Jimena
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And that is why I said that the sport needs to change. It's an abusive culture.
Aly tweeted a lovely message of support for Mattie (I haven't read her impact statement but what Miss Val wrote was heartbreaking). I am so so impressed with her and hope she does take a leadership position of some sort in the future.
*** U.S.A. Gymnastics Still Values Medals More Than Girls :Nine months before the 2016 Summer Games opened in Rio, a reprimand unprecedented in Olympic history was leveled upon Russia’s track and field team. The international governing body for track and field stripped the Russian team of its license to participate in Rio upon a mountain of evidence that a systemic, state-sponsored doping program fueled the Russian team.
“The whole system,” International Association of Athletics President Sebastian Coe stated at the time, “has failed the athletes, not just in Russia, but around the world.”
The International Federation of Gymnastics should apply that precedent to USA Gymnastics.
Here’s where they can start:
First: U.S.A. Gymnastics has yet to admit that its response was inadequate or hold those who were negligent accountable. Until it does, the system that allowed Dr. Nassar and others to abuse without consequence will remain. “I think U.S.A. Gymnastics for a very, very long time has focused on nothing but winning gold medals,” Shawn Johnson, a 2008 Olympic gold medalist, said in a YouTube video on Monday. “As it pertains to U.S.A. Gymnastics, every single procedure, rule, guideline, rule book you’ve ever made needs to be thrown out the window and redone.” Exactly.
*** USA Gymnastics needs to blow things up and start over with a safe, fresh foundation :
https://www.washingtonpost.com/spor...2ba682-ff80-11e7-bb03-722769454f82_story.html
*** U.S.A. Gymnastics Still Values Medals More Than Girls :
https://www.nytimes.com/2018/01/23/opinion/usa-gymnastics-abuse-nassar.html
Forcing the U.S. gymnasts to sit out the Olys would only punish the athletes (and make them much less likely to report abuse the next time). It's the higher-ups that need to be punished.
They obviously had a great friendship that dates way back, considering that she was approached by an athlete (Rachel Denhollander) in the late 90s about the abuse and did not report it.
Thanks for the correction @Erin! I have edited my post accordingly. There’s sadly too many names to keep track of
I am afraid you are probably right. It appears that the names on the Detroit Free Press's tweeted list are the ones who appeared in court or had statements read on their behalf. There are plenty more (Simone Biles doesn't seem to be listed) who have come forward but did not take part in the court proceedings.There really are And these are only the names of people who came forward. I suspect there are at least twice as many victims who didn't come forward, if not more. I wouldn't be surprised if the real number of his victims was over 500.
I don't doubt Daggett's sincerity, but he happens to put his finger on what's been bugging me. The way the gymnasts were trying to please Marta, Marta's demeanor towards the gymnasts and the way she was portrayed in broadcast after broadcast: how could it seemed so obviously unhealthy and childish to me through the TV, but apparently not to all those involved in said broadcast production? I've never been able to stand listening to the Karolyi's in interviews, they never seemed truthful and caring to me. Had it never seemed abnormal that so much control was given to a single individual? How about Little Girls in Pretty Boxes over 20 years ago? How about Zmeskal, Moceanu, White, all suffering from overuse injuries so close to the Olympics? How about Elise Ray (one example among many) who was completely disgusted after her own Olympic experience? How about forcing so many high school students to attend so many camps, as if their schedule wasn't already extremely demanding? How is it normal that from before the Olympic Trials to after the Olympics, the women's Olympic team wasn't allowed to relax and spend time with their family so they could be rested and reach their physical and mental peak by the competition?