Wednesday two female taekwondo athletes filed separate federal lawsuits accusing coaches Steven Lopez and his brother Jean Lopez of sexual misconduct.
This comes after Jean Lopez was banned from the sport by SafeSport earlier this month for allegations of sexual misconduct. SafeSport is an independent firm used by the U.S. Olympic committee to respond to reports of sexual misconduct.
The two lawsuits were filed in Colorado, where the U.S. Olympic Training Facility is located.
Both are asking for a jury trial.
Lawsuit filed against Steven Lopez
One alleges two-time gold medalist Steven Lopez of taking an interest in one of the athletes when she was 13 and stated, “she was pretty and that she would grow up to be tall.”
The court records go on to say they athlete’s family moved to Houston when she was 14 in 2004 to train at the Lopez Elite Taekwondo school. Three years later when the she was 17, court records accuse Steven Lopez of taking her out on “dates” and first sexually assaulting her after taking her to a movie.
The court documents say Lopez, who was around 30 years old at the time, had sex with the teen in 2008 in different states while they were traveling for tournaments and accused him of having sexual relations with other underage athletes around the world, including the 2008 Olympic Games.
The seven-page lawsuit also claims once the athlete turned 18, the “relationship” was ending, but Lopez invited her to a party at a friend’s condo in which the, “plaintiff remembers drinking a Gatorade and Vodka and blacking out. Plaintiff’s next memory was waking up in the bed of the owner of the condo, drove her home and told her that while she was passed out, Defendant (Lopez) had raped her.”
After the 2012 Olympics, the athlete retired and suffered mentally and physically from what happened over the years, according to the lawsuit.
“As her teammate, coach and the appointed agent of USOC and USATKD, Defendant (Lopez) owed Plaintiff a duty to exercise reasonable care to ensure her safety and freedom from sexual assault, abuse, and molestation while interacting with him.”
Lawsuit filed against Jean Lopez
A female athlete who was on the USOC’s taekwondo team in the Pan American Championships in Ecuador in 2012 also filed suit.
She claims after winning the gold in the 2002 Pan-Am Games, she was flexing in the mirror with the coach’s sister, who also competed. Jean Lopez is accused of entering the room where the two were flexing and once the sister left, he started “wrestling” the athlete.
While competing in Germany in 2003, Jean Lopez is accused of giving the same athlete a drink at a party; she almost passed out and then they ended up in a taxi, where Lopez allegedly grabbed her body parts.
“When they reached the hotel, Jean took the plaintiff inside and began to slap her face and choke her,” explains the court documents. It said the coach then performed oral sex on the athlete.
The athlete continued her taekwondo career and trained in Sugar Land with Lopez and lived at his house, according to court documents.
Once they returned to Texas, another family member allegedly asked the athlete to perform oral sex and that’s when she “immediately started to cry and told him that he and the other male athletes at the Lopez’ training center in Sugarland were crazy and that she was leaving Texas.”
The lawsuit goes on to state that similar events between the athlete and Lopez happened in Colorado.