Steve Penny, the former president and CEO of USA Gymnastics, is set to testify in front of a Senate subcommittee in Washington D.C. today about how he and his organization handled sexual abuse allegations. Penny is testifying under duress; he was subpoenaed. His appearance comes two weeks after the heads of several…
Yesterday, the Indianapolis Star reported that USA Gymnastics officials helped Larry Nassar provide a cover story for why he was absent from major competitions in late 2015 while the organization conducted its internal investigation into his sexual abuse of gymnasts. (USAG honored his request to tell people that he…
In June 2015, Maggie Nichols and her coach Sarah Jantzi reported to USA Gymnastics officials that the gymnast had been sexually abused by team doctor Larry Nassar. Their complaints, which were passed onto then-CEO Steve Penny, prompted a five-week internal investigation during which Nichols, Aly Raisman, and McKayla…
This week, USA Gymnastics is holding its training camp for the women’s national team at Flip Fest Camp in Tennessee. (Since ceasing to host camps at the Karolyi Ranch back in January, the camps have been held in different places.) And at this month’s camp, a bomb was dropped on national team members and their coaches:…
Gymnasts fall a lot. Sometimes they fall in competition and we all get to watch but mostly they fall in practice, with only their teammates and coaches as witnesses. But everyone has a smart phone, which means that all the falls, whether they came in training or in competition, are invariably preserved for posterity.…
Forty male gymnasts in Brazil have come forward and said that gymnastics coach Fernando de Carvalho Lopes sexually abused them during their careers, according to a report that aired on aired on Brazilian television Sunday night.
The day after Dateline aired an hour long investigation in USA Gymnastics’ handling of sex abuse allegations and Larry Nassar—with interviews with McKayla Maroney and Martha and Bela Karolyi—USA Gymnastics released a feel-good seven-minute video about Simone Biles’s comeback.
Two weeks ago, we saw the first glimpses of Simone Biles’s comeback after a full year off and it was impressive. In practice footage, Biles showed that she could still do most of her big skills despite the break from full-time training.
It’s been under six months since Simone Biles, the greatest female gymnast of all-time, resumed training after taking more than a year off after winning four gold medals and a bronze at the Olympics, and judging from the footage that was just posted to USA Gymnastics’ Instagram account, Biles is picking up right where…
Members of the Michigan House of Representatives released a letter today that summarized the findings of an inquiry into Michigan State’s handling of Larry Nassar, who sexually abused hundreds of patients while working as a doctor for both MSU and USA Gymnastics. Their findings lay out multiple areas where Michigan…
A report yesterday from the Lansing State Journal revealed that in January—the same month over 150 women gave victim-impact statements in Michigan courtrooms about Larry Nassar’s serial sexual abuse—the PR firm Weber Shandwick billed Michigan State, Nassar’s old employer, for more than $500,000. According to the…
CNN has a report today detailing how multiple gymnasts say coach John Geddert physically and verbally abused them—and how Larry Nassar used that to his advantage. [CNN]
Former U.S. women’s national gymnastics team coordinator Martha Karolyi and her husband, acclaimed former coach Bela Karolyi, said in a deposition last year that they did not know about the serial sexual abuse that Dr. Larry Nassar committed on their ranch, according to court records obtained by CNN.
A day after William Strampel, the former dean of the osteopathic medical school at Michigan State University and the ex-boss of disgraced sexual abuser Larry Nassar, was charged with criminal sexual conduct and willful neglect of duty, the Lansing State Journal reported that MSU spent in excess of $500,000 keeping…
Gold medal-winning gymnast Aly Raisman is suing the U.S. Olympic Committee on the grounds that the organization knew or should have known about former team doctor Larry Nassar’s decades of sexual abuse of athletes.
Gymnast Jacob Moore is the first male victim to join the lawsuits against Dr. Larry Nassar, Michigan State and USA Gymnastics.
On Wednesday, USA Gymnastics announced a new fund, administered by an unnamed third party, that will provide support for counseling services for gymnasts who have been sexually abused. It’s a small, limited step forward, and—as I noted yesterday—it’s clearly about public relations. It also, however, shows just how…
USA Gymnastics announced today that it has established a fund for gymnasts who have been sexually abused within the sport, which will give financial support to victims who wish to receive counseling. According to USA Gymnastics, gymnasts and their families will be able to contact the fund confidentially through a…
Larry Nassar was sentenced to 40 to 125 more years in prison today by Judge Janice Cunningham for three counts of first-degree criminal sexual conduct in Eaton County, Mich. The sentence was the final of three for Nassar, following a 60-year sentence on federal pornography charges handed down in December, and a 40-175…
Larry Nassar spent another week hearing from his victims, this time in an Eaton County courthouse in separate proceedings from his high-profile Ingham County sentencing. Even before today, Nassar already was expected to spend the rest of his life in prison. A federal judge sentenced him to 60 years in prison, and last…
