The top senators on a Senate Commerce subcommittee are demanding answers from USA Gymnastics, the U.S. Olympic Committee, and Michigan State University about “systemic failures” to protect athletes after sports doctor Larry Nassar was sentenced to up to 175 years in prison for sexually abusing more than 150 women and children.
“While we appreciate the efforts by USOC to establish the U.S. Center for Safe Sport, which is focused on protecting the well-being of athletes on and off the field, it is obvious that additional measures need to be taken in order to prevent similarly heinous crimes from occurring in the future while ensuring appropriate reporting in the unfortunate event that they do,” Sens. Jim Moran, R-Kan., and Richard Blumenthal, D-Conn., wrote to the three institutions.
Moran and Blumenthal are the chairman and ranking member of the Senate Commerce Subcommittee on Consumer Protection, Product Safety, Insurance, and Data Security, respectively.
The senators want to know what procedures are in place for handling child and sexual abuse allegations, as well as what the three organizations are doing to ensure sexual abuse, like the abuse perpetrated by Nassar, the former USA Gymnastics team doctor, does not occur again in any Olympic sport.
The two senators also want answers from USA Gymnastics, the U.S. Olympic Committee, and Michigan State University regarding a nondisclosure agreement Olympic gymnast McKayla Maroney signed threatening a $100,000 file if she spoke out about Nassar’s abuse.
The existence of the agreement was brought to light in December, when Maroney filed a lawsuit against the U.S. Olympic Committee and USA Gymnastics for failing to “properly investigate, discipline, or remove” Nassar despite knowing about his misconduct.
The Olympic gymnast signed a $1.25 million settlement agreement with USA Gymnastics in 2016 related to claims of sexual abuse by Nassar. The confidentiality clause and penalty were included in the settlement, and Maroney said she was “coerced” into signing it.
Moran and Blumenthal want to know whether it is common for the U.S. Olympic Committee and the National Governing Bodies to use non-disclosure agreements during investigations.
More than 150 women and girls came forward during Nassar’s seven-day sentencing hearing to speak out about they suffered. Judge Rosemarie Aquilina sentenced Nassar to 40 to 175 years in prison Wednesday.
