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It's getting worse for USA gymnastics, athletes paid hush money

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December 21, 2017, 09:30 PM
2000Z-71
It's getting worse for USA gymnastics, athletes paid hush money
Totally disgusting. I'm not sue which I find more repulsive, the abuse by the coach or the coverup by USA Gymnastics.

https://www.newsandguts.com/go...n-stay-silent-abuse/

Gold Medalist McKayla Maroney Paid $1.25 Million To Stay Silent On Abuse
By News & Guts

It is one of the most popular and highly rated sports of the Olympic games. But now we have to ask the unthinkable. Will USA Gymnastics survive? Something has to change and fast after horrific new assertions were revealed about Olympic gold medalist McKayla Maroney. According to court records, Maroney, one of the most famous Olympians of modern times, was paid $1.25 million in a settlement with USA Gymnastics, the governing body of the sport, to stay silent after suffering years of sexual abuse by Dr. Larry Nassar. If you haven’t followed this sordid saga, Nassar was recently convicted of sexually abusing several athletes (not Maroney) while he was team physician for USA gymnastics and Michigan State University. But his recent conviction is only the beginning. He’s been accused of assaulting more than 140 additional girls, according to lawsuits.

But no one knew the extent of Maroney’s claims until court filings just obtained by The Wall Street Journal . Those records show USA Gymnastics paid Maroney to keep quiet about her abuse. The details of the agreement came to light because the retired gymnast is suing the organization claiming the confidentiality agreement she signed was illegal in California because it involved child sex abuse. And, she claims, she was forced to enter into the agreement to help pay for her own psychological treatment. Maroney says she endured repeated attacks from Nassar for five years while training for the Olympic games.

McKayla Maroney won the hearts of millions of admirers at the 2012 Olympic games in London where she led the women’s team to gold in gymnastics. But now the organization is in turmoil. Corporate sponsors have already begun dropping USA Gymnastics. Larry Nassar will spend at least the next 20 years in prison. His story didn’t come to light until an investigation by The Indianapolis Star in 2016 that found 368 gymnasts had alleged sexual abuse over the past 20 years. And no one knew? That’s just one of the questions for USA gymnastics. Others are, can it survive? Should it survive?




My daughter can deflate your daughter's soccer ball.
December 21, 2017, 09:57 PM
lugerguards
My daughter is a former USGA gymnast and this sickens me.


Nothing here to see!
December 21, 2017, 10:02 PM
12131
Child molesters, and all their enablers, need to be executed by firing squad.


Q






December 21, 2017, 11:54 PM
Rightwire
When you have 2-3 athletes abused it's a serious issue

When you have 5-10 abused it is a major problem

When you have 368 abused over 20 years it is systemic and goes to the core of the program. That puts everyone in the leadership at that time squarely in the cross hairs. IMHO, if you knew and didn't bring this to light for criminal prosecution, you as guilty as Dr. Nassar.




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December 22, 2017, 12:27 AM
46and2
368 complaints from gymnasts over 20 years is horrifically absurd if true. One is bad, ten is a big deal, 100 would seem crazy, but 368, over 20 fucking years? Are you shitting me? Heads should roll over this, to include every human involved.

368?

WTF
December 22, 2017, 12:44 AM
Balzé Halzé
quote:
Originally posted by 12131:
Child molesters, and all their enablers, need to be executed by firing squad.


How about Flame thrower. Takes care of disposal at the same time.


~Alan

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December 22, 2017, 12:48 AM
RHINOWSO
USA Olympic Team - burn it all down.
December 22, 2017, 01:21 AM
V-Tail
quote:
Originally posted by Rightwire:
When you have 2-3 athletes abused it's a serious issue

When you have 5-10 abused it is a major problem

When you have 368 abused over 20 years it is systemic and goes to the core of the program. That puts everyone in the leadership at that time squarely in the cross hairs. IMHO, if you knew and didn't bring this to light for criminal prosecution, you as guilty as Dr. Nassar.
One. Just one is too many. If there are offenses that merit zero tolerance, this has to be at the head of the list.



הרחפת שלי מלאה בצלופחים
December 22, 2017, 03:17 AM
bald1
While nothing has been said and they have always had a great reputation, as close as the girls got to Béla and Márta Károlyi one wonders how much if any they knew about all this.



Certifiable member of the gun toting, septuagenarian, bucket list workin', crazed retiree, bald is beautiful club!
USN (RET), COTEP #192
December 22, 2017, 05:43 AM
Blackmore
Could they have picked a creepier picture for the story? Looks like she has a black eye.


Harshest Dream, Reality
December 22, 2017, 07:48 AM
Dbltap
My girl just had a USAG meet in Emerson Ga last weekend.
What a filthy, disgusting, cluster fuck for an organization
that serves so many young female athletes so well.
December 22, 2017, 09:51 AM
Jimbo Jones
Larry Nassar will spend at least the next 20 years six months in prison before he is beaten to death with a mop handle



quote:
Originally posted by Balzé Halzé:
quote:
Originally posted by 12131:
Child molesters, and all their enablers, need to be executed by firing squad.


