Review of "Underwater"

There really is no good way to introduce the topic of this book, so I will just say that it was one of the toughest and saddest books I have read for this blog since starting it 11 years ago.  Here is my review of "Underwater." 

 Title/Author:

“Underwater:  The Greed-Soaked Tale of Sexual Abuse by USA Swimming and Around the World” by Irvin Muchnick

Rating: 

3 of 5 stars (okay)

Review:

The sports world was shocked when the sexual abuse scandal in gymnastics, and especially by Larry Nassar, was exposed.  However, sadly, that is not the only sport with this issue – many young athletes in swimming have suffered the same fate.  It goes beyond sexual abuse of young female athletes.  Young male athletes have also been abused and the abuse for both sexes can also be emotional, to the point of coaches proposing marriage.  This isn’t new as well, as this book by Irvin Muchnick exposes the decades-long abuse of athletes.

I will note that the rating is not due to the subject, the amount of research (exhaustive and extensive) or the accuracy of the findings.  As a reader, I found this book very tough to read.  There are SO many names that are both victims and abusers that I have a very hard time keeping track of who was being investigated and who was covering up for who.  If nothing else, that shows the depth of how long this has been going on in USA Swimming and in many swim clubs.

 Of course, stories of the victims get to be very depressing to read as well.  Just like when exposing the abusers and the cover-ups, this was hard to follow as well. Again, not because of any poor writing or investigation, but strictly from the sheer numbers.  It boggles the mind to think that this has been going on for decades. 

Even big names, while not directly or even indirectly implicated, can somehow be linked to some of these scandals.  The biggest name amongst these is Michael Phelps and Muchnick does a nice job of balancing fairness to Phelps – after all, he didn’t commit any of these crimes – but still wonders how he could be attached to some of these atrocities. It's a very hard book to read but is one that is worthy of the time to illustrate just how badly some promising athletes have been treated.

I wish to thank ECW Press for providing a copy of the book. The opinions expressed in this review are strictly my own.

 

Link: Underwater: The Greed-Soaked Tale of Sexual Abuse in USA Swimming and around the Globe: Muchnick, Irvin: 9781770417755: Amazon.com: Books