Emails show a USA Gymnastics official mentioned Nassar by name to a USOC officialGETTY IMAGES
The USOC "didn’t intervene in USA Gymnastics’ handling of sexual-abuse allegations" against Larry Nassar in '15, even after USA Gymnastics’ then-President & CEO Steve Penny "told two top USOC executives that an internal investigation had uncovered possible criminal behavior," according to Rebecca Davis O'Brien of the WALL STREET JOURNAL. The interactions "raise questions" about why officials at the USOC, which "oversees USA Gymnastics and has criticized that organization’s response to the Nassar scandal, didn’t reach out to athletes, law enforcement or Dr. Nassar’s other employers in the year before allegations against him became public" in September '16. A source said that around July 25, 2015, Penny called USOC CEO Scott Blackmun with a "request for guidance." An Olympic gymnast had described, in a July 24 conversation with an internal investigator, what "appeared to amount to sexual assault by a team doctor." The source said that at the investigator’s recommendation, Penny said that he "planned to report the matter to law enforcement." The source said Blackmun told Penny to "do what he had to do." Blackmun provided "no further guidance to USA Gymnastics on the matter in the months to come." Two months later, Penny emailed USOC Chief Security Officer Larry Buendorf "detailing three top gymnasts’ allegations" against Nassar. The email "appears to be the first documented instance in which a USA Gymnastics official mentions Dr. Nassar by name to a USOC official." The USOC has previously said that "nobody at the organization knew Dr. Nassar was the alleged abuser until media reports" in September '16. In an email Wednesday, Blackmun said that he had encouraged Penny to "turn the matter over to law enforcement." He said that the organization’s "coming independent investigation would address questions of who knew" about Nassar. Buendorf "couldn’t be reached to comment" (WALL STREET JOURNAL, 2/2).
USOC RESPONDS: In Colorado Springs, Stephanie Earls notes USOC Managing Dir of Communications Mark Jones "doesn't dispute reports that his organization had been made aware of potential abuse" by a doctor in '15. However, Jones said that the USOC "followed proper legal channels from there." Jones in an email wrote, "We have consistently said we learned in 2015 of a doctor potentially having abused an athlete and that it was reported to the FBI. That's what is supposed to happen" (Colorado Springs GAZETTE, 2/2).
