USA Gymnastics' status as the sport's NGB "will be terminated unless it meets six conditions" outlined by USOC CEO Scott Blackmun in an email Thursday, including the "resignation of the entire board by next Wednesday," according to Armour & Axon of USA TODAY. Blackmun in his email wrote USAG needs a "categorically fresh start at the board level." USAG will face "immediate decertification unless an interim board is in place by Feb. 28," according to Blackmun's email. No one currently serving on the board is "eligible to be an interim member except the five athlete representatives." The federation then has 12 months to "replace the interim directors." Current board members are "not eligible for those seats, either." Also within that 12 months, USAG must "cooperate with the independent investigation into whether anyone knew about athlete complaints" regarding former team doctor Larry Nassar's abuse and "didn't report them and the systemic failures that contributed with his ability to go unchecked for so long." Blackmun said that the USOC's own board has "formed a working group," led by former Visa CMO Susanne Lyons, to "identify failings and ensure athletes are protected in the future" (USA TODAY, 1/26). NBC NEWS' Julia Jester notes additional measures outlined in Blackmun's email include "requiring all staff and board members to complete SafeSport training offered by the U.S. Center for Safe Sport within three months and comprehensive ethics training within six months" (NBCNEWS.com, 1/26).
MORE FALLOUT FROM NASSAR: USA TODAY's A.J. Perez notes two U.S. Senators on Thursday announced they "plan to introduce a resolution to establish a select committee to investigate" how the USOC and USAG allowed Nassar to "sexually abuse more than 150 athletes." As she did in Wednesday's letter to Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) and Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.), Sen. Jeanne Shaheen (D-N.H.) said that a "select committee comprised of men and women is needed because 'no current standing committees have parity.'" Shaheen "requested the formation of the select committee be expedited so it could be empaneled before the start" of the Pyeongchang Games next month (USA TODAY, 1/26). THE WALL STREET JOURNAL's Jason Gay writes a "thorough, ruthless accounting of what happened -- or, more specifically, what didn't happen -- is not just necessary, but owed" (WALL STREET JOURNAL, 1/26).
BEGINNING OF THE END? In N.Y., Jere Longman writes under the header, "Will Larry Nassar Take Down The U.S. Olympic Committee?" The USOC "finds itself defending accusations that it did too little, too late; that it was more concerned with protecting its image than its athletes; and that it did not even offer solace to victims, much less safeguards." The USOC has "long asserted that it is responsible for athletes only in the short period from when they are named to the Olympic team through a Winter or Summer Games." At all other events and training camps that are not held at USOC facilities, the NGBs are "responsible for the care and feeding of their athletes." That will "seem like evasive legalese to many, an explanation few are likely to accept." That "appears clear from the scathing rebuke" of the USOC by Gold Medal-winning gymnast Aly Raisman at Nassar's sentencing hearing last Friday (N.Y. TIMES, 1/26).
