FULLERTON — Hiea-Yoon Kang, suspended from coaching the U.S. Olympic and national artistic swimming teams, continues to coach young athletes at Fullerton College, a location she has tried to keep secret for months, while being investigated by the U.S. Center for SafeSport for allegedly routinely physically, emotionally and verbally abusing swimmers for more than a decade, the Orange County Register has learned.

Kang has been so concerned about keeping the training site for her club, the La Mirada Aquabelles, secret from the media and survivors of her alleged abuse and their parents that she has repeatedly instructed current Aquabelles swimmers and parents not to share the location or times of the group’s practices with anyone outside of the team, according to three people familiar with the situation and U.S. Center for SafeSport documents obtained by the Register.

“The kids, the athletes, were also instructed by parents and the coach to not share the pool location,” the parent of an Aquabelles and U.S. national team member told a U.S. Center for SafeSport investigator in October. “To be honest, we are concerned that if our location is found out, that pool may receive phone calls about the coach coaching there and being told about an investigation, those allegations of misconduct and abuse and then we would be without a pool again. So that’s our, the parents’ fear of letting people know where we practice.”

USAAS Senior National Team assistant coach Hiea-Yoon Kang. (Courtesy of USAAS)

Kang was suspended by La Mirada city officials from coaching at Splash! La Mirada Regional Aquatics Center, the Aquabelles’ longtime home, in June in the wake of a Register special report detailing dozens of allegations that Kang abused and bullied athletes as young as 9 years old.

Kang told parents that she was concerned that if the media or former Aquabelles or U.S. national team members or their parents learned of her new training location that Fullerton College officials would be pressured to also ban her from coaching at the school’s swimming pool, according to three people and SafeSport documents.

Kang kept her secret until Wednesday night when she was spotted conducting lengthy practice under the lights at the Fullerton College Swimming Pool, shouting instructions with a microphone from a chair on the pool deck while wearing a red, white and blue U.S. national team parka with “USA” in large letters across the jacket’s back.

Kang did not respond when asked by a reporter as she walked to her car after the practice how many weeks or months her team had been training at the college and whether school officials were aware that she was under investigation by the U.S. Center for SafeSport.

An Aquabelles parent then tried to shield Kang from the reporter, extending her hand in front of the reporter’s face as she escorted the coach to what appeared to be the parent’s SUV.

The U.S. Center for SafeSport since May 2023 has received complaints from as many as 18 swimmers and parents against Kang detailing more than 80 specific allegations over the course of the past 13 years ranging from physical, verbal and emotional abuse, bullying, body shaming, forcing athletes to compete or train while injured or suffering from medical issues that required surgery, and child labor and endangerment abuses, according to SafeSport documents obtained by the Register and interviews.

At least five former U.S. national team and Aquabelles swimmers are cooperating with the U.S. Center for SafeSport investigation, according to four people familiar with the investigation.

Kang was indefinitely suspended as a U.S. Olympic and national team coach by USA Artistic Swimming, the sport’s national governing body, on May 9. Kang has been a member of U.S. national team coaching staffs since 2011 and was promoted in January to help prepare Team USA for the World Championships last February and was expected to play a pivotal role in the U.S. bid for its first Olympic medal since 2004. The promotion came 16 months after USAAS CEO Adam Andrasko first received abuse allegations against Kang.

But in May, USA Artistic Swimming officials found that “the allegations” against Kang “are concerning enough that at this time organization feels that an indefinite suspension is necessary,” according to a USA Artistic Swimming document.

USASS confirmed that Kang’s “suspension was a direct result of USAAS becoming aware of an article that was to be published later in the OC Register,” according to a U.S. Center for SafeSport document.

The USAAS suspension only prevents Kang from coaching the U.S. Olympic and national teams. The U.S. Center for SafeSport has declined to suspend Kang from coaching or interacting with other athletes while it conducts its investigation.

Fullerton College president Cynthia Olivo’s office referred calls about Kang to Miranda Bates, the school’s director of campus communications.

The college has no record of communication with Kang or a rental agreement with her, Bates said. Instead, Fullerton College entered a rental agreement with Friends of Aquabelles Synchro, a non-profit group based in Irvine, on July 2, according to Fullerton College and Internal Revenue Service records. School officials verified Friends of Aquabelles Synchro’s non-profit status, Bates said.

Friends usually pay between $1,500 and $3,580 per month in rent “depending on how many room reservations they have in a given month. Typically, our rentals are about $100 or $200 per room for nonprofits,” Bates wrote in an email.

“We have no record of comments from the community,” Bates said, so school officials had no reason to look into the agreement.

Julie Wang, who is listed as Friends of Aquabelles Synchro’s contact with the college, and Sayaka Iwato, who is listed on the rental agreement with the school, did not respond to requests for comment. Iwato lives in Milpitas, in the Bay Area, according to property and other public records.

“I hope that the parents and the coaches who are helping (Kang) eventually or some day soon reflect on their decisions and hopefully will one day decide that the safety of kids is more important than (athletic) success,” said Miranda Marquez, a former Aquabelles swimmer who alleges Kang physically, emotionally and verbally abused her and pressured her to train while suffering from a kidney stone that required emergency room treatment.

La Mirada officials banned Kang from coaching at Splash! in June, a month after the publication of a Register special report based on athlete and parent interviews, SafeSport complaints and recordings detailed how swimmers suffered regular physical abuse by Kang ranging from being required to train as much as 40 hours per week, being forced to train or compete while recovering from surgeries, injuries that required other medical treatment and concussions, to being subjected to hypoxic training that put athletes at risk of losing consciousness underwater. Swimmers have suffered dislocated toes and hyperextended knees and other leg injuries during drills in which Kang has manipulated their legs or feet to the point where some swimmers scream in pain or are left in tears, athletes and parents allege in interviews, complaints and Safe Sport interview recordings.

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“The City recently became aware of an investigation being conducted by U.S. Center for SafeSport regarding allegations against Coach Kang; some of which are alleged to have occurred at Splash! La Mirada Regional Aquatics Center,” La Mirada city manager Jeff Boynton wrote in an email to the Register in June. “The City also learned that Coach Kang was recently suspended by USA Artistic Swimming pending the results of the investigation. Out of an abundance of caution, the City made the decision to temporarily suspend Coach Kang from coaching at Splash! La Mirada Regional Aquatics Center until the results of the investigation by SafeSport are known.”

Boynton said the Aquabelles could continue to train without Kang at the city’s pool.

Instead, Friends of Aquabelles Synchro reached a rental agreement with Fullerton College a month later, an agreement Kang was determined to keep secret, according to SafeSport documents and three people familiar with the situation.

Friends of Aquabelles Synchro listed revenue of $139,597 for the 2023 fiscal year, according to documents filed with the IRS. Kang is not listed in the group’s IRS filings.

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