Fourth Circuit affirms SafeSport's role as Olympic watchdog

(CN) — The Fourth Circuit affirmed a nonprofit’s authority Monday to investigate athletes accused of abuse within the world of Olympic sports.

U.S. Circuit Judge Stephanie D. Thacker, a Barack Obama appointee, writes in a 26-page opinion that the U.S. Center for SafeSport is not a state actor required to afford due process rights to accused athletes.

SafeSport, a nonprofit partner of the U.S. Olympic and Paralympic Committee, has some investigatory and adjudicative power, the judge acknowledges, but its authority is limited to members who voluntarily join amateur athletic organizations.

“From the inception of the Olympic Games, private individuals and organizations have been solely responsible for training and sponsoring American Olympic athletes,” Thacker wrote for the three-judge panel. “That tradition has persisted for 130 years.”

Three amateur equestrians — Thomas Navarro, James Giorgio and Nina Shaffer — challenged the organization’s authority to sanction athletes under the Amateur Sports Act of 1978, also known as the Ted Stevens Act, which gives the USOPC the power to determine eligible participants in amateur sporting events. The USOPC in turn charters a national governing body to regulate each sport, including the U.S Equestrian Federation, which regulates most horseback-riding sports.

Congress amended the Ted Stevens Act to bolster protections for young athletes after the #MeToo movement shined a light on the pervasive nature of sexual abuse in the sports world, most notably the Larry Nassar scandal within USA Gymnastics. SafeSport was created to investigate reports of abuse and impose public sanctions against members of amateur athletic organizations who are found to have committed wrongdoing.

Navarro, who teaches horseback riding in Virginia, was convicted in 2000 of sodomy and sexual abuse involving a minor. In 2018, SafeSport ruled that Navarro’s conviction made him permanently ineligible to participate in USEF events. Giorgio, a horse breeder in Connecticut, was permanently banned from USEF events that same year because of a prior criminal conviction involving a minor.

In 2024, SafeSport suspended Shaffer, a horse breeder and trainer in Pennsylvania, from participating in USEF events for three months after finding she committed “emotional abuse.”

The equestrians say SafeSport failed to provide a hearing so they could rebut the accusations. After issuing their decision, the athletes were told they could pay thousands of dollars for additional hearings.

The athletes sued SafeSport, USEF and the USOPC last year, arguing the organizations violated their due process rights. Separately, they claim Congress wrongfully delegated its regulatory authority to a private entity.

U.S. District Judge Jasmine H. Yoon, a Joe Biden appointee, granted a motion to dismiss the case in January 2025. The athletic organizations are not government entities, Yoon ruled, and therefore not subject to due process rules.

The appellate court reached a similar conclusion after hearing oral arguments in December 2025.

Thacker observes in the opinion that, unlike a state actor, SafeSport does not have “powers of general applicability.” Its jurisdiction is limited to athletes who join amateur athletic organizations and compete under the Olympic umbrella.

Further, SafeSport’s authority is not new, Thacker writes. Congress tasked the organization with investigating wrongdoing after #MeToo, but the USOPC had the same investigatory authority before lawmakers amended the Ted Stevens Act. In 1987, the U.S. Supreme Court decided in San Francisco Arts & Athletics, Inc. v. United States Olympic Committee that the committee is not a state actor.

“Thus, appellants argue in effect that SFAA was wrongly decided,” Thacker writes. “We do not have the power to revisit that decision, nor to set aside Congress’ clear intention to keep Olympic sports private.”

The appellate court reversed the lower court’s ruling on one issue.

Yoon erroneously dismissed Schaffer’s claims after finding she failed to exhaust administrative remedies before filing the suit, Thacker writes, but her claims, which dealt with the constitutionality of SafeSport, could not have been resolved in arbitration.

U.S. Circuit Judges Nicole G. Berner, a Joe Biden appointee, and Paul V. Niemeyer, a George H.W. Bush appointee, joined the decision.

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