FanHouse Ronda Rousey

Last month Ronda Rousey, the judo Olympian who is America's best chance at a medal in the sport, posted an entry on her blog that accused a judo official of molesting girls who participated in the sport. Soon after, she removed the entry for, she said, "legal reasons."

But the story is not over, according to USA Judo, the sport's governing body in the United States. Today I was e-mailed a statement from USA Judo CEO Jose H. Rodriguez saying, "USA Judo is looking into this situation and will be providing a statement to the U.S. Olympic Committee by next Monday, July 14."

It is not clear what this statement will consist of or whether it will be made public, but it is clear that when the sport's best athlete is making this kind of accusation, it's not something that can simply be ignored.

Yesterday I noted that Ronda Rousey, who is Team USA's best chance of winning an Olympic medal in judo, had a post on her blog accusing a judo official of molesting girls.

Today that blog post has been removed. I e-mailed Rousey to ask her why, and she answered, "legal reasons." She did not elaborate.

She did, however, put up this post:

for those waiting to criticize me - this is MY blog I'll write what I'm thinking and feeling. you can write the caption of the Wheaties box all you want. But you know what - it's boring! AND I bet its a chore to write yours, so save your criticism.

In any event, I think Rousey was right to remove the accusation, as the charges were serious and the evidence presented was flimsy. Rousey is a great athlete who writes from an interesting perspective, but athletes in relatively obscure sports like judo often don't understand the extent to which the Olympics transform their anonymity into fame -- and the gravity that fame lends to their words. The U.S. Olympic Committee would be wise to give more thorough media training to athletes before they become famous.

The great debate about whether sports blogs have any standards -- and whether sports blogs should have any standards -- has focused almost exclusively on the caricatured sports blogger who has no accountability, no credentials and no access.

But there's another group of sports bloggers who frequently get lost in these discussions: athletes who bypass the media and communicate directly to fans through their own blogs. Athletes' accountability may be up for debate, but their credentials and access can't be denied.

Gilbert Arenas of the Washington Wizards is the gold standard; Chris Cooley of the Washington Redskins is quickly gaining a following. And then there are dozens or maybe hundreds of other professional athletes who have their own blogs. Some feel slick and polished and look more like the work of a PR consultant than an athlete. Others feel authentic and raw and are clearly written by athletes who have spent their lives training for competition, not honing the craft of writing.

In the latter category is the blog written by Ronda Rousey, a U.S. Olympian in judo. I have previously mentioned Rousey's blog as one that is smart and funny, but Rousey has recently made an allegation against a judo official on her blog that is very serious.