Track Coach Conrad Mainwaring Accused of Abusing 41 Athletes Over Four Decades

Conrad Mainwaring has been accused of abusing 41 men over four decades.

Olympian and longtime track coach Conrad Mainwaring has been accused of abusing 41 men over four decades, according to an 18-month investigative report from ESPN's Outside the Lines.

Outside the Lines spoke with dozens of men who detailed similar patterns of alleged abuse from Mainwaring, who coached boys and men and said his training techniques could help them become better athletes. Mainwaring's accusers said he initiated sexual contact as a mental training tactic that focused on erections and raising testosterone levels.

The allegations date back to 1975 in England, where Mainwaring grew up. He competed in the 1976 Montreal Olympics for his native country of Antigua. He finished last in his preliminary heats in the 400- and 110-meter hurdles in the 1976 Summer Games.

Accusations brought against Mainwaring in the United States go back to his days working as a counselor at Camp Greylock, a boy's sports camp, in Massachusetts. Seven men told Outside the Lines that they were abused by him as campers or junior counselors at Camp Greylock in the mid-to-late 1970s.

The camp's owners from Mainwaring's days are now dead, and Outside the Lines received an email from an attorney saying the latest version of the camp never had "any affiliation with Mainwaring." Former staff members interviewed by Outside the Lines said they don't remember anyone "matching Mainwaring's description."

Mainwaring studied as a graduate student at Syracuse University in the 1980s and worked in student housing on campus. He also trained male athletes from the university and nearby Nottingham High School. 14 former students, seven from Syracuse and seven Nottingham high schoolers, said they were abused by Mainwaring during his time at the university. Nottingham told Outside the Lines that they found no records showing he worked at the school or was an approved volunteer.

In 1987, Mainwaring was hired at California Institute of Technology, and three men told Outside the Lines that they were abused by him there. The university fired him less than a year after his hiring "following an internal investigation related to a student complaint."

The track coach eventually began training athletes at UCLA's Drake Stadium but was not employed by the university. 14 men who trained at the stadium or in the Los Angeles area with Mainwaring from the mid-1990s to 2016 told Outside the Lines that they were abused by him, mostly at his apartment.

One accuser, David O'Boyle, confronted Mainwaring at Drake Stadium in June 2016 over his alleged abuse before going to a UCLA police officer to detail the allegations. O'Boyle also wrote a letter to UCLA's athletic department asking for an investigation into Mainwaring and banning him from the track. Several other people wrote letters as well. Outside the Lines reports that UCLA notified Mainwaring by letter on Aug. 15, 2016, that he was banned from campus and working with the university's athletes based on several complaints that he used inappropriate massaging as an "alleged training strategy" with male athletes. The letter said Mainwaring spoke with UCLA police and "acknowledged the nature of this physical contact on more than one occasion" but considered it "inadvertent."

Mainwaring, 67, was arrested by Los Angeles police on June 19 on one felony count of sexual battery by fraud. He pleaded not guilty and was released on bail. The coach faces up to four years in prison if found guilty.

Mainwaring denied Outside the Lines' interview requests.