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Ashley McDonnell

Public Relations Strategies

Dr. Charles Meadows

September 23, 2020

USA Gymnastics Sex Abuse Scandal

Organization:

USA Gymnastics is one of the leading organizations in athletic achievements in the

United States. The women’s Olympic teams have been some of the best in the world in the Rio

2016 Olympics and London 2012 Olympics. “Based in Indianapolis, the organization is committed to creating a culture that empowers and supports its athletes and focuses on its highest priority, the safety and well-being of the athletes” (USA Gymnastics | About USA Gymnastics, n.d.). Established in 1963, USA Gymnastics, known as USAG, has focused its efforts on training and selecting athletes to compete in the Olympic Games and World Championships. On the

USAG website it states that their mission is “To build a community of culture, health, safety and excellence, where athletes can thrive in sport and life” (USA Gymnastics | About USA

Gymnastics, n.d.). USA Gymnastics is a multilevel organization that helps train athletes and give them the tools to reach their highest potential. It is publicly perceived to be the highest, most competitive level of gymnastics in the United States, creating a place that young gymnasts want to work to eventually find a spot on the national and Olympic teams. To be trained by members of USA Gymnastics, and to make a name for yourself in elite gymnastics means that you are on the path to Olympic gold, something that every athlete dreams of at some point or another.

Currently, Li Li Leung is the CEO and President of USAG, working collaboratively with an

Executive Leadership team of all females to support and manage the organization. However, 2

Steve Penny served as the CEO and President of USA Gymnastics from 2005 to 2017, during which a bureaucracy was created in which the athletes had no voice, and sexual abuse to athletes was prominent among the USAG network, specifically with the women’s national and Olympic teams.

Problem

The crisis began long before The Indianapolis Star, IndyStar, published its’ first article on the corrupt nature and policies of USA Gymnastics in August of 2016. However, this article was the first in a series of articles by IndyStar that brought public awareness to the sexual abuse cases that were too prevalent in the USAG organization. If looking for the true beginning of this series of mistakes, it all began in 1972 when Nadia Commeneci won the Olympics for Romania at only

14 years old. Nadia was coached by Marta and Bela Karolyi, and this win completely changed

Gymnastics forever. Nadia’s gold medals inspired a generation of young girls to begin gymnastics, and so the sport changed to where younger girls were the main age group, going the

Olympics at 15 years old became a norm. This allowed for a generation of athletes to be significantly more susceptible to abuse, because they followed the lead of adults and coaches without any question of ethics or morals.

After winning gold with Nadia, Marta and Bela Karolyi moved to the United States to start training the next generation of gymnasts in The States. Young girls flocked to the Karolyi ranch, located just outside Houston, Texas, to be trained by the coaches who coached Nadia to gold. However, the Karolyi’s were strict, and brought a communist style of training, that allowed for very little individuality and no voice for their trainees. People didn’t question their strict methods, however, because they had proved that their methods could bring a gymnast to

Olympic gold, and who would question that? This created a community, within USA 3

Gymnastics, where young gymnasts did not know the difference between right and wrong, they just obeyed whoever was in charge, with no questions asked. As a result, sexual abuse became an issue that young gymnasts could not fight, and for a while, did not even know it was wrong.

The IndyStar, started investigating sexual abuse cases within USA gymnastics, as a collaboration with USA Today Network, and their findings resulted into an investigation that spanned many months. Their first case that they focused on was a case in Georgia, “in which a coach preyed on young female athletes for seven years after USA Gymnastics dismissed the first of four warnings about him” (M. M. A. A. T. E. Kwiatkowski, 2020). After a lawsuit was filed,

Steve Penny, CEO and President of USA Gymnastics at the time, spoke under oath saying that,

“he inherited an executive policy of dismissing complaints as hearsay unless they were signed by a victim or a victim’s parent” (Athlete A, 2020). “Laws in every state require people to report suspected child abuse” (M. M. A. A. T. E. Kwiatkowski, 2020), which USAG directly violated, and made investigators question how many people have been subjected to abuse and ignored within the USAG community?

After this first article was posted by IndyStar in August 2016, Rachael Denhollander reached out to IndyStar saying, “I recently read the article titled 'Out of Balance' published by the IndyStar. My experience may not be relevant to your investigation, but I am emailing to report an incident”. This was the first case in which IndyStar reporters heard of .

Nassar was the USA Gymnastics team physician for four Olympic games, and also served on staff at State University. Denhollander filed a police report against Larry Nassar and agreed to do an in-person interview with IndyStar in which she explained how she was sexually abused by Nassar while getting medical treatments as a young gymnast. At the same time,

Olympian Jamie Danstzscher, filed a lawsuit against Larry Nassar and USA Gymnastics for 4 sexually abusing her during medical treatments while she was on the Olympic team in 1999 and

2000 and for ignoring her abuse. After IndyStar posted their article about Larry Nassar on

September 12, 2016, more and more people started to come forward claiming to have been sexually abused by Nassar. This was the first time that Nassar’s abuse had been reported to the public. However, this was not the first time that USAG had heard about his abuse. In June 2015,

