USA Gymnastics attempting to move past Nassar as trials begin
ST. LOUIS >> USA Gymnastics is trying to shift the narrative away from the Larry Nassar scandal. President Li Li Leung wants to talk about the progress it has made over the last three years. The safeguards it is putting in place to prevent sexual abuse. The programs that focus on education and empowerment. The emphasis on changing a culture that produced plenty of medals but at a sometimes astronomical cost both physically and emotionally to the athletes that won them.
Yet the cloud that’s engulfed the organization since the first survivors of abuse at the hands of the former national team doctor lingers.
While Simone Biles and the rest of the hopefuls looking to join the sport’s biggest star in Tokyo next month spent Wednesday preparing for the U.S. Olympic Trials, a few feet away Leung acknowledged true forward momentum will be difficult to attain as long as the mediation process with Nassar’s survivors remains unresolved.
USA Gymnastics filed for bankruptcy in November 2018 with the hope of having a settlement reached within 18 months. The COVID-19 pandemic has slowed progress significantly and Leung finds herself in the same position now as she was when she took over in March 2019: limited by what she can say — and in some instances, what she can do — out of fear of the legal implications.
“Obviously, we would love to be out of bankruptcy (so) that we can be able to more freely move forward with all of the things that we have been working on and to not have this be a part of the narrative,” Leung said. “But at the end of the day, what has happened is something that we are learning from and we’re using the past to inform how we go forward.”
Leung remains “steadfast” in her belief that a settlement with the dozens of Nassar survivors will be reached, hopefully by the end of the year. A settlement would allow the organization to exit from bankruptcy and — at least symbolically — create a little distance from one of the darkest chapters in the history of the Olympic movement.
Despite instituting a handful of initiatives, including providing athletes with a platform that allows them to anonymously provide feedback in real-time on everything from conditions at national team camp to the cut of their leotards, progress from a public perception standpoint has only moved in fits and starts.
Several Nassar survivors — including Biles — have stressed the need for a more detailed examination of the circumstances that allowed Nassar’s behavior to run unchecked for so long.