USA Gymnastics board to resign amid sex abuse scandal: spokeswoman

Link to tweet

In his latest essay, Zirin quotes 3-time Olympic gold medal swimmer (1984) Nancy Hogshead-Makar, now an attorney and Title IX expert:

(Boldface emphasis is mine - DMH)

(quote)

Congress should investigate Scott Blackmun and the USOC because of their
deliberate indifference to the safety of athletes.
The Olympic sports movement is a pedophile’s dream set-up.
Families are expected to give complete control over to the coach, oftentimes banning parents from watching practices. Emotional abuse is considered ‘motivation,’ and there is almost no coaching oversight from sport governing bodies like US Soccer.
To make matters worse, the US Olympic Committee’s official legal position is that the organization doesn’t protect athletes from sexual abuse, that removing pedophiles from the Olympic movement isn’t their job.
Really.
If that doesn’t raise the hair on your neck, consider that club owners are for-profit businesses and have zero economic incentive to report sexual abuse to police or child services. The bad PR could cost them dearly if word of the abuse got out. Club owners frequently fire the abusing coach quietly, and he is hired at another club, becoming someone else’s problem.
In 2014, I represented 19 victims of coach sex abuse in swimming, who were protesting Chuck Wielgus’s induction into the hall of fame, because of his miserable handling of sexual abuse. One week later Blackmun announced that the USOC would create ‘SafeSport.’
It took him almost three years to open its doors. No business can wait three years to start an HR department. Meanwhile, his pay and expense account ballooned.
Think of the hundreds—if not thousands —of victims that could have been saved.

(unquote)

All in all, a considerable number of heads should roll at all major parties: USA Gymnastics, the USOC, Michigan State University, and possibly Michigan state government officials, since MSU (unlike their rival in Ann Arbor) is a publicly-subsidized institution.

Once it reaches the whole International Olympic Committee and all offshoots the gross crimes will be revealed.

Can it be cleansed without correcting the way humans treat each other?

The University of Michigan in Ann Arbor, Dearborn and Flint are State-Funded Institutions of Higher Learning. There are 15 Colleges in Total and Michigan State University is one of the fifteen.

To have more insight of Michigan's Publicly-Funded College, feel free to update oneself here.

Next, Michigan State Governmental Officials have NO LIABILITY for the actions of individual employees and/or other elected officials (as in MSU Elected Board of Trustees) at MSU. The Michigan State Government has OVERSIGHT only and can pass laws related to actions at all Publicly-Funded Colleges, not just MSU. It is up to the State Legislative Bodies to decide if they desire to do just this and such a law would need to Governor's signature or enough votes in both chambers to override a Governor's Veto.

It is for the MSU Board of Trustees as fiduciaries to take actions protect the Institution and its Students (Past or Present).

The Michigan Attorney General has a right to bring criminal charges if warranted against at employee, Trustee or President of MSU if it can be enough evidence supports such a charge. That is now being determined by the Attorney General of Michigan.

Given Michigan's current state government makeup (ie. Governor Synder) though, I'm not holding my breath.

Those poor girls. I heard one girl on tv say that she reported it early on, and her parents & the trainer people didn't believe her. They brought in other girls...I think to say how the dr hadn't done anything to THEM. Then behind her back, they reported her story to the dr. Then they sent her BACK to the dr.. He walked in and said, "I spoke with your mother...." So the girl apologized, saying it was a misunderstanding. And he cont'd doing what he was doing, and she never tried to report it again.

It's hard to believe that all those people didn't know that the dr was molesting those girls, when some had reported it, over YEARS.

The whole organization is riddled with money, cronyism, power, graft --- Oh, they're all part of the same.

I've been slightly knowledgeable about the Olympics since the 1980 Winters. Perhaps earlier it was more about the athletics and performance. From what I know recently it's a bit about nationalism, and a whole lot about money.

The athletes are nothing more than disposable pawns while rich guys (any gals?) having their way.

Link to tweet

Link to tweet