Report calls for culture change within USA Gymnastics

USA Gymnastics has had a “largely ineffective approach” to preventing sexual abuse within the sport, failing both to keep pace with best practices and to hold non-compliant gyms and clubs accountable, according to a report commissioned by the sport’s Indianapolis-based national governing body released Tuesday.

In addition to recommending a series of reforms to enact culture change within the sport, the 146-page report found that “over time, the practices of USA Gymnastics have not kept up with best practices in the field of child abuse protection, allowing for significant gaps and exposures regarding the prevention and reporting of child sexual abuse within the sport.”

The report is authored by Deborah J. Daniels, a former federal prosecutor also based in Indianapolis, who has been reviewing USA Gymnastics policies regarded child sexual abuse since late 2016.

The report’s release comes against the backdrop of the worst sexual abuse scandal in American sports history.

More than a hundred former gymnasts and other young athletes have alleged in the last year that they were sexually abused by former USA Gymnastics women’s national and Olympic team physician Larry Nassar. USA Gymnastics officials also ignored complaints of sexual abuse by other coaches and gymnastics officials, according to court documents in other lawsuits. The organization has been the target of hearings and legislation in the U.S. Senate.

A Michigan judge on Friday separately ordered Nassar to stand trial on charges of sexually assaulting six young gymnasts who said he molested them while they sought treatment for injuries. It is one of four criminal cases against Nassar in the state. The longtime Michigan State University doctor is a defendant or co-defendant in numerous civil suits.

John Manly, a California-based attorney whose firm is representing more than 100 alleged victims of abuse by Nassar, called the report “a public relations facade.”

“The report calls for a change in culture but those who created the toxic culture remain in charge of the organization,” Manly said in a statement. “The lack of any real investigation, facts or accountability for those who failed thousands of boys and girls victimized by Nassar and others in the report is disturbing.”

USA Gymnastics, its last three chief executives and longtime U.S. national and Olympic team coaches Bela and Martha Karolyi are being sued in several states by former gymnasts for creating an environment that enabled the sexual abuse by Nassar and others. Steve Penny, the most recent USA Gymnastics CEO, was forced to resign last spring.

USA Gymnastics ordered the review last fall. Daniels interviewed more than 160 people affiliated with USA Gymnastics, visited 25 member clubs and attended a handful of competitions after being commissioned in November

While Daniels’ report repeatedly emphasized the need for culture change, stating that the governing body needs to “seek administrators with fresh perspective” and “change the culture of the entire staff to Athlete Safety First,” USA Gymnastics chairman Paul Parilla said Tuesday he would not resign.

Parilla, an Orange County attorney, has a been a member of the USA Gymnastics board of directors since 1999 and chairman since 2015.

“No, I’m not planning on stepping down and the reason is that our primary focus is and will be to do better to make our athletes safe, and we’re going to improve our board education and training,” Parilla said during a teleconference Tuesday. “We’re going to conduct oversight and accountability as we move forward in the future.”

The Daniels report concluded: “To set the tone for the entire sport, the words and deeds of the USA Gymnastics Board of Directors (Board) and the administrative leadership must embody a culture of protection. In the past, the USA Gymnastics commitment to protecting the safety of the athletes has been questioned by various sources — the media, member clubs, the United States Olympic Committee, and others. To combat these doubts, the leadership must act swiftly, yet deliberately.”

Seventy recommendations in 10 primary areas are designed to provide USA Gymnastics leadership with a road map to change the sport’s entrenched culture.

Chief among the recommendations are “clearly articulating” throughout the organization that athlete safety is its top priority, requiring all USA Gymnastics members to report suspected sexual misconduct immediately to appropriate legal authorities and the U.S. Center for Safe Sport, and revamping and streamlining the organization’s misconduct reporting process to make it easier to report inappropriate conduct.

USA Gymnastics is also in the process of hiring a director for Safe Sport.

“In the past, USA Gymnastics has taken a piecemeal and largely ineffective approach to abuse prevention by adding various documents, webinars and policy updates to its website. Moving forward, USA Gymnastics leadership must take an active role in ensuring that all materials distributed fall within the overarching framework of the newly developed Safe Sport program, and that there is a clear understanding in the field not only of the policies, but also of the consequences, for failure to abide by them. Further, USA Gymnastics leadership must commit to taking decisive action to enforce its policies.”

In particular Daniels said USA Gymnastics leadership must do a better job of holding gyms and clubs more accountable.

“USA Gymnastics currently lacks systems to ensure that member clubs adhere to their membership requirements,” Daniels wrote in the report. “In addition to creating systems to monitor compliance, USA Gymnastics must require members to report violations; and, when USA Gymnastics does learn of a violation, it must respond swiftly.”

“USA Gymnastics prior believed that it had no real leverage over the member clubs, that it couldn’t influence their behaviors,” Daniels said during the conference call. “It would encourage them to take the steps it wanted them to take but it really didn’t do it (in a way) to enforce those steps. What we have recommended is that you treat membership like the privilege that it is and that membership can be at risk and that includes” banning clubs or individuals from participating in USA Gymnastics-sanctioned events.

“Then (there needs to be) accountability throughout the organization so that not only the clubs, but also throughout the organization will be held accountable,” Daniels continued. “We have recommended severe sanctions for the most egregious offenses, one of those being failure to report child abuse.”

Daniels’ review raised a number of concerns about the U.S. national team training center on the Karolyis’ remote ranch in Texas’ Sam Houston National Forest. Lawsuits filed against Nassar, USA Gymnastics and the Karolyis allege that much of Nassar’s sexual abuse of young gymnasts took place there.

The review found there were no clear or formal policies for transportation of young athletes to and from the camp or for their lodging once there, inadequate access for athletes to contact their parents while at the camp, and a lack of screening of counselors working with young athletes for abuse or requiring abuse training for those counselors. The review also found that the training center’s athlete recovery room was “not suitable” for medical examinations.

USA Gymnastics recently dropped plans to purchase the Karolyi ranch as a permanent training center, although the organization will continue to hold camps there until it secures a new training camp.

The review also found that USA Gymnastics’ Athlete Representative’s role in selecting teams for the Olympic Games, World Championships and other international competitions deterred athletes from reporting sexual abuse to the representative.

“Given this clear conflict in the Athlete Representative’s duties and loyalties, it is highly unlikely that any athlete under consideration for inclusion in the team will confide in the Athlete Representative, thus reducing the potential for the reporting of abuse through this avenue,” the report said.

This story was originally published June 27, 2017 at 10:58 PM with the headline "Report calls for culture change within USA Gymnastics."