Nassar fallout rocks sport
Gymnastics panel set to step down; Karolyi Ranch drawing scrutiny
Facing an ultimatum from the U.S. Olympic Committee, USA Gymnastics said Friday its entire board of directors will resign over the sexual abuse scandal involving Dr. Larry Nassar, convicted of molesting female athletes, some as young as 6.
The embattled federation, which oversees Team USA and member clubs across the country, faced dissolution after harsh criticism from top gymnasts, including gold medalist Aly Raisman, for what victims said was lax oversight that permitted Nassar to assault gymnasts at the Karolyi Ranch and at competitions around the globe.
Among other Olympians who have alleged abuse by Nassar, the former longtime team physician for the national women’s team, are McKayla Maroney, Simone Biles, Jordyn Wieber and Jamie Dantzscher. On Wednesday, Nassar, 54, a longtime USA Gymnastics national team doctor, was sentenced to 40 to 175 years in prison in Lansing, Mich.,
for sexual abuse inflicted under the guise of patient care.
Victims and their attorneys have been calling for changes and an independent inquiry of both USA Gymnastics and the USOC, but both organizations had resisted until this past week, when the sevenday sentencing hearing — which featured emotional testimony from 156 girls and women — galvanized national outrage over the case.
Congress weighs in
The USA Gymnastics move was part of a fastpaced Friday of fallout that included an announcement by the U.S. House Energy and Commerce Committee that it will conduct hearings on sexual abuse within organized sports, and the resignation of the athletic director at Michigan State University, which employed Nassar.
In Texas, Walker County Sheriff Clint McRae said there was a “very good possibility” local investigators will seek to question Nassar.
Some former gymnasts have said they were abused by Nassar during team training camps at the Karolyi Ranch, the 2,000-acre ranch in the Sam Houston National Forest, midway between Huntsville and New Waverly, that housed monthly training camps from 2001 through 2017.
Prosecuting Nassar in Texas is unlikely, given the length of the Michigan sentence on top of a 60-year federal sentence imposed on Nassar for possession of child pornography.
“A full investigation has been conducted, and it is still an active investigation,” McRae told the Chronicle. “There are certain witnesses that still need to be interviewed. We are still waiting on some statements.”
McRae would not say if investigators have spoken with ranch owners Bela and Martha Karolyi, who were former USA Gymnastics national team coordinators.
He said an investigator has spoken with USA Gymnastics officials in Indianapolis but did not elaborate on details.
Some gymnasts and others have cited the secluded nature of the ranch as contributing to the factors that enabled Nassar to abuse girls and women over a period of years.
A lawsuit filed in California has accused Martha and Bela Karolyi with fostering a toxic environment during training camps that enabled Nassar to gain the trust of gymnasts.
In addition to information gathered by detectives, McRae said investigators would consider evidence submitted to the office. He did not know if the local probe would be merged with potential state or federal investigations but that investigators have been in contact with other law enforcement agencies.
“People with factual information can contact us,” he said. “We would like to see our investigation completed in a timely fashion, but we’re not going to rush anything.”
No license to practice
Nassar was employed by USA Gymnastics from 1996 through 2015 and was present at training camps in Texas in a medical capacity.
The Dallas Morning News reported this week that Nassar was not licensed to practice medicine in Texas, according to the Texas Medical Board.
USOC CEO Scott Blackmun had given USA Gymnastics until next Wednesday for the resignation of its 21-member board and to meet other demands within three months to a year.
Blackmun said the USOC has no knowledge that USA Gymnastics staff members or board members “had a role in fostering or obscuring Nassar’s actions. Our position comes from a clear sense that USAG culture needs fundamental rebuilding.”
Other requirements include employee training, increased USOC oversight and cooperation with an independent investigation into who knew or who should have known of reported abuses by Nassar.
USA Gymnastics, meanwhile, continues to lose corporate sponsors in the wake of Nassar’s sentencing. Chobani, KT Tape and nutritional supplement maker Thorne Research are among the latest defectors, Sports Business Daily reported.
Fallout at Michigan St.
The Nassar case also continued to reverberate at Michigan State, which employed Nassar as a faculty member. Mark Hollis said Friday he would retire Jan. 31 as athletic director at the school, which faces an NCAA inquiry and an investigation by the Department of Education. School president Lou Anna Simon said late Wednesday that she would resign.
ESPN reported Friday that the school insufficiently complied with federal officials monitoring the university under Title IX, the gender-equity law. The network’s investigation described a pattern in which sexual assault complaints involving prominent athletes, including more than a dozen on the football team and a few in the celebrated men’s basketball program, were handled by the athletic department rather than regular university channels.
Sen. Jeanne Shaheen, DN.H., and Sen. Joni Ernst, R-Iowa, called for the Senate to establish a select committee to investigate, and the House Energy and Commerce Committee sent letters to USA Gymnastics and the USOC as part of its investigation into sexual abuse in organized sports.
U.S. Education Secretary Betsy DeVos says her agency is investigating the scandal.