nearly year-long investigation, found that Pan American champion weight lifter Colin Burns had committed “non-consensual sexual acts” against Roberts, a rising star in the sport, while they were representing Team USA at a pre-Olympic event in Rio de Janeiro in April 2016.

Jennyfer Roberts had been on edge for weeks. This story examines the appeal process, once the investigation by SafeSport was complete.

The first story examined SafeSport’s investigation after Jennyfer Roberts reported she was raped. Editor’s note: This is the second of two stories investigating SafeSport’s process for handling athlete complaints of sexual abuse.

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