Category: ethics

Gabby Douglas apologizes

Woe is Twitter. 😦

Gabby couldn’t have picked a worse time to contradict her two time Olympic teammate and captain.

Aly Raisman, came forward last week to claim that ex-team doctor Larry Nassar had sexually assaulted her for years. 

Instead of voicing her concern, sympathy, and support of Raisman, Gabby Douglas decided to take issue with the way that some women dress, as a way of victim blaming women who are sexually assaulted.

She wrote on Twitter, which has since been deleted: “However, it is our responsibility as women to dress modestly and be classy. Dressing in a provocative/sexual way entices the wrong crowd.”

Statements such as these put the responsibility and onus on the victim instead of the perpetrator …

Celebrity Insider

Gabby deleted the tweet. Tried to apologize.

The backlash was severe. A low percentage of girls and women are harassed because of the way they dress.

I hope people can find their way to accept Gabby’s apology. It would help if the 2012 Olympic Champion worked towards protection of gymnasts into the future.

Movember Gymnastics fundraiser

Click PLAY or watch Calgary Gymnastics Centre’s funny promo on YouTube.

The Movember Foundation is a multinational charity that aims to raise awareness of and money for men’s health …

Its titular and most well known campaign is Movember, which encourages men to grow moustaches during the month of November.

As of 2014, the Movember Foundation has raised over $580m in charitable donations. It has funded more than 800 programs, focusing on prostate cancer, testicular cancer, poor mental health, men’s health awareness and healthy lifestyles.

Aly Raisman on the Today Show

Click PLAY or watch it on Twitter.

CEO of British Gymnastics responds

The Guardian posted an article stating British Gymnastics was in crisis.

BBC – Dan Keatings: ‘The climate of fear is real in British Gymnastics’

CEO of British Gymnastics Jane Allen:

NGBs are under increased public scrutiny and we welcome this. We are held accountable by our membership, the public and the government, and our actions must always demonstrate we are worthy of their support and investment. We must operate in a transparent way …

Athlete agreements

We are currently in consultation with elite athletes regarding their athlete agreements …

To date, over fifty-percent of the athletes have already signed the agreement. No athlete has refused to sign and the consultation process is still on-going. We do not believe that there is any serious conflict with our athletes, who are valued members of British Gymnastics.

Safeguarding

Our safeguarding processes are robust and I can assure people that complaints and appeals, regardless of their nature, are dealt with fairly and effectively where we have the authority to act.  …

British Gymnastics 

Let’s see if media attention helps the gymnasts and coaches. I do appreciate the personal and forthright response, especially compared with the tepid statements of USA Gymnastics.

That statement is on the homepage of british-gymnastics.org right now not buried as was the USAG response to the Aly Raisman 60 Minutes interview.

are American gymnasts any safer in 2017?

In the fall-out of the Dr. Larry Nassar scandal, I’m not sure they are.

Robert Andrews posted some recommendations:

• We must educate our athletes …

• We must educate the (silent) parents …

• We must educate coaches …

• We must demand a leadership body that is accountable to creating safe, positive, and empowering environments for our gymnasts. …

USAG Sexual Abuse Scandal Is A Symptom Of Deeper Issues (Sept 2017)

At great expense USAG replaced Steve Penny with Kerry J. Perry.

Are gymnasts safer with a new CEO? If so, how?

Is leadership any more accountable than in the past? If so, how?

Are competitive athletes, parents and coaches actually getting more education? Or are they simply offered more education?

The high priced Daniel’s report recommended  ‘cultural change‘ top-to-bottom. Has that actually happened?

What does the new director of SafeSport do day-to-day?

It seems to me USAG is still doing the minimum. Their press releases written by liability lawyers. The goal to protect themselves legally.

Here’s the official response to Aly’s accusations of last week:

USA Gymnastics supports Raisman’s focus on athlete safety, empowerment (Nov 10, 2017)

That statement wasn’t on the usagym.org home page Nov 11th. You needed to click over to NEWS first to find it. Not exactly up front and transparent.

Many will be checking the USAG home page to see the official response to Aly Raisman’s accusations against Nassar … and not immediately finding any response. 🙁

I didn’t see it on the USA Gymnastics Facebook feed either.

related – Robert Andrews is a sport psychologist who worked with the U.S. men as well as Laurie Hernandez and Simone Biles.

related – Tony Retrosi – New USA Gymnastics president needs to clean house

BIG problems for British Gymnastics

British Gymnastics is facing a crisis with its biggest stars, including the double Olympic champion Max Whitlock, refusing to sign World Class Performance Programme contracts and being threatened with having their funding withdrawn.

An internal power struggle between the performance, commercial and management teams about the content of the contract has led to a rebellion among the athletes. The Guardian understands almost all of the team which won a record seven medals at the Rio Olympics last summer have refused to sign the contract. …

Guardian

There are many more concerns listed in that article. Click through for sure.

via Gymternet Clan

British Gymnastics flexibility training guidelines

Common sense.

Avoid situations where gymnasts may feel ‘exposed’.

Avoid spotting stretches that look bad to parents, even if they are effective.

Flexibility Training for Gymnasts – British Gymnastics

(via Elizabeth Booth)

Ryan McKee is a sexual offender

A FORMER Commonwealth Games gymnast who represented Scotland has been spared jail for sex charges against schoolgirls.

Ryan McKee, 25, knew the girls were 14 when he became involved with them through the gymnastics club where he coached. …

McKee was given a community payback order with 250 hours unpaid to be carried out within nine months.

He has not to be in contact with girls under 16 and for the next eight months has to remain within his home between 8pm and 8am.

He will also be on the sex offenders register for three years. …

Evening Times 

USAG cancels a club membership

USA Gymnastics terminated the membership for American Institute of Gymnastics in Aurora effective Oct. 11 because the gym owners violated policy and membership requirements, said Toby Stark, director of safe sport for the national organization.

The gym is specifically accused of violating a requirement that member gyms don’t associate in any way with a person who is permanently ineligible for membership in USA Gymnastics, Stark said. …

Chicago Tribune

Update – It sounds like the banned member is Michael Cardamone who was convicted in 2005 of sex abuse.