The U.S. Gymnastics Championships begin Thursday at TD Garden, and with USA Gymnastics "enveloped by scandal, its sport is under fire," according to a front-page piece by Tara Sullivan of the BOSTON GLOBE. USAG was recently "threatened with decertification by the USOC," but under "new leadership and guided by recommendations of an independent review, the path for change has been laid out." However, the work is "ongoing, and questions remain." While gymnastics has "hardly stood alone among sports criticized for silent abuses (swimming, figure skating, taekwondo)," the Larry Nassar case "put USAG, and by extension the entire US Olympic structure, in the crosshairs." Decertification "no longer seems likely, but the latest figures from the Sport and Fitness Industry Association Topline Participation report show gymnastics sustaining" a 10.7% reduction in total participation from '16-17. While USAG is now "implementing SafeSport training for all gyms in its purview," these issues "will take years to resolve and understand, and the conversation shows no sign of going away" (BOSTON GLOBE, 8/14).
