The 1984 Olympic Gold Medalist Takes Over an Agency Still Struggling to Regain the Trust of Athletes After Years of Scandal and Slow Reform
The U.S. Center for SafeSport announced Tuesday that Benita Fitzgerald Mosley has been named its new chief executive officer, placing the 1984 Olympic gold medalist in charge of an agency that has struggled with credibility and operational challenges for much of its nearly nine-year history.
Fitzgerald Mosley will begin the role Feb. 1. In a statement provided to The Associated Press, she described the position as “more than a job opportunity,” calling it “a calling.” She said the organization has “an extraordinary opportunity to reimagine what excellence in athlete protection looks like,” adding that she is confident SafeSport can become “stronger, steadier, and more hopeful than ever before.”
The congressionally chartered center was created in 2017 following widespread failures by the U.S. Olympic Committee, USA Gymnastics, and other Olympic-affiliated organizations to properly handle sexual abuse cases. While SafeSport has been credited with helping shift sport culture toward greater athlete safety, it has also faced sustained criticism over lengthy investigations, transparency concerns, and how complainants are treated during the process.
“It’s made great strides in shifting sport culture toward athlete safety,” Fitzgerald Mosley said. “However, there is a continuing need to grow this impact, enhance efficiencies, and evolve the organization to fulfill its potential for athletes, survivors, and the entire sport community.”
Now 64, Fitzgerald Mosley brings decades of experience inside Olympic and sports administration. She served as chief of sport performance at USA Track and Field from 2009 to 2013 before moving to the U.S. Olympic Committee, where she was chief operating officer from 2013 to 2016.
More recently, she served on the Commission on the State of U.S. Olympics & Paralympics, a congressionally appointed panel that reviewed systemic issues across the Olympic movement. The commission concluded in its report that “it became clearer with each new piece of evidence that SafeSport has lost the trust of many athletes.”
Those findings came before additional scrutiny tied to SafeSport’s hiring and firing of investigator Jason Krasley, a former police officer who was later arrested on sex crime charges related to allegations from his prior law enforcement work in Pennsylvania.
Fitzgerald Mosley replaces former CEO Ju’Riese Colon, who departed the center in April. SafeSport’s board launched a search that lasted more than six months before selecting Fitzgerald Mosley to lead the organization into its next phase. In recent years, the center has made changes to its investigative procedures in response to complaints that cases took too long and failed to adequately account for the trauma experienced by some complainants.
“She is well-positioned to advance the Center’s mission as the organization completes its first nine years of operation and prepares for the next era,” said Chicka Elloy, vice chair of the SafeSport board and head of its search committee.
Fitzgerald Mosley’s athletic career reached its peak at the 1984 Los Angeles Olympics, where she became the first American woman to win the 100-meter hurdles. She was also part of the 1980 U.S. Olympic team that did not compete after the United States boycotted the Moscow Games.
