Gymnastics News #21 - Tumbling on to Tokyo

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OMG I am just sick inside after reading that Canadian National Team Director Dave Brubaker has been charged with 10 criminal offences.

Gymnastics Canada released a statement: http://gymcan.org/news/details/2017_GCG_Statement_Brubaker_EN

A google news search came up with this: https://london.ctvnews.ca/sarnia-police-charge-coach-with-numerous-sexual-offences-1.3723717

Sarnia police have charged a coach with 10 sexual offences.

Police arrested Dave Brubaker Thursday and charged him Friday with one count of invitation to sexual touching, three counts of sexual interference, three counts of sexual exploitation, and three counts of sexual assault.
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In other news, Michigan State is funding counseling and treatment for those abused there. Not surprisingly, the victims aren't overly impressed. If there was an emoji for victim reaction it would be McKayla's O face.
 
*** USA Gymnastics poised to lose key sponsors in wake of sex abuse scandal :
https://www.theguardian.com/sport/2017/dec/15/usa-gymnastics-procter-and-gamble-kelloggs-sex-abuse
USA Gymnastics is poised to lose four key sponsors in the wake of a sexual abuse scandal involving a former team doctor. Procter & Gamble, Kellogg’s, Under Armour and Hershey’s reportedly no longer want to associate themselves with the troubled governing body.

Responding to a report on Thursday, USA Gymnastics confirmed that Procter & Gamble and Kellogg’s had completed their sponsorship contracts. On Friday, ESPN reported that Under Armour and Hershey’s will not renew their deals with the organization.
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That seems very unfortunate for the athletes. Hopefully the leadership of USA Gymnastics will be able to make some changes (lots of changes) to the organization and get the support for the athletes that they need.
 
danafan said:
OMG I am just sick inside after reading that Canadian National Team Director Dave Brubaker has been charged with 10 criminal offences.

Gymnastics Canada released a statement: http://gymcan.org/news/details/2017_GCG_Statement_Brubaker_EN

A google news search came up with this: https://london.ctvnews.ca/sarnia-police-charge-coach-with-numerous-sexual-offences-1.3723717
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I had seen that too. Wow. That one is shocking.

The articles are all pretty sparse on details at this time apparently because of a gag order by the police.
 
skatingguy said:
That seems very unfortunate for the athletes. Hopefully the leadership of USA Gymnastics will be able to make some changes (lots of changes) to the organization and get the support for the athletes that they need.
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It shows how incompetent USAG leadership is. They should have brought the sponsors in a year ago. Unfortunately, honesty and transparency don't seem to be a strength at USAG.
 
The news of sponsors dropping USAG coming right in the heels of the motion to drop the Nassar lawsuit feels like it is not a coincidence. It seems like if USAG had settled with the victims and/or made some attempt to take responsibility for their actions, perhaps this could have been avoided. But they did not get a good response to that move.
 
The biggest problem I have with the way MSU handled this is that they didn't fire him as soon as the allegations were made. I understand that gymnastics is the sport the athletics officials care about the least (at least according to my friend that worked with the program), but it's no excuse not to know who your staff are and what they're accused of - especially at the volume of Nassar. Apparently accusations began to come in 20 years ago, and there were 125 cases reported to the MSU Police over the years. Shouldn't that raise red flags, even for a relatively ignored sport? Shouldn't they have investigated after one case? Or two? Why did it take so long? It's disgusting.

As for the victim's complaint that MSU hasn't fired anyone yet, I don't mind this that much. The external investigation isn't complete yet (although the victims say MSU isn't cooperating). Even in bigger sports like football, MSU tends to wait until an investigation is complete or there's solid evidence to fire people. That's just how they operate - probably to protect themselves from a lawsuit from the fired employee. It seems they've already forced the obvious person (Nassar's boss) to resign. The gymnastics coach who supported Nassar and allowed Nassar to abuse athletes (for 27 years - the entire span of the allegations) was also suspended and later forced to "retire." (She's trying to find work again, but I doubt she'll be able to - at least in Michigan) I'm assuming the less obvious heads will roll when the investigation is done.
 
