Ex-U.S. fencing coach Mauro Hamza has been ruled permanently ineligible for membership by the U.S. Center for SafeSport following allegations of sexual misconduct involving a minor.
USA Fencing handed Hamza a five-year suspension for sexual misconduct in 2014.
According to a 2020 suit against Hamza, the accuser, “Jane Doe,” claimed that Hamza forced her to have sex with him at a fencing event in the 1990s while she was a minor.
Russia’s Kirill Borodachev (L) competes against USA’s Nick Itkin in the men’s individual foil qualifying bout during the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games at the Makuhari Messe Hall in Chiba City, Chiba Prefecture, Japan, on July 26, 2021. (MOHD RASFAN/AFP via Getty Images)
She further claimed that Hamza repeatedly harassed and molested her. In the suit, Doe says that she did not make a public accusation against Hamza at the time because she feared “it would have meant the end of fencing” for her.
Doe filed her suit in Arizona partly because one of the alleged incidents occurred there. But also because of a law in that state that allowed people over the age of 30 to sue their alleged abusers as long as the suit was filed before the end of 2020. Doe also listed USA Fencing as a defendant in the case, claiming that the organization didn’t do enough to protect her from her alleged abuser.
Germany’s Andre Sanita (L) competes against USA’s Gerek Meinhardt in the men’s team foil quarter-final bout during the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games at the Makuhari Messe Hall in Chiba City, Chiba Prefecture, Japan, on August 1, 2021. (MOHD RASFAN/AFP via Getty Images)
Hamza, a native of Egypt, was the coordinator of the US fencing program from 1995-2014. He worked out of Rice University, and most of the allegations of abuse are said to have occurred in the Houston area.
Despite the discipline being described as “permanent,” the punishment is reportedly “not yet final.” Hamza is expected to appeal.