John Furlong, the man who organized the 2010 Vancouver Olympics, says he is trying to reclaim his life by using the courts to fight back against allegations of sexual abuse brought against him last year.
with CTVās Chief Anchor and Senior Editor Lisa LaFlamme, Furlong says heās been āliving in absolute hellā for the past 17 months after a weekly Vancouver newspaper published allegations claiming he physically and verbally abused First Nations students while working as an 18-year-old volunteer teacher in northern B.C. more than four decades ago.
In a report published last September, the Georgia Straight said eight former students signed affidavits about their experiences at Immaculata Elementary in Burns Lake, B.C., in the late ā60s and early ā70s. They alleged a young Furlong would hit and kick them, as well as make racist comments, while serving as a physical education teacher.
Over the summer, two women -- Beverly Abraham and Grace West -- filed separate civil lawsuits accusing Furlong of sexual abuse. A third student filed a third lawsuit last month, alleging he, too, was abused.
Furlong has categorically denied all of the allegations made against him.
āThe question is almost insulting,ā āWhen this was handed to the RCMP for the first time, I thought, first of all, it would last a week. I thought a week and it would be over. But itās (been) 17 months of living in absolute hell.ā
He added: āI know that I did nothing to any of those kids. Iām sorry if theyāve had challenges or difficulties in their life. But I have never, ever, ever inappropriately touched anybody in my life.ā
The Roman Catholic diocese that ran the Burns Lake school has also denied the allegations.
In a statement of defence filed over the summer, the Diocese of Prince George says it has no record of Grace West or the third complainant even being at the school.
āI donāt know what is behind (the lawsuits) ... because they didnāt happen.ā
Furlong -- an Irish immigrant who permanently moved to Canada in 1974 -- became a household name during the 2010 Vancouver Olympics. As CEO of the VANOC organizing committee, heās received a number of awards and recognitions, including the Order of Canada, the Order of B.C., and induction into the B.C. Sports Hall of Fame.
Soon after the Georgia Straight article was published, Furlong filed his own lawsuit against the newspaper, as well as against the freelance reporter who wrote the piece.
The article Laura Robinson suggested Furlong lied about his past at Immaculata Elementary. Robinson noted that Furlongās Olympic memoir, entitled Patriot Hearts, did not mention that his first trip to Canada came in 1969 when he was a Catholic missionary. Instead, he starts his story in 1974, saying he was recruited to move from Dublin to Prince George, B.C., to set up a high school athletics program.
āI didnāt put (Burns Lake) in the book because I didnāt think it was relevant,ā Furlong explained. āBut it is a pretty long leap to say because (someone) didnāt put something in a book that something terrible happened.ā
Furlong has since dropped the lawsuit against the paper to focus solely on his case against Robinson. He accuses her of having a āpersonal vendettaā against him and claims she has a history of inaccurate reporting.
āSheās made life as hell for me as you could possibly make it, and I donāt understand the inspiration,ā Furlong said. āBut today, Iāve got to the point where enough is enough.
āMy goal now is to never let this happen to another person, to not let anybody face what we have faced,ā he added. āIām going to escalate my court case against Laura Robinson because of what sheās done and because Iām not alone.ā
Furlong said the allegations were especially poignant since they came soon after one of the best years of his life. He admits he wasnāt able to read the article through to the end.
āI woke up that day and it was probably one of the top three worst days of my life,ā he said. āI frankly never read it until the end. You canāt read garbage like that.ā
He says heās since read āpiecesā of it over time, calling the article a āstinger.ā
āI couldnāt describe how bad itās been: Itās been hellish for me, my family. And the things they have been put through,ā Furlong said. āAnd now the RCMP have come to a conclusion and theyāve concluded that Iāve done nothing wrong. I said that at the beginning ā¦ and to have to live through this on the basis of such a complaint has just been horrible."
