Gymnastics prez resigns
Critics rip abuse response
Kerry Perry resigned as USA Gymnastics president Tuesday, ending a rocky nine-month tenure marked by claims she fumbled the federation’s response to the Larry Nassar scandal.
Perry, a former executive at a sports marketing firm with no background in gymnastics, took over last December after former Olympic gymnast McKayla Maroney said Nassar repeatedly molested her.
A month into Perry’s tenure, reigning Olympic champion Simone Biles revealed on social media that Nassar molested her as well.
That same week, Olympic medalists Aly Raisman and Jordyn Wieber confronted Nassar in a Michigan courtroom during a sentencing hearing that included searing statements from more than 150 victims.
As the Nassar scandal exploded exponentially, Perry was criticized for keeping a low profile and offering little in terms of a proactive response or tangible changes to the organization considered a crown jewel of the U.S. Olympic network.
“She treated survivors as adversaries. She never put a survivor on the board. She surrounded herself with people who believed, frankly, that this was no big deal,” lawyer John Manly, who represents Raisman and scores of other athletes suing over Nassar’s abuse, told The News.
Perry’s resignation came after U.S. Olympic Committee CEO Sarah Hirshland said Friday it was time for USA Gymnastics was “to consider making adjustments in the leadership.”
Hirshland made the comments in the wake of the abrupt hiring and firing last week of coach Mary Lee Tracy, who was considered controversial because she initially defended Nassar.