On the evening of May 16, 2011, Caroline Burckle, a former Olympic swimming medalist, was at home in the Los Angeles area when she began receiving a series of sexually graphic text messages and a voice mail on her cell phone, according to a USA Swimming letter obtained by the Southern California News Group.

“They were so aggressive,” Burckle recalled this week, referring to the messages.

The texts were from U.S. national team coaches Sean Hutchison and Bob Bowman and were sent from a phone that belonged to Bowman, the longtime coach of 23-time Olympic gold medalist Michael Phelps, Burckle confirmed in an interview with the the Southern California News Group.

Less than three months after USA Swimming national team director Frank Busch informed Bowman that a letter detailing the incident would “remain on file with National Team,” Busch named Bowman to the 2012 Olympic team coaching staff. Bowman would go on to be the head coach of the 2016 Olympic team and was hired as head coach at Arizona State in 2015.

Hutchison, once considered American swimming’s brightest rising coach star, continued to fade from the sport’s top levels. This past winter he became the subject of a criminal investigation by the Department of Homeland Security and law enforcement in Washington state following allegations by World champion swimmer Ariana Kukors that Hutchison, her longtime coach, began grooming her for a sexual relationship when she was 13, sexually assaulted her at 16, and continued to have a sexual relationship with her and exert control over almost every aspect of her daily life until she was 24.

“In 2011, USA Swimming was made aware of inappropriate texts sent to an adult former member athlete by a member coach,” USA Swimming said in a statement. “The organization does not condone this type of communication no matter the relationship between the parties. The issue was addressed by USA Swimming, and warning letters were issued to the offending parties, which also included a non-athlete member in the presence of the coach.”

Saying she has been “haunted” by the 2011 incident for the past seven years, Burckle, 32, said she is speaking out now in hopes of changing the culture within swimming and Olympic sports.

“For me it’s the principle of it,” Burckle said. “It’s about giving people the respect they deserve and shouldn’t have to ask for. It’s about creating a feeling of support within your (sports) community, athletes you feel respected and supported. It’s about empowering a younger generation of athletes. Athletes shouldn’t have to act a certain way to please their male coach.”

Burckle’s revelation comes as USA Swimming finds itself in the midst of a sexual abuse scandal that has drawn Congressional attention. A Southern California News Group investigation in February revealed that top USA Swimming executives, board members, top officials and coaches acknowledged in documents that they were aware of sexually predatory coaches for years, in some cases even decades, but did not take action against them. In at least 11 cases either USA Swimming executive director Chuck Wielgus or Susan Woessner, USA Swimming’s director of Safe Sport, declined to pursue sexual abuse cases against high profile coaches even when presented with direct complaints, documents show.

Kukors is also suing Hutchison, USA Swimming, former U.S. national team director Mark Schubert, Aquatic Management Group Inc, a company owned by Hutchison and King Aquatic Club, Hutchison’s former Seattle-area club, in Orange County Superior Court alleging that top American swimming officials and coaches ignored and covered-up sexual abuse by top coaches for decades.

The texts came when Hutchison and Bowman were at the same location. They came at a time when Burckle said she was feeling particularly vulnerable. Burckle, a member of the bronze medal 4×200-meter relay team at the 2008 Olympics, had retired from the sport only a few months earlier. Burckle was last coached by Hutchison as part of an USA Swimming-sponsored Olympic caliber training group based in Fullerton.

“I was a 24-year-old female swimmer who had retired way too young but was sick of all the (garbage),” she said. “I wanted to change lives and do different things but felt trapped.”

The texts hit her, she said, “like a whirlwind.”

“I was disgusted,” Burckle said. “I felt violated, felt sad too. This was a sport that I had just left and loved and so I felt very sad.”

The texts came less than five months after Hutchison resigned from coaching the Fullerton group, after being confronted by other coaches about rumors that he was having a relationship with a swimmer he was coaching, a violation of USA Swimming rules. Hutchison was later cleared by USA Swimming.

Burckle reported the incident and forwarded the texts and voice message to USA Swimming national team assistant coach Jack Roach, who forwarded it to Busch. Busch had been hired by USA Swimming only months earlier to replace Mark Schubert, who fired following a dispute with Wielgus.

Busch put Bowman on notice about the incident in a June 3, 2011 letter that stressed “it is important you understand the severity of this situation.”

“It has been reported to me that on the evening of May 16, 2011 a former USA Swimming member athlete received a series of inappropriate and suggestive text messages and a voicemail from a phone belonging to you,” Busch wrote, attaching “copies of texts received by the swimmer from your phone.”

“Firstly, the swimmer has experienced significant mental distress as a result,” Busch continued. “Pending a conversation between you and me, I would like for you to appropriately address this with her so that she can put the incident behind her.

“Secondly, please be aware that if the content of the texts and voicemail had been directed to a current USA Swimming member athlete, this behavior would be considered a potential violation of USA Swimming Code of Conduct 304.3.7.7 ‘Any sexual conduct, advance or other inappropriate sexually oriented behavior or action directed towards an athlete by (i) a coach member or other non-athlete member, or (ii) any other adult participating in any capacity whatsoever in the affairs or activities of USA Swimming (whether such adult is a member or not). Any nonconsensual physical sexual conduct, or pattern of unwelcome advances or other sexual harassment in connection with or incidental to a USA Swimming-related activity by any person participating in the affairs or activities of USA Swimming (whether such person is a member or not) directed toward any member or other person participating in the affairs or activities of USA Swimming.’”

Busch added “I am willing to include a response letter from you detailing your recollection of the situation as well as your plan of action to ensure this was an isolated event never to be repeated. Any further reports of such activity will be addressed through the National Board of Review.”

Bowman, an attorney for Hutchison, and Busch did not respond to requests by email and phone message for comment about the letter to Bowman and Burckle’s allegations.

Bowman apologized to her, Burckle said. She has never heard from Hutchison.

On Sept. 1, 2011, Bowman was selected to 2012 Olympic coaching staff.

“We are thrilled to add Tim Murphy, Bob Bowman and Dave Salo to our 2012 Olympic coaching staff,” Busch said in a statement at the time. “We are incredibly fortunate to have coaches of this caliber in the U.S. and we look forward to a successful Olympic Games under their expert guidance.”

Burckle tried to mentally block out the sexual harassment incident.

“I was terrified,” she said. “I needed to get the hell out of everything.

“I didn’t want to believe it. I was sad. It was a situation that tainted my relationship with my sport. And I loved and adored my memories with the national team. I was the class clown of the national team.

“And I lived with guilt for years about not doing more to stick up for things like this,” Burckle continued. “But it came back to haunt me. I was always trying to justify not coming forward. And that caused a victim’s mindset and I don’t like having that. But it’s part of the process with something like this. And the same time I was tired of being a victim of that. I needed to speak up.”

In 2015, Burckle, with Olympic swimming champion Rebecca Soni, co-founded Rise Athletes, a mentoring program for young athletes. Her decision to come forward about the Hutchison and Bowman incident was driven in part by her desire to set an example for those young athletes.

“We’re all about empowering the next generation of young athletes,” she said. “We want them to feel safe and empowered in their sport.”