SEXUAL assault and abuse will leave a victim with physical and emotional scarring that may last a lifetime.
A former male national swimmer — speaking to Timesport on condition of anonymity — said he is still haunted to this day by what had happened to him and his peers over 30 years ago.
"Although it was a long time ago, I still get flashbacks, and sometimes, it affects my sleep," said the former swimmer.
"I sometimes feel angry at myself because I didn't do anything.
"It was also why I quit competitive swimming when I was 17, I just couldn't do it anymore."
Now 48, the former swimmer described his teenage years as a living hell as he claims he was sexually assaulted for five years by one of his coaches.
"It happened to me and a number of my friends, at least three or four of us, but there could have been more victims," he said.
"It happened from when I was 11 until 16. I was part of the state team and the national youth team.
"The coach who abused us was roughly five years older than me.
"When he (perpetrator) was still competitively swimming, he was also an assistant coach at the same time and went on to become the head coach later on.
"When we were in training camps, he would tell us to go into the toilet where he would force us to perform sexual acts on him, obviously, against our will.
"While in the pool, he would also swim close to us and rub his private part against us.
"There were also instances when he would come into our rooms during the camps and perform sexual acts while we were asleep.
"We (victims) would often discuss ways to try and avoid him, but at such a young age, we just didn't know what to do.
"It was also very embarrassing for me, and I felt ashamed to tell others about what had happened. You have to remember this was during the 1980s."
"We came from the same state, so there was no escaping him."
The former swimmer stressed that getting the proposed Safe Sport Act enacted is imperative to ensure that future generations of athletes do not fall prey to sexual predators as he did.
"Getting it enacted is extremely important. We owe it to our young children," he said.
"We have to protect them from coaches, officials and senior athletes who have ill intent.
"It is also for the parents so they can have peace of mind when they drop off their children at training."
Recent cases in Malaysia and around the world
June 2021 — Masters swimming world champion Cindy Ong claimed that a coach had inappropriately touched her when she was a teenager and later on attempted to rape her when she was older.
October 2021 — National diver Pandelela Rinong disclosed that one of her coaches in the past liked to crack lewd jokes. She stood up against him but ended up being bullied by the coach. She also claimed that he committed rape seven years later. In 2017, a former national coach was charged with rape but was later acquitted and discharged.
October 2021 — Former national bowler Syaidatul Afifah Badrul Hamidi, in a cryptic Instagram post, claimed that she experienced similar circumstances to Cindy Ong and Pandelela Rinong though said it was not committed by a coach.
Foreign cases
2016 — Larry Nassar, a former team doctor for the US women's national gymnastics team for almost two decades, sexually assaulted over 250 young women and girls. He was convicted and given a life sentence without parole in 2017.
2020 — Loh Siang Piow, a veteran athletics coach in Singapore, was sentenced to 21 months in jail after being found guilty of molesting a young athlete twice in 2013.
2020 — Choi Suk Hyeon, a South Korean triathlete, committed suicide after suffering years of physical and verbal abuse from her coaches. The complaints she made to the authorities were allegedly ignored.