Former Olympian, Conrad Mainwaring charged for assaulting young boys

Conrad Mainwaring, 72, a former Antigua and Barbuda Olympian, was arrested and charged with 12 counts of indecent assault and battery on a child over 14 years. He also served as a longtime track coach. The accused is identified as a resident of Los Angeles and a United Kingdom national. 

It has also been noted that the former Olympian has committed four counts of indecent assault and forcibly beating a child under 14. It is worth noting that the charges involved nine male victims. 

Notably, Mainwaring also faced 11 years imprisonment by the Berkshire Superior Court as he sexually molested young boys at a sports camp. The camp was organised in western Massachusetts in the 1970s. Judge John Agostini called it a ‘probably a life sentence’ given to the track coach. 

“He used his Olympic status to abuse young boys. He chose young, attractive, athletic boys, young men, because he knew, at least he thought he knew, they would not speak up. This was his opportunity for self-gratification, a fraud at the expense of many, many lives”, District Attorney Timothy Shugrue told the court. 

Shugrue explained that the accused took advantage of his Olympic credentials and considered the assault as a part of the grooming technique which he used on boys who attended Greylock camp. He made the young boys believe that sexual assault would make them better, and he beat them for the sake of their careers. 

He told young players that sexual assault would make them athletes. The abuse occurred at other locations as well as in the woods around the camp, in a van and near a tennis court. 

It is to be noted that Mainwaring appeared in the court in a wheelchair and admitted the allegations against him. After the charges were read to him, he pleaded ‘Guilty.’ According to the statement of the court, it is mentioned that he molested campers from 1975 to 1979 when he worked as a counsellor at Camp Greylock at Becket.

It has also been doubted that there could be more victims in other regions and outside the United States. Some of the young camp’s victims described a former Olympian as a danger to the young men. They sought a longer prison sentence, arguing that he should be kept away from boys or young men and prevented from coaching.

“It’s beyond diabolical, the pain and suffering of so many. It’s why he must be put behind bars and be prevented from ever harming anyone again”, remarked John Shapiro, who told the court how he was abused at the Massachusetts camp and Syracuse University. 

The news has been shared on various social media pages, and people around the region have expressed their anger and frustration regarding the case. 

While reacting to the news, a person named Kareem Damien Henry commented, “Nasty modaskunt! He should rot in jail. Plenty more a them round here too need their weiner removed. Serves no purpose.”