Nassar is the horror story that never ends.
Why hasn’t the Ranch been abandoned?
related – Jamie Dantzscher & Rachael Denhollander call for removal of USA Gymnastics leaders, saying they didn’t do enough to stop sexual abuse
Category: parents
Marcia Frederick accuses coach Rick Carlson
#MeToo
More than two years since Frederick filed a formal complaint with USA Gymnastics, the sport’s national governing body, alleging sexual misconduct by Carlson the organization still hasn’t taken action against the coach. …
The USA Gymnastics sex abuse scandal became public in 2011 when three women told the Orange County Register that former U.S. national team coach Don Peters had sex with three teenage gymnasts in the 1980s. Peters was banned for life by USA Gymnastics in November 2011 and removed from the sport’s Hall of Fame. Peters did not contest the ban. …
Peters was Frederick’s coach when she won her world title. Frederick said she was not sexually abused by Peters. …
Marcia Frederick, first U.S. Gymnastics world champion, shares story of abuse
If you don’t know Marcia, watch her gold medal winning Bars at 1978 Worlds.
Click PLAY or watch it on YouTube.
(via GymCastic)
OU: We stand beside Maggie
Collegiate gymnast breaks silence about sexual abuse by former USA Gymnastics doctor
Her Mom has been making TV appearances. VERY unhappy with USA Gymnastics and MSU.
USA Gymnastics is liable
I can’t arrive at any other conclusion.
According to court filings and interviews, it was Nichols and her coach, Sarah Jantzi, who reported Nassar to USA Gymnastics officials on June 17, 2015, after the coach overheard Maggie and another gymnast talking about Nassar’s behavior. …
Jantzi reported her concerns to USA Gymnastics women’s program director Rhonda Faehn and to Maggie’s mother, Gina.
According to the complaint, then–USA Gymnastics CEO Steve Penny “discouraged [Gina and John Nichols, Maggie’s parents] from reporting Nassar’s conduct to law enforcement and pressured them to keep the matter quiet.” …
Sometime between June 21 and July 2, USA Gymnastics brought on Fran Sepler, an expert on workplace harassment with experience interviewing children in sexual assault cases, to interview Maggie. …
In a statement to SI, Penny’s lawyers said, “The matter was reported to the FBI on Monday, July 27, 2015, and [chairman of USA Gymnastics] Mr. Parilla and Mr. Penny met with the FBI on July 28. …
USA Gymnastics did not contact MSU or the Michigan-based gymnastics club Twistars whose athletes were also treated by Nassar. The national governing body is currently contending in court that it did not have a responsibility to inform either MSU or Twistars of allegations against Nassar.
The Nichols family says it was not contacted by the FBI until July 2016, nearly a year after Maggie had come forward …
At least 19 people whose treatment occurred between the time Maggie spoke to USA Gymnastics and the time she was interviewed by the FBI have filed civil complaints against Nassar. …
If you are one of those 19 people you have to ask why Nassar wasn’t stopped sooner? 😦
Yesterday USAG responded:
Contrary to reported accusations, USA Gymnastics never attempted to hide Nassar’s misconduct. The suggestion by plaintiff’s counsel John Manly, who indicates that he is representing Maggie, that USA Gymnastics tried to silence athletes or keep the investigation secret to avoid headlines before the Rio Olympics and to protect Los Angeles’ Olympic bid is entirely baseless. USA Gymnastics kept the matter confidential because of the FBI’s directive not to interfere with the investigation. …
Has the FBI confirmed? I assume directives like that are put on paper.
Still … USAG paid McKayla Maroney $1.25 million to keep quiet in late 2016. How is that not trying to cover up the crimes of their former team doctor?
In the end, this will be decided in a court of law. Unless USA Gymnastics goes bankrupt first.
Maggie Nichols #MeToo
Maggie Nichols, a member of the 2015 World Championships gold medal-winning team and now an NCAA champion at Oklahoma, said in a statement to SCNG that she was sexually abused by Nassar during a U.S. national team camp in 2015 at the remote Texas ranch owned by U.S. national team directors Bela and Martha Karolyi, a U.S. Olympic Committee Training Site, and elsewhere.
“Up until now, I was identified as Athlete A by USA gymnastics, the US Olympic Committee and Michigan State University,” Nichols said. “I want everyone to know that he did not do this to Athlete A, he did it to Maggie Nichols.” …
Maggie is the first known gymnast to tell USA Gymnastics chief executive Steve Penny and other top officials.
Why were they so slow to react after that first complaint?
Nastia on the Nassar scandal
In the wake of the scandal, Liukin is the first to acknowledge that the organization still has a long way to go. “What’s going on in our sport is awful. Change is needed. I’m hoping that this is now the beginning of change and hopefully a brighter future.”
Liukin’s commitment to change is a vision she shares with her father, Valeri Liukin, the current coach of the US National Team …
Nastia Liukin Calls For Change In USA Gymnastics Following Sexual Abuse Scandal
Actually, the Olympic Champion was one of the last prominent American gymnastics spokespersons to call for real change. But it’s nice to see her finally get on board. She wore black at the Golden Globes.
John Orozco, Laurie Hernandez and Nadia were there too.
Kristle Lowell #MeToo
The U.S. Trampoline national team member speaks out. And put it on her tramp slippers.
https://twitter.com/Kristle__Lowell/status/947950513311617025
Women brave enough to tell their story now have a support system.
(via theGymter.net)
Oprah’s speech
“… I want all the girls watching here, now, to know that a new day is on the horizon! And when that new day finally dawns, it will be because of a lot of magnificent women, many of whom are right here in this room tonight, and some pretty phenomenal men, fighting hard to make sure that they become the leaders who take us to the time when nobody ever has to say ‘Me too’ again.”
Click PLAY or watch it on YouTube.
This was her acceptance speech for the Cecil B. DeMille Award, an honorary Golden Globe for lifetime achievement.
You get the feeling this is yet another turning point. Yet more women will feel empowered to speak.
‘Time Is Up’ for Sexual Predators.
SPOTTING – education and respect
Alina Williams:
I call gymnastics a contact sport because we cannot teach our athletes without touching them. We spot, poke, shape, and catch our athletes every day, but if we don’t teach them early that they have a say in how and when they are touched we are failing in our duty as educators. …
But here’s the kicker and the hardest part of all of this to implement in the gym: if a child refuses your touch, you must respect that refusal. Sometimes that means watching a kid go around the bar in an ugly shape you really want to fix …
Contact Sports: Teaching Touch and Consent to Young Athletes
At a coaching course last week we had a number of demonstrators from the host club. Of course we explained what spotting was included and encouraged the kids to opt out of anything that made them feel uncomfortable in any way.
DANGEROUS playgrounds
Coaches complain about helicopter parents. But unsupervised play in the bad old days was pretty scary.
Click PLAY or watch it on Facebook.
Gymnastics Coaching.com 