Very emotional.
Click PLAY or watch it on YouTube.
Category: safety
Valeri Liukin has resigned
Valeri Liukin has resigned as coordinator of the U.S. women’s gymnastics team. …
USA Gymnastics did not have an immediate response. …
Liukin acknowledged the turmoil was a factor in his decision to resign. …
“I was truly looking forward to trying to turn this program around and bring success to our country and the gymnastics community,” he wrote. “But the present climate causes me, and more importantly my family, far too much stress, difficulty and uncertainty.” …
Amanda Thomashow reported Nassar to MSU in 2014
Amanda Thomashow was the first woman to file an official Title IX complaint (2014) against Nassar accusing him of violating the school’s sexual harassment policy. …
In an investigative report prepared in response to her complaint, the school’s Title IX coordinator called Nassar’s methods a “liability” that exposed patients to unnecessary trauma. But that’s not what the school told Thomashow.
We cannot find that the conduct was of a sexual nature. Thus, it did not violate the sexual harassment policy.”
MSU ultimately sided with Nassar, concluding that his methods were medically appropriate. And, according to documents obtained by CNN, MSU gave Nassar and Thomashow different versions of that investigative report. Her version did not include the Title IX coordinator’s concerns. …
She filed a complaint against Larry Nassar in 2014. Nothing happened
MSU maintains that “no official there believed Nassar committed sexual abuse until newspapers began reporting on the allegations in the summer of 2016”.
MSU bungled Amanda’s complaint, investigation and report(s) in several ways. Ways that look like a cover-up to me.
gymternet fooled by Nassar as well
Nobody has pursued ethics, safety and human rights of gymnasts more doggedly than Jessica O’Beirne, founder of GymCastic.
Many of us wait for each week’s episode to get caught up on everything that’s happened on the Nassar crimes.
Yet Jess was fooled too.
… (GymCastic) interviewed Dr. Nassar in 2013 and has left the episode up in the podcast’s archive, albeit with an altered title, “Serial Pedophile Ex-Doctor Larry Nassar Interview.” …
She agrees with Mr. Barnes and Ms. Hopkins that she, too, was “groomed” by Dr. Nassar after he became a trusted source. “In the industry you get close to sources, and I think there was a delay in reporting because there was a delay in people thinking this could be true.” …
I can’t recall hearing a negative word about Nassar online dating back to before 2000. Until women began coming forward.
#conman
Twistars parent – not quitting
My Kid Loves Gymnastics. I Love My Kid. Now What?
Most competitive gymnasts in most clubs are training as usual. Getting ready for their upcoming competitions.
Twistars — at least for now — is no different.
alternatives to USAG
What happens if USAG is decertified?
What if they go broke due to lawsuits?
Tony Retrosi:
On social media there have been many people and groups calling for the decertification by the USOC of USA Gymnastics. If The USOC decides to decertify USAG all that means is that USAG will NOT be determining the Olympic Team.
USAG can still run the JO and Excel Program. They can still run educational workshops, congresses and conferences. BUT- if USAG does get decertified by the USOC, they may have lost the confidence of the American public and they will probably cease to exist.
What would our gyms do then?
We would continue doing what we do. Teaching gymnastics. We would associate ourselves with a different association.
I met this with with the President of the USAIGC to learn about their program and for my gymThe USAIGC seems to be our best alternative. …
Personally, I much prefer J.O. to the U.S. Independent Gymnastics Clubs WAG program.
Better would be launching a replacement for USAG.
USA Gymnastics, for example.
Open and transparent. Ethical. Safe.
One that might attract back sponsors to the sport.
related – some Clubs have not changed any policies in the wake of the Nassar crimes. That’s a big mistake.
timeline of the Nassar fallout
After more than 150 impact statements from survivors over a period of seven days in a Lansing, Michigan, courthouse, Judge Rosemarie Aquilina sentenced Nassar to 40 to 175 years in prison; Nassar had already been handed a 60-year sentence after pleading guilty to charges relating to child pornography. …
If those 150 brave women had not come forward, not been the lead on U.S. media, I’m not sure whether USAG, NCAA, MSU and the USOC would have taken the actions they did.
The impact statements were essential in moving forwards.
Read a timeline of events on FloGymnastics.
Icelandic gymnast Tinna Óðinsdóttir was raped
On January 23, Icelandic media site Nútíminn first shared her story. She told IG that she received more interview requests, but agreed to one televised interview with RÚV, the Icelandic National Broadcasting Service. …
Óðinsdóttir, who turned 23 on November 3, said is considering filing police reports in Germany and in the country where the gymnast resides. Óðinsdóttir said the Icelandic Gymnastics Federation (FSÍ), only recently notified of the incident, has been very supportive.
“We will support her in the steps she decides to take next,” FSÍ chairman Arnar Ólafsson, told RÚV.
Óðinsdóttir did not identify the individual she said assaulted her or the precise competition where she said it occurred, but she competed at the FIG World Cup event held in Cottbus, Germany, in November 2016 …
House passes sexual abuse reporting bill
Good news.
The House passed legislation on Monday to force athletic organizations to swiftly report sexual abuse and establish preventative policies following the sentencing of former USA Gymnastics doctor Larry Nassar.
Lawmakers of both parties overwhelmingly supported the bill in the 406-3 vote. It now heads to the Senate …
Recall that Steve Penny, Mary Lou Retton and others from U.S.A. Gymnastics met with Feinstein in early 2017 to tell her that gymnastics was “a happy, safe place“.
Andrew Fuller #MeToo
Andrew Fuller, a gymnast who competes in trampoline and tumbling events, has accused former USA Gymnastics coach Dr. George Drew of drugging and abusing him while Fuller was training in Michigan. …
Gymnastics Coaching.com 