Three members of USA Gymnastics board members resigned on Monday, who were spattered by former national doctor Larry Nassar’s sexual abuse scandal on many athletes, including several stars in the sport.
Nassar joined the federation in 1986, before being named national medical coordinator ten years later, until 2015.
The 54-year-old osteopath, long regarded as one of the best sports doctors, he is currently appearing in court in Lansing, Michigan, for assaulting more than 100 women athletes, the vast majority of whom were former minor gymnasts at the time. He was sentenced to 60 years in prison for possession of child pornography in last December.
The scandal was revealed in late 2016 by the press, led to the resignation in March 2017 of USA Gymnastics president Steve Penny. He was accused of alerting the authorities too late about these accusations.
The board said it has since adopted a new “safe sport policy” that requires “reporting compulsorily” any suspicion of sexual assault.
On Monday, USA Gymnastics president Kerry J. Perry said in a statement the resignation of Paul Parilla, chairman of his board, deputy Jay Binder, and treasurer Bitsy Kelley.
“We believe this step will allow us to more effectively move forward in implementing change within our organisation.” Perry said.
On the other hand, on his twitter account, the USOC Chief Executive Scott Blackmun wrote his organisation has demanded USA Gymnastics to reform its culture and leadership.
“New board leadership is necessary because the current leaders have been focused on establishing that they did nothing wrong. USA Gymnastics needs to focus on supporting the brave survivors.” Blackman said.
USA Gymnastics president Kerry J. Perry. (Source:www.indystar.com)
Following the U.S. National Gymnastics team exposed the former Canadian’s women gymnastics director, David Brubaker, was also arrested for sex-related crimes.
Reuters reported that police in Sarnia, Ontario, Canada, confirmed in a statement that Brubaker was charged with ten sexual abuses on the following day: 3 counts of sexual exploitation, 3 counts of sexual interference and 1 count of invitation to sexual touching.
Brubaker was the head coach of the 2016 Rio Olympic Gymnastics Team Canada. The Canadian gymnastics team was “deeply upset and shocked” by the allegations, saying that Brubaker has been ordered to take an administrative leave.
According to the police, he was released on bail and is scheduled to appear in February this year. However, Reuters reporter tried to contact Brook but they failed.
