U.S. Olympic Archery Coach Accused of Discriminating Against Non-Christians

Kisik Lee is a South Korean who served as his country's national archery coach in the 1980s and 1990s, helping his team win eight gold medals. The U.S. Olympic Committee hired him after no Americans medaled in 2004.

No Americans medaled this year, either, but that's not why Lee's methods are being questioned. Instead, he's being accused of discriminating against non-Christian American archers.

Susan Caldwell and her teenage daughter, Raquel, are Buddhists. Raquel is an archer who trained at the national training center, and Susan tells the New York Times she has complaints about Lee's methods.

"To me," she said, "it felt like those who were Christian were favored, and those who were not were almost not acknowledged."

Lee has been warned by USOC officials, who oversee the center, not to pressure athletes to participate in religious activities. Lee acknowledges that he has assigned reading the Bible as a daily task to one of his archers, and he told the New York Times, "I just want to show them who I am. I'm the witness of Jesus, not just an instructor. So I have to encourage them how, how we can change in Christ."