A Los Gatos native is one of the main witnesses in a U.S. Center for SafeSport investigation into allegations of physical abuse by renowned figure skating coach Peter Oppegard, USA Today has reported.
Oppegard, a member of the U.S. Figure Skating Hall of Fame and a 1988 Olympic pairs bronze medalist, allegedly bit Jessica Pfund on the arm during a 2013 training session, according to the skater, her mother and a person who was present in the rink and who said they saw the bite mark immediately afterward, according to the report.
USA Today reported it also obtained emails and interviewed two people questioned by SafeSport, an independent nonprofit group launched in 2017 to protect athletes from sexual and physical abuse.
USA Today said investigators also are looking into allegations that Oppegard threw hot water and coffee at skaters he coached on multiple occasions at East West Ice Palace in Artesia, where he worked from 2005 to 2018. The news outlet said two people who witnessed Oppegard’s actions have discussed them with SafeSport. Those people requested anonymity when talking to USA Today for fear of reprisal.
The report said Oppegard, 61, did not respond Wednesday and Thursday to emails and voicemails on his cell phone requesting comment.
Oppegard and his former pairs partner Jill Watson are the last Americans to win an Olympic medal in pairs figure skating. They also won three national championships and the bronze medal at the 1987 World Championships.
Pfund told USA Today that Oppegard bit her after becoming furious with her during a practice session in 2013, when she was 15.
“He was helping to position me on the ice to show me a landing position on a jump,” Pfund said. “Both of his hands were holding me, and he leaned over and bit me on the skin on my upper right arm, near the bicep.”
Pfund said the action baffled her why he would do it.
“I went home with a bruise and a bite mark on my arm,” Pfund said. “My mom said, ‘I can see the teeth marks.’ ”
Laurel Pfund, Jessica’s mother who also now lives in Florida, was at work at the time of the incident, USA Today reported.
Jessica Pfund, now 23, said the bruise lasted for at least a week.
The skater told USA Today she asked her mother not to say anything about the episode.
“Every time she would try, everything would get worse with him, our lessons and the criticism would get worse,” Jessica Pfund said. “It was better to say nothing.”
USA Today reported that Oppegard is estranged from wife Karen Kwan, a skating coach and choreographer and the older sister of five-time world champion Michelle Kwan, who co-owns the Artesia rink.
According to USA Today, Pfund said she and her mother also were concerned about what might happen to Karen Kwan and the couple’s two daughters if they reported Oppegard to U.S. Figure Skating, the national governing body for the sport.
“His kids were so young and we felt that if we reported him, we might affect their family,” Jessica Pfund said.
Pfund left Oppegard in May 2014 after nearly three years at the Artesia rink. She and current pairs partner, Joshua Santillan, train in Ellenton, Florida.
Pfund began skating in 2003 at the Eastridge Ice Skating Rink in San Jose, according to a Monterey Herald story. The promising singles skater moved to Colorado Springs, Colorado, to train with top coach Tom Zakrajsek by the time she was 12. She later transitioned to pairs skating.
Pfund and Santillan finished in the top 10 at the U.S. national championships from 2016-2020, including fifth in 2017. They have taken the current season off from competition.
Pfund said she did not file a complaint against Oppegard. She said SafeSport officials initiated communication with her. Pfund told USA Today that she spoke on the phone with a SafeSport investigator on July 28, 2020.
A SafeSport spokesman told USA Today that it does not comment on matters “to protect the integrity of the process.”
U.S. Figure Skating said in a statement to USA Today that the organization “supports all victims of abuse and misconduct and encourages anyone who has been abused or suspects abuse or misconduct to immediately report it to local law enforcement, the U.S. Center for SafeSport or U.S. Figure Skating.”
