CANADA
Global News
[with video]
By Amy Judd Global News
John Furlong says the past year of his life has been “like living in hell.”
In his first interview since the allegations, Furlong sat down with Global News anchor Chris Gailus to talk about his experience.
In an article in the Georgia Straight, the former head of the Vancouver 2010 Olympics was accused of allegedly assaulting aboriginal students in his care when he taught at a Catholic school in Burns Lake over four decades ago.
“After the games were over, I had this remarkable high and it was great fun walking around and sort of enjoying, and asking how the city was feeling,” says Furlong. “There was a smile on the face of Vancouver, and then this happened, and it was a horrible shocking thing to have happened. I was stunned, and I thought at the time it would go away quickly, because there’s no truth to this.”
He tells Global News it has been horrible for him and his family and says when people would ask him how it feels to have these allegations leveled against him, he would say “if you want to imagine yourself in this position, put yourself as far into hell as you can go, and then just keep on going. It’s an unimaginable place, because, first of all, the subject matter is vile, it’s horrible, it’s terrible, and to be in a conversation with anybody about it even now, it’s horrible. Who would want their name associated with anything like this?”
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