usoc Page 1 - Sports News, Headlines & Highlights
Reports: The Justice Department Is Investigating Sex Abuse In The Olympic Movement
The Wall Street Journal reported today that the U.S. Department of Justice has launched criminal investigations into sexual abuse across multiple U.S. Olympic organizations as well as “potential financial and business misconduct throughout the U.S. Olympic system.” Other news outlets later reported ...
Former Ohio State Coach Sentenced To Four Years In Prison For Sexually Abusing Underage Diver
Former Ohio State diving coach William Bohonyi was sentenced to four years in prison on Monday on two counts of sexually abusing Estee Pryor, a diver who trained with the Ohio State University Diving Club when she was underage....
Congress Responds To The Larry Nassar Scandal With A Half-Measure And Handshakes All Around
It’s been about three years since Rachael Denhollander called the Indianapolis Star and said she was sexually abused by the longtime doctor for the women’s national gymnastics team, Larry Nassar. Since then more than 300 women have said that they were abused by Nassar; the disgraced doctor has been ...
Report: Another SafeSport Ban Got Overturned, This Time In Weightlifting
In February of last year, the U.S. Center for SafeSport found that American weightlifter Colin Burns had committed “non-consensual sexual acts” with another weightlifter and banned him—but that ban didn’t even last six months, the Orange County Register reported yesterday. Instead, the ban was overt...
Olympic Athletes Are Trying To Get A Seat At The Bargaining Table
Athlete representatives in the U.S. Olympic movement recently met in the basement of an airport hotel in Chicago to discuss the next step in mobilizing against their respective chartered national governing bodies and the USOC—creating a union....
SafeSport: Why Would Anyone Expect Our Paid Employees To Investigate Abuse?
Four women are suing USA Taekwondo, the U.S. Olympic Committee, and the U.S. Center for SafeSport for their roles in ignoring repeated reports of sexual abuse by Taekwondo star coach Jean Lopez and his brother, Olympic medalist Steven Lopez, going back to 1996. SafeSport has asked to be dismissed f...
Senator Boasts About How Happy He Is That SafeSport's Conflict Of Interest Is Getting Worse
When Congress authorized the U.S. Center for SafeSport, it decided to not directly fund the organization that was supposed to independently investigate sexual abuse across all Olympic sports. Instead, it set up a grant—which, it turns out, couldn’t be used to pay for the investigators that SafeSport...
The <i>New York Times</i> Can't Bring Itself To Hold The USOC Accountable
In my time as a journalist, stories about child abuse have always been the one genre that everyone, even internet commenters, agree are bad. But preventing child abuse—which costs money and takes long-term dedication of resources—who has time for that? ...
The USOC Should Be Abolished, Not Reformed
Earlier this week, more than two years after the Indianapolis Star reported the first allegations against former USA Gymnastics/Michigan State doctor Larry Nassar, Senator Cory Gardner, a Republican who represents Colorado, introduced the “Strengthening U.S. Olympics Act” to closely scrutinize the U...
Jean Lopez, Previously Banned After Multiple Reports of Abusing Taekwondo Athletes, Can Coach Again
Less than a year after the U.S. Center for SafeSport declared that it was banning Jean Lopez from taekwondo for a “decades long pattern of sexual misconduct,” the center has said Lopez can go back to coaching. Today, SafeSport notified Heidi Gilbert and Kay Poe, who had reported to SafeSport that Lo...
The Next Step For Elite Gymnasts Is To Form A Union
At the beginning of November, the USOC announced that it was taking the first step towards decertifying USA Gymnastics. This was a direct if belated response to the national governing body having spent two years repeatedly failing in virtually every facet related to the Larry Nassar sex abuse scanda...
Larry Nassar Helped Draft USA Gymnastics' Sexual Misconduct Policies
Monday’s 252-page report from Ropes & Gray, the law firm contracted by the USOC to investigate the role of individuals and institutions in enabling Larry Nassar’s decades of sexual abuse of gymnasts, has so far led to widespread condemnation of the USOC and USA Gymnastics (again) and at least one fi...
Here Are Some Of The Interesting And Horrifying Revelations From The Larry Nassar Report
Yesterday, Ropes & Gray, the law firm commissioned by the USOC to investigate the various institutional and individual failures that enabled Larry Nassar to abuse hundreds of gymnasts for decades, issued a report on their findings . The biggest revelation—that Alan Ashley, chief of sports performanc...
![Ropes & Gray Nassar Investigation Paints Damning Picture Of USOC And USA Gymnastics [Update]](https://images.deadspin.com/tr:w-900/yt5dsz3kmac8v0i1swj0.jpg)
Ropes & Gray Nassar Investigation Paints Damning Picture Of USOC And USA Gymnastics [Update]
On Monday, the law firm Ropes & Gray released its 252-page report into the institutional failures that enabled Larry Nassar’s decades-long abuse of women and girls in his role of USA Gymnastics physician. The investigation, which was commissioned by the board of the USOC in February 2018—more than a...
If USA Gymnastics Dies, What Takes Its Place?<em></em>
Until two years ago, there was no question over who controlled gymnastics in the United States. USA Gymnastics, the sport’s national governing body, had been in charge of administering the sport at every level, from novice all the way up through elite, since the early 1960s. Other organizations had ...
SafeSport, The Government's Attempt To Combat Athlete Abuse, Can't Use Its Grant Money To Investigate Athlete Abuse
The Associated Press reported yesterday that a federal grant designed to pay for SafeSport, the national organization created to combat abuse of athletes, won’t be usable for one of SafeSport’s biggest needs—hiring more investigators to handle incoming reports of abuse. ...
Audit Shows USA Gymnastics Estimates It Will Pay $75 To $150 Million To Larry Nassar Survivors
USA Gymnastics released a series of financial documents yesterday, including tax filings and financial statements from the past two years. According to an auditor’s report dated Aug. 20, settlements and payouts to survivors of Larry Nassar likely will cost the organization a sum pretty close to its ...
USA Badminton Is Another Example Of How Messed Up Olympic Organizations Are
USA Badminton, the sport’s national governing body, was first audited by the United States Olympic Committee three years ago. The USOC recommended stronger internal controls and improved reporting on its finances, among other fixes, and it awarded USA Badminton an audit rating of 11; a rating of 0 i...
United States Olympic Committee Gets Closer To Putting USA Gymnastics In The Trash Can
A few short days after Simone Biles found historic success at the World Gymnastics Championships, the United States Olympic Committee announced this afternoon that it was in the process of revoking USA Gymnastics’ status as a national governing body. The revocation isn’t official though and will tak...
Tasha And Jordan Schwikert Sue the USOC And USAG For Enabling Larry Nassar's Years Of Abuse
Olympic bronze medalist Tasha Schwikert and her sister, former USA national team member Jordan Schwikert, have become the latest gymnasts to file lawsuits against former national team doctor and convicted criminal Larry Nassar, as well as USA Gymnastics and the U.S. Olympic Committee for enabling th...