How about Flame thrower. Takes care of disposal at the same time.



---------------------------------------
It's like my brain's a tree and you're those little cookie elves.
December 22, 2017, 10:17 AM
Elk Hunter
When an organization becomes so corrupt as this one, nothing can be done to "fix it".

Destroy the whole thing, and maybe start over with some oversight. One has to wonder if the sport can ever overcome this situation.

OTOH, one must be careful of over reacting and punishing innocents.


Elk

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FBHO!!!



The Idaho Elk Hunter
December 22, 2017, 10:52 AM
JALLEN
With this many victims, where were their mothers?




Luckily, I have enough willpower to control the driving ambition that rages within me.

When you had the votes, we did things your way. Now, we have the votes and you will be doing things our way. This lesson in political reality from Lyndon B. Johnson

"Some things are apparent. Where government moves in, community retreats, civil society disintegrates and our ability to control our own destiny atrophies. The result is: families under siege; war in the streets; unapologetic expropriation of property; the precipitous decline of the rule of law; the rapid rise of corruption; the loss of civility and the triumph of deceit. The result is a debased, debauched culture which finds moral depravity entertaining and virtue contemptible." - Justice Janice Rogers Brown
December 22, 2017, 11:27 AM
Georgeair
quote:
Originally posted by JALLEN:
With this many victims, where were their mothers?

What in the world does that have to do with this? We aren't going to blame the parents for this are we?

While some/many of them may have noticed a difference in behavior, it's entirely possible the perps were good enough to use the incredible drive and desire to participate of their victims against them in creating fear of reprisal or being shunned from further competition if they told others.

Reference "Catholic Church sexual abuse."

Of course if the mom(s) went along with the keep quiet model in part for the money after being aware, that is pretty inexplicable. A tough spot to be in and they too might have been in fear of their daughters' futures both in and out of the sport.



You only have integrity once. - imprezaguy02

December 22, 2017, 11:33 AM
DaveL
There is nothing inherently nefarious about a confidential settlement--it would have made perfect sense for Maroney to have wanted it that way. The real story is what USA Gymnastics did, or didn't do, with all of these reports.
December 22, 2017, 11:38 AM
Rey HRH
I guess i’m not as callous as I think I am. My heart breaks remembering I enjoyed watching those girl gymnastics from time to time and now realizing there was rampant and systemic sexual abuse. For me, it’s the equivalent of organized child trafficking rings with child and parent victims.



"It did not really matter what we expected from life, but rather what life expected from us. We needed to stop asking about the meaning of life, and instead to think of ourselves as those who were being questioned by life – daily and hourly. Our answer must consist not in talk and meditation, but in right action and in right conduct. Life ultimately means taking the responsibility to find the right answer to its problems and to fulfill the tasks which it constantly sets for each individual." Viktor Frankl, Man's Search for Meaning, 1946.
December 22, 2017, 11:39 AM
snoris
quote:
Originally posted by 12131:
Child molesters, and all their enablers, need to be executed by firing squad.


Make them targets in the Winter Olympics Biathlon competition.
December 22, 2017, 12:20 PM
Dbltap
[QUOTE]Originally posted by Elk Hunter:
When an organization becomes so corrupt as this one, nothing can be done to "fix it".

Destroy the whole thing, and maybe start over with some oversight. One has to wonder if the sport can ever overcome this situation.

OTOH, one must be careful of over reacting and punishing innocents.[/QUOTE

The sport of women's gymnastics is much bigger than this
scandal. It will survive and continue to thrive.
Will USAG survive?
We shall see.
December 22, 2017, 12:34 PM
JALLEN
quote:
Originally posted by Georgeair:
quote:
Originally posted by JALLEN:
With this many victims, where were their mothers?

What in the world does that have to do with this? We aren't going to blame the parents for this are we?


I imagine that much of the “abuse” occurred in the course of medical treatments, exams, etc. My understanding is that when a male physician is treating a female patient, another female is always present. I imagine that in the case of young patients, that likely would include mothers of the patient, and female nurses in all occasions.

What exactly is the abuse? Touching? Penetration?

The women I have known who were mothers would have been fairly attentive, and if this abuse is of a character to merit $1 million of psychological treatment, they would have noticed and spoken up, regardless of the stakes. I also imagine that mothers and daughters talk.

It strikes me as odd that this went on over many, many years and hundreds of victims before discovery.




Luckily, I have enough willpower to control the driving ambition that rages within me.

When you had the votes, we did things your way. Now, we have the votes and you will be doing things our way. This lesson in political reality from Lyndon B. Johnson

"Some things are apparent. Where government moves in, community retreats, civil society disintegrates and our ability to control our own destiny atrophies. The result is: families under siege; war in the streets; unapologetic expropriation of property; the precipitous decline of the rule of law; the rapid rise of corruption; the loss of civility and the triumph of deceit. The result is a debased, debauched culture which finds moral depravity entertaining and virtue contemptible." - Justice Janice Rogers Brown