Since the voice of the victims hasn’t seemed to do much, let’s see how the voice of :bribe: makes USA gymnastics be its sponsor’s b!tch and make the internal changes that should have been made decades ago. I’m concerned with how the loss of sponsorships might affect competitive and developmental opportunities for gymnasts, but at the same time that seems to be best option as opposed to being part of an organization that routinely minimizes the well being of its athletes. Money is unfortunately what makes the world go round, so if not getting the $$ to keep the show going is what restructures USA gymnastics (TBH I hope that a new org with a new name is the governing body in the future) then I hope that all sponsors give the middle finger to USA gymnastics and drops their sponsorship of them.
 
skatingguy said:
That seems very unfortunate for the athletes. Hopefully the leadership of USA Gymnastics will be able to make some changes (lots of changes) to the organization and get the support for the athletes that they need.
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I don't know if it's unfortunate for the athletes. USA Gymnastics hardly ever lets its athletes compete overseas; there's the Japan Jr. competition, and usually a combined sr/jr. trip with two dual meets in Italy. Sometimes, they go to Canada. Maybe one or two lucky gymnasts get to do the World Cup circuit. Other than that, it's just worlds and the non-annual continental championships (Pan Ams and Pacific Alliance Championships). Before camp centralization, Americans competed abroad a lot more. Most of that sponsor money likely went to the camp system (paying for travel expenses every month, housing at camp, limited dietary selections at camp, national training staff, and team doctor). Since the camp system was part and parcel of the systemic abuse present in USAG, it may benefit the athletes to lower the funding for that.
 
Well, with the McKayla Maroney news about the confidentiality agreement, I think sponsors will definitely be heading out the door. So sad for all these athletes who were abused in a secretive system.
 
skatfan said:
Well, with the McKayla Maroney news about the confidentiality agreement, I think sponsors will definitely be heading out the door. So sad for all these athletes who were abused in a secretive system.
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So I just googled this....:eek: OMG!!! :eek:
 
Just... just what?
I have heard awful stuff about USA Gymnastics and the abuse they let slide (and not only the sexual abuse from Larry Nassar), but this news is truly a new low. My god.

I love the US Gymnasts, but I think if any US sports organization should have a ban for anything - this really should. That is absolutely disgusting and disturbing.
 
I'm having a hard time figuring out what USAG is protecting. Most sports GOs are cash poor because they plow the money into the sport. Does USAG have an unusually large stash of cash? If so, why?
 
Aceon6 said:
I'm having a hard time figuring out what USAG is protecting. Most sports GOs are cash poor because they plow the money into the sport. Does USAG have an unusually large stash of cash? If so, why?
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Most non-profits have insurance for this. But usually that insurance requires you to follow protection procedures for minors (everybody is trained, no single adult is left alone with a minor, etc). Hard to know if insurance covered this.
 
Olympic Channel‏Verified account @olympicchannel 4m4 minutes ago
.@TeamGB @Olympics bronze medallist @NileMW finds an alternative use for his @gymnastics skills
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Video courtesy: IG @nilemw
https://twitter.com/olympicchannel/status/953220313789149184
 
USAG is a complete disaster at this point. I know nothing of sports management, but my instinct would be that all top leadership should resign, and they should perhaps turn over temporary management of the sport to the USOC until a future direction can be established, and probably an outsider brought in to restore credibility and proper management? (Not sure even what the possibilities are.) The "camp" system and the centralized, dictatorial team selection process are completely discredited and exposed as inherently hazardous to the underage athletes involved, IMO.

It's disgusting what these girls have had to go through.

https://twitter.com/Aly_Raisman/status/953077825698959361
 
From what Aly Raisman said on Outside the Lines, it sounds disgusting. She and her mom were constantly telling USA Gymnastics to open an investigation and checking back to make sure they did. And then USA Gymnastics would lie to her and tell her that there was an investigation - not only that there was an investigation but also that they told Aly and her mom to stop calling them because their continued interest would "threaten the investigation." Which, how can you threaten a non-existent investigation?
 
Willin said:
From what Aly Raisman said on Outside the Lines, it sounds disgusting. She and her mom were constantly telling USA Gymnastics to open an investigation and checking back to make sure they did. And then USA Gymnastics would lie to her and tell her that there was an investigation - not only that there was an investigation but also that they told Aly and her mom to stop calling them because their continued interest would "threaten the investigation." Which, how can you threaten a non-existent investigation?
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Video of Aly Raisman's interview from ESPN's Outside the Lines

I have tweeted to GymCastic (@GymCastic) that we need to start a petition to ESPN to award Raisman that Arthur Ashe Courage Award at the ESPYs this year.
 
It is so horrible such a wonderful women like Aly Raisman and Jordyn Weiber had to go through all that. Just a crime!
 
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