Scott Blackmun Resigns As Head Of USOC Amid Larry Nassar Fallout

A month after ordering the entire USA Gymnastics board to resign in the wake of the Larry Nassar sex abuse case, U.S. Olympic Committee CEO Scott Blackmun has also resigned.

Blackmun had been under pressure to quit during the Nassar trial and sentencing. That pressure mounted when earlier this month the Wall Street Journal reported that the USOC ignored warnings about Nassar’s abuse in 2015, a year before the Indianapolis Star broke the story in September 2016. Via the New York Times, the USOC said Blackmun was resigning for health reasons. He was diagnosed with prostate cancer which kept him from traveling to South Korea for the Olympics this month:

In a statement on Wednesday, Mr. Probst attributed Mr. Blackmun’s resignation to his health, but the organization acknowledged the urgency of the scandal and outlined multiple reforms alongside the change in leadership. Those included increased funding for Dr. Nassar’s victims and a plan to re-examine the basic governance structure of American Olympic sports.

“The U.S.O.C. is at a critical point in its history,” Mr. Probst said in the statement. “The important work that Scott started needs to continue and will require especially vigorous attention in light of Larry Nassar’s decades-long abuse of athletes affiliated with USA Gymnastics.”

A statement on the USOC’s website said that board member Suzanne Lyons would be acting CEO.