Water polo player who accused teammate of sex assault returning to US

A water polo star who fled to Barcelona after a teammate allegedly sexually and racially assaulted him has revealed his plans to return to the US.

Aidan Romain moved to Spain and filed a bombshell lawsuit claiming Lucca Van Der Woude terrorized him at Harvard-Westlake in Studio City.

The 18-year-old claimed Van Der Woude would digitally penetrate him underwater and in locker rooms, as well as hurl racial insults including the N-word.

Now, Romain has told ABC Eyewitness News he wants to return to the States to attend an Ivy League school before hopefully representing the US in the Olympics.

He said: “It was very difficult on a daily basis to deal with the racial abuse and the sexual abuse. The racial abuse and sexual abuse was a daily basis thing.

“It happened in nearly every training; it would happen many times daily, sometimes outside of the pool. So, it was certainly a difficult experience.”

Romain’s legal complaint details a long-standing culture of violence and humiliation within the school’s water polo program, allegedly facilitated by staff and administrators.

Among the defendants is former Harvard-Westlake player Van Der Woude.

“The complaint walks through a myriad of allegations of racial abuse ranging from Aidan being called the N-word to being literally whipped with exercise bands in the weight room supposedly re-enacting slavery,” said Romain’s attorney, Daniel Watkins.

The lawsuit also claims Van Der Woude sexually assaulted Romain repeatedly, both in the weight room and underwater in the pool.

“The core of the lawsuit is that the school failed to protect Aidan,” Watkins said. “They failed to report the assaults as they were occurring to law enforcement.”

Van Der Woude’s lawyer, Michael Artan, told Eyewitness News: “We do not intend to litigate this matter in the media.

“Mr. Van Der Woude’s denials and other responses will be clear and unambiguous in his defense to the Complaint at hand.”

The school is also disputing Romain’s claims.

“Harvard-Westlake will not offer specific comment other than to say that it unequivocally disputes many of these allegations that mischaracterize facts and the school’s actions,” read the statement.

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