USA Gymnastics' new director of sports medicine lasts only one day in the job

[mahatmakanejeeves]

Source: Washington Post

Olympics
USA Gymnastics’ new director of sports medicine lasts only one day in the job

By Cindy Boren, Reporter covering sports, with an emphasis on politics and national stories
May 1 at 8:01 AM

One day after USA Gymnastics named Edward Nyman their first full-time director of sports medicine and science, he is out of the job.

The organization, struggling to gets its bearings after the Larry Nassar scandal, cited an unspecified conflict of interest Tuesday as the reason for seeking a different director so quickly. Nynan is a former gymnast and coach who as an assistant with the women’s program at the University of Pittsburgh and has a doctorate in biomechanics.

However, a lawyer for some 200 gymnasts who said they were survivors of Nassar’s abuse claimed that gymnasts were not consulted and criticized the decision to hire a man. “Competing elite gymnasts are stakeholders. A number of them were abused by Larry Nassar. None of them were consulted about this pick. None of my clients abused by Nassar want anything to do with male physicians,” John Manly tweeted when the hiring was announced Monday.

Translation from USAG double talk: “We are not going to tell you the real reason we fired him because if we did it’s going to make us all at USAG look one hell of a lot dumber than we already look”. Bozos.

Link to tweet

....

Cindy Boren arrived at The Post in 2000 as an assignment editor in charge of baseball and NFL/Redskins coverage. She switched to full-time writing, focusing on national sports stories and issues, when she founded The Early Lead blog in 2010. Follow https://twitter.com/cindyboren

Read more: https://www.washingtonpost.com/sports/2019/05/01/usa-gymnastics-new-director-sports-medicine-lasts-only-one-day-job/

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USA Gymnastics’ new director of sports medicine lasts only one day in the job

Link to tweet

[Blue_Tires]

1. So he got fired for being male and because the gymnasts didn't have final hiring approval?

I hope there is a lot more to the story than this...

[forgotmylogin]

4. Why would it be so difficult to provide a female doctor/person in charge for female gymnasts?

Especially since many of them are very young and impressionable and shouldn't be put in the position of having to assert to a grown-up that sports medicine does not involve genital contact?

I don't blame them for being cautious after all this, and holding out for someone they can trust.

[Blue_Tires]

8. Fair enough... Point taken.

But then why didn't the gymnasts come out en masse earlier and demand for a woman hire?

[forgotmylogin]

10. I don't know how much publicity there was about the prospective hire.

Maybe they didn't know he was in the queue to succeed Nassar? Maybe the board didn't even know until recently. The fact they claimed they weren't consulted suggests he was a quick replacement.

It almost seems kind of a no-brainer that a woman would be the most appropriate replacement in this position under these circumstances.

[obamanut2012]

11. Because they were not told they were hiring -- why in the hell is it the victims' job to do this???

Your comments on here are disappointingly victim-blamey and tone deaf. I am surprised.

[Blue_Tires]

12. I just want to know why a supposedly qualified and vetted hire

got removed from the job after a single day, and I really hope there's more to it than simply being a man, especially since this job position is administrative and does NOT involve him physically examining gymnasts...

If there is something I'm missing here, please enlighten me since I'm somehow the tone-deaf one here.

[Merlot]

15. That's what you're worried about?

A man lost his job and you're concerned because...a man lost his job?

[Blue_Tires]

16. I'm concerned that a man lost his job

for no other stated reason than being a man...

Not a difficult concept to understand, right?

[obamanut2012]

9. That is literally enough

Women and girls sexually abused and digitally raped by a male doctor do not wnat to ever be touched by a male doctor again. And, the gymnasts are way these buffoons even have jobs -- they should have been consulted, some should have been on the search committee -- ie Rachael Denhollander.

[Blue_Tires]

13. Bottom of the story:

Now, USA Gymnastics is searching for a new hire. There has been no comment from Nyman, whom Leung had described as “uniquely qualified” when he was hired. She had touted the hire as “important because it is critical for our becoming more athlete-centric.” The director’s job includes overseeing and managing the medical staff — physicians, athletic trainers and physical therapists — and does not involve directly treating male or female athletes.

[jberryhill]

17. Like WWII vets that don't like Japanese people

It's perfectly understandable that there are veterans who do not want to receive care from Japanese, Vietnamese, or various persons of Middle Eastern origin, due to their previous traumatic experiences.

[Me.]

2. My Thought Too

Are there no qualified female doctors or do they think doctors are only men?

[Blue_Tires]

3. If he wasn't the candidate with the best credentials

then I have serious questions about how he was ever hired...

But if he *WAS* the candidate with the best credentials, then firing him over social media pressure was nothing short of cowardice, unless there were some hidden red flags in his background...

Maybe USAG should cut to the chase and let the gymnasts themselves make the hire next time?

[Me.]

6. I Don't Think It Was A Social Media Matter

I think as there are still members on the team that were victims of Nassar, I can understand their reluctance to have another male doctor. But if this was the reason then why wasn't this a factor before the hire was made?

[MicaelS]

5. I do not blame these women one bit.

What happened to them was appalling. USAG was totally at fault. They should have a choice to who touches them.

[Sucha NastyWoman]

7. That is what matters

Normally the doctors gender shouldn’t matter. But the history here compels USA gymnastics to get approval on some things like this from gymnasts themselves.

It is a good sign that these women/girls have learned to fight for what they need.

[jberryhill]

32. Amen

It would be like hiring Vietnamese nurses for a veterans hospital. Terrible idea.

