Katherine Starr

Katherineis a two-time Olympian in 1984 and 1988 (Great Britain) and the author of the recently published memoir “Rescue Me: A Powerful Memoir by an Olympian.”In 1986 she won two silver medals at the Commonwealth Games. Katherine experienced success at the collegiate level in swimming for the University of Texas, participating on three NCAA championship teams and named 14-time All-American.

Katherine founded Safe4Athletes in 2011 due to living for decades with pain and suffering from the tragic effects of coach-athlete sexual abuse. Safe4Athletes was brought to life to help other athletes who have experienced the same destructive abuse of power in the coach-athlete relationship. Safe4Athletes’ mission is to advocate for athletes that have been abused, bullied, or harassed by their more powerful coach or teammate.

Katherine has acted as an advocate for athletes involved in coach-athlete sexual abuse, athlete-on-athlete sexual abuse, athlete cyber-bullying, athlete sexual hazing, and many forms of athletic abuse.

Since speaking out about abuse in sports, Katherine has developed a reputation for her expertise and eloquence on coach-athlete sexual abuse. This is evident by the rapid growth of traditional media and social media attention on the problem of coach-athlete sexual abuse since the inception of Safe4Athletes (2011), including features with ESPN (Outside the Lines), NBC Sports Radio, NPR, BBC Radio, NY Times, the Takeaway, CBS Sports Radio, Take Part Five (PIVOT Channel), Aljazeera America as well other nationally recognized media outlets in sports.

Through her work, Katherine educates lawyers/media/NGBs on the unique aspects of the power dynamic that exists in the coach-athlete relationship. Katherine has also written several articles on the topic, including “Breaking Down Sexual Abuse in Sports” and being a contributing author to the International Olympic Committee (IOC) Consensus – Harassment and Sexual Abuse in Sport published in the British Sports Medical Journal and more recently co-authored an article for America Association of Justice, Trial Magazine.

Katherine has opined on close to twenty-five cases ranging from the standard of care in youth sports to Title IX matters. Her expertise has led to her providing her expert opinion for a Title IX matter with the Department of Justice (DOJ). As well as having opined on one of the largest settlements in a Coach Sexual abuse cases in the state of Washington.