From left, Hazley Rivera, Jocelyn Robertson, Suni Lee, Simone Biles, Jade Carey, Jordan Chiles and Leanne Wang in Minneapolis Pictured after being selected to the 2024 U.S. Olympic women’s gymnastics team on the fourth day of the 2024 U.S. Olympic Gymnastics Trials.
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In early 2018, things were looking grim for USA Gymnastics.
The organization that oversees one of the country’s most popular Olympic sports is at an all-time low following a massive sex abuse scandal. It faced closure from U.S. Olympic officials. The lawsuits keep piling up. Major sponsors such as AT&T and UnderArmour fled.
Perhaps the biggest critics are former gymnasts themselves, who are starting to speak more openly about the problematic culture in gymnastics, long overshadowed by years of Olympic success.
Now, six years later, the reform is significant. No American team has had more success in Paris than the women’s gymnastics team. The five-man team, led by 27-year-old Olympic veteran Simone Biles, is expected to win multiple gold medals, including the team all-around.
“People turn a blind eye to abuse,” said Dominique Dawes, a member of the 1996 Olympic team who won the team all-around gold medal at the Atlanta Summer Games. “People talk about a toxic culture, people talk about abuse. But I think people are just in awe of what we’ve accomplished.”
Dawes and others say the culture at USA Gymnastics has improved now. A new organization oversees athlete safety and competitors are empowered to ask questions. However, more progress may be needed before a complete turnaround is achieved.
“The thing is, I think there’s always some work that needs to be done,” Dawes said.
hit rock bottom
The organization’s long-time team doctor, Larry Nassar, had just been sentenced to spend the rest of his life in prison in January 2018 after hundreds of young female gymnasts came forward saying he used his position to sexually assault them. Sexual assault.
The Indianapolis Star first reported in August 2016 during the Summer Olympics in Rio de Janeiro that the abuse scandal involved others besides Nassar.
Victims of abuse say USA Gymnastics’ organizational culture is partly to blame for the abuse.
“Emotional abuse is rampant, physical abuse is rampant. Sexual abuse is a byproduct of that culture,” said Jessica Howard, a rhythmic gymnast who competed for USA Gymnastics in the late 1990s and early 2000s. Howard said in a speech.
Former gymnasts say this problematic culture has permeated the organization for years. For decades, USA Gymnastics’ women’s program was run by legendary coach Marta Karolyi, who led her teams to gold medals, even as gymnasts left feeling the success came at a personal cost.
Then-U.S. national team coach Marta Karolyi poses with (from left) Jordyn Wieber during training for the 2012 AT&T America’s Cup at Madison Square Garden in New York City in March 2012. Wieber, Alexnadra Raisman and Gabby Douglas chat.
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Karolyi’s regime was characterized by a heavy training schedule and the pressure to compete despite serious injuries. Dawes said emotions are tightly controlled, especially during competition, under the guise of protecting gymnasts to focus on the Olympics. “We weren’t allowed to look at our competitors. We were actually told to look away. We never cheered for each other,” she said.
According to victims, gymnasts were required to attend training camps at the Caroli Gymnastics facility in Texas, where much of Larry Nassar’s abuse occurred. Parents are not allowed to accompany their daughters. Access to food was strictly monitored, leading some participants, including Byers, to sneak into the cafeteria to eat at night.
“Under Marta’s leadership, girls were systematically separated from their parents, siblings, real doctors and their own coaches, leaving them vulnerable to abuse and starvation on a daily basis,” former gymnast Rachel Denholland Rachael Denhollander, the first woman to publicly accuse Nassar, said in a post.
Calloy retired after the 2016 Olympics, just before Nassar’s accusations became widely publicized. She has long denied any knowledge of the abuse.
A 2021 legal settlement helped turn that around, as did hiring former gymnasts into leadership roles
In 2021, USA Gymnastics agreed to pay $380 million to settle lawsuits from Nassar’s sexual assault victims. The organization also agreed to allocate board seats to representatives of abuse survivors.
“The survivors paid the price and the price,” lead victims attorney John Manly told NPR after the 2021 settlement. “They fundamentally want to change the culture where money and medals are the only things that matter, because This way, they can protect other women, girls, boys and men from having this happen to them.
Two major changes for USA Gymnastics are devolving control of the women’s program and bringing more former gymnasts into its management.
In 2022, it hired three team officers to fill a single leadership position held for years by Marta Karolyi. Two of the three new officials – technical head Chellsie Memmel and head of strategy Alicia Sacramone Quinn – are former Olympic gymnasts athlete.
At a press conference ahead of the Minneapolis Olympic Trials last month, Quinn publicly acknowledged that gymnasts like her had been discouraged from raising concerns about their health.
“Like, I know I’m not going to say, ‘Hey, I don’t think I can do 45 beam moves today,'” Quinn said.
She said she and other officials have been working to improve communication between USA Gymnastics and its athletes.
“I think it’s good for us because we know where they stand. I think it’s good for them because we’re going to respect what they know about their bodies and what their abilities are,” Quinn said.
Age is a factor, and Biles, 27, leads by example
Quinn and other gymnastics officials praised the example of captain Biles, who at 27 is older than most top gymnasts.
She is often seen cheering on competitors and comforting injured teammates during games. Officials and Biles herself said her years of experience — including her withdrawal from several events at the 2021 Tokyo Olympics over concerns about her mental health — have allowed her to speak more candidly with coaches and USA Gymnastics.
“I think athletes are more comfortable now and we trust our instincts. We take mental health more seriously,” Biles said after the trial.
Female gymnasts are among the youngest Olympians. The U.S. team has nearly 600 athletes, the youngest of whom is gymnast Hezly Rivera, who turned 16 last month.
There are some promising signs of improvement.
When the Minneapolis Olympic Trials wrapped up earlier this month, the big news was the return of gymnast Suni Lee, who was sidelined last year with kidney disease. come over.
When asked who was most helpful in her comeback, Lee mentioned USA Gymnastics’ team doctors.
“She was always checking on me, making sure I was okay,” Lee said. “Like reminding me basically of my worth and just telling me to never give up because she knew I would be very disappointed in myself if I gave up on this dream.”