[Blue_Tires]

14. But he wasn't going to be touching them in the first place??

The director’s job includes overseeing and managing the medical staff — physicians, athletic trainers and physical therapists — and does not involve directly treating male or female athletes.

[obamanut2012]

18. Why are you doubling down so much over this dude being fired???

[Dr. Strange]

19. It sounds like he thinks it's wrong to fire someone based on their gender identity.

The Supreme Court is hearing a case regarding this very issue: https://www.democraticunderground.com/10142305923

[Blue_Tires]

21. Am I the only one seeing the slippery slope here?

Because unless there's some part of the story I have yet to hear, it very much looks like Nyman is being made to pay for the crimes of Nasser, and that doesn't sit right with me... Yes, I know the "official" reason was some mystery "conflict of interest", but I find it damn near impossible to believe with so much attention on USAG and so much at stake in trying to rehab their reputation that they didn't background check Nyman all the way back to the day he was born. Nevermind the fact that this "conflict of interest" being discovered on his first day at work after so much social media outrage seems convenient as all hell...

Look... I understand and sympathize with the hundreds of young women are still trying to heal after years and years of sexual violation and not being believed... I've read the reports and I watched their public testimonies from end to end, so spare me the insults on my character. If they want to force Nyman out after one day because he fudged his credentials or there's something really shady in his past, then fine. But if Nyman is out because it's "bad optics" or he happens to be the same gender as Larry Nassar and therefore shares collective guilt, then I got a huge problem because this path leads to someplace ugly really fast -- It's no different than New Yorkers refusing to hire Muslims/Arabs after 9/11 and I think y'all can damn well see this for yourselves...

And yes, while none of the women staffers were committing sexual assault in this scandal, I seem to recall no fewer than a half-dozen women of authority or administrative oversight from the trial who played an active, willful part in covering for Nasser, making sure none of the accusations against him went anywhere, blackballing athletes with the courage to step forward, and worse...

I dunno, maybe it's my tone or something, but somehow I've managed to create the wrong impression and irk some folks in this thread. I honestly do hope that there is more to this story than I've read and I'm just jumping into this thread with my half-informed hot takes as I have a tendency to do. Regardless, Nyman is not the hill I'm planning to die on, so he'll move on, the gymnasts will move on, USAG will move on and this story will fall down the memory hole. I just wanted to fully lay out my thinking process and interpretation of events before moving on myself...

[MicaelS]

20. These women were sexually assaulted for years..

By a man. USGA let it happened. I think it is the least USGA could do to acede to their wishes.

[mopinko]

22. and those assaults were covered up.

by, um, men?

[friendly_iconoclast]

24. "and those assaults were covered up. by, um, men?" *And* women

[jberryhill]

29. Nursing services deal with this kind of thing all of the time

There are patients who had previous traumatic experiences with African Americans and only want to be treated by white people.

Nonetheless there are people who think it is wrong to only provide white nurses to those people.

[mopinko]

23. no, but he would be the one handling the complaints if someone else did.

he is the one who would do the covering up, if that came to be.
why wouldnt they want that person to not be a man?

c'mon now.

[nitpicker]

25. One possibility aired on Reddit

https://www.reddit.com/r/Gymnastics/comments/bj7oy5/gymcastic_claims_that_newly_named_director_of/

(snip)
[–]SpiritedTiger 22 points 1 day ago

So some people are speculating that the conflict of interest has something to do with his wife's gym. Her gym is in that region 5 consortium that loves to defend John Geddert, Don McPherson, MLT and the likes so maybe it has something to do with that?

But honestly, how is this organization so damn incompetent. Try announcing things to your athletes, explaining them, getting input and only THEN announce your hires. Use your athlete reps and have them, reach out to actual athletes. You can't claim to be making athlete centered decisions without bouncing things off the athletes.
(snip)

((Gym ownership confirmed via

https://newsroom.findlay.edu/gymnastics-and-cheerleading-enthusiast-combines-passion-with-academic-research/

(snip)
Mentored by Ed Nyman Jr., Ph.D., assistant professor of health and human performance, Hoffman researched the mechanical performance of gymnastics spring floor components and the associated impact on athletes. The research topic was a perfect fit as Nyman and Hoffman shared a unique connection to the sport of gymnastics.
For Nyman, his connection with the sport spans decades. He is a contributor to education in the sport of gymnastics at some of the highest levels and serves as a regular clinician at the state, regional and national level at USA Gymnastics events. In addition, his wife owns a gymnastics gym.
Nyman’s association with gymnastics also brought several connections with spring floor manufacturers to the table, which allowed Hoffman and Nyman to test 15 spring floor configurations, including those used for the men’s and women’s gymnastics Olympic Trials.
(snip)))

[nitpicker]

26. Accirding to this, he co-owned the gym until 2009

https://bgsufalcons.com/news/2011/10/12/GYM_1012114352.aspx

[jberryhill]

30. Ah, so he's been involved in gymnastics?

[NotHardly]

27. You might want to hold indignation for an explination... unless this is FACEBOOK?

[NotHardly]

28. Moreover, why should not the victims have a say in hiring... remember???

they have standing.

[jberryhill]

31. Seriously

Could you imagine a veterans hospital hiring Vietnamese doctors and nurses? That would be awful for those patients.

[Blue_Tires]

33. Then the victims should have cut to the chase

and said from the start that they wouldn't accept a man in the role, regardless of his qualifications...

Following this logic, the victims should also get a say on who Michigan State University selects as president and who serves on the board of trustees, right? Or does nobody here give a shit about the cover-up?