Maggie Nichols was training at the Karolyi ranch and was being treated by Larry Nassar. She approached another trainee, Olympian , about how she thought that Nassar was

“touching her funny”, and Raisman admitted to having the same uncomfortable interaction with

Nassar. Nichols then reported the abuse to her coach. Nichols’ coach should have reported the abuse to the police, but instead reported it to Rhonda Faehn, who is the head of the women’s program at USA Gymnastics. Faehn then reported it to Steve Penny, instead of reporting it to the police. Steve Penny then hired people to interview Nichols and Raisman. It was five weeks from when Penny first heard about the abuse to when he reported it to the FBI which is a direct violation of Indiana and Texas law. “But then, for some reason the FBI took no action. Nothing happened in October, in November, in December, in February, March, April, May. All this time

Nassar is working at Michigan State” (John Manly, Athlete A).

IndyStar continued their investigation into Larry Nassar and USA Gymnastics, and more and more people came forward about being sexually abused by Nassar. Nassar made a statement denying all allegations against him, saying that he never performed any medical treatment that was intravaginal, which was truly his downfall, because so many women then knew that he was lying. A search warrant was given for Nassar’s house, where they found him in the possession of child pornography. During his questioning of Nassar, Steve Penny invoked his fifth amendment rights against self-incrimination while many of Nassar’s abuse victims were present. Penny was 5 arrested for tampering with evidence throughout the Nassar case, by the removal of documents from the Karolyi ranched that detailed his knowledge of Nassar’s abuse. Nassar was sentenced to

60-175 years in jail after the abuse of over 150 women.

Key Publics

The actions of USA Gymnastics, Steve Penny, Marta and Bela Karolyi, and Larry

Nassar, directly impacted the lives of over 150 women, plus their families, plus the entire USA

Gymnastics community and reputation of the organization.

Jamie Dantzsher gave an interview for the creators of the documentary Athlete A, in which she described her abuse and the impact it had on her life. She admitted that due to the abuse that she endured from Nassar, that she was not proud to be an Olympian. Gymnastics was her whole life and Larry Nassar took away her love for the sport and made her ashamed to be part of that Olympic team. The Olympics were not a dream come true, as they should have been for an athlete who has worked their whole life to reach that point.

Maggie Nichols was a member of the national team and trained on the Karolyi ranch. She was the first to report her abuse from Larry Nassar and as a result, USA Gymnastics punished her. Even though her score during Olympic trials qualified her to be part of the team, she was not chosen for the 2016 Rio Olympics, not even as an alternate. USA Gymnastics punished her for speaking out about her abuse and trauma and the psychological impacts that has on a young adult are irreversible. A multi-level, highly respected, organization that represents the United States of

America, basically said that her life, as a young woman and young athlete, was not important enough for them to handle. USA Gymnastics proved that corruptness and selfishness was present at many levels of the organization. Over 150 women suffered the abuse of Larry Nassar, right under the nose of USA Gymnastics and Michigan State University. Steve Penny deliberately hid 6 evidence of his knowledge of the abuse, allowing for more young girls to be abused by Nassar for thirteen months. He showed that he cared more about his own reputation and the reputation of USA Gymnastics than the well-being of those girls who were part of the USAG community.

As a result of the poor decisions made by Steve Penny and the entire USA Gymnastics organization, all of the members of the executive board were asked to step down from their positions, and an entire new board was hired. The United States Olympic Committee was also directly implicated as a result of being affiliated with USAG. In 2018, Aly Raisman and Simone

Biles, members of the 2012 and 2016 Olympic teams, filed lawsuits not only against USAG, but

USOC as well, saying that the Olympic committee also had knowledge of the abuse and chose to do nothing about it.

Key Messages

Looking at the timeline of events, USA Gymnastics did not uphold the standards stated in their mission statements or the standards of the law. USA Gymnastics first heard of the abuse of athletes by Larry Nassar when elite gymnast Maggie Nichols reported it to her coach in June of

2015. In both Indiana and Texas law, any suspicions of sexual abuse must be reported to the police immediately. It took 5 weeks for the President of USA Gymnastics to report this to the

FBI. However, when Nassar’s abuse became publicly known, USA Gymnastics put out a statement saying, “Upon learning of athlete concerns, USA Gymnastics immediately notified law enforcement. Since then, we have cooperated fully with the law enforcement agency, including refraining from making further statements or taking any other action that might interfere with the agency’s investigation. We are grateful to the athletes for coming forward to share their concerns” (Evans, 2016). This statement directly contradicted what the organization actually did 7 in the face of this series of events. The organization was silent for thirteen months, until

IndyStar, started investigating and covering the organization.

In the documentary, Athlete A, the parents of Maggie Nichols explained how once they were informed of their child’s abuse, Steve Penny personally assured them that USA Gymnastics was working to protect Maggie and all of the other athletes. He asked them not to speak out about the issue because he did not want them to interfere with the FBI Investigation taking place.

However, the FBI was not really taking any steps in investigating the abuse, and the athletes and parents were deceived by USA Gymnastics that the issue was being taken care of. After thirteen months of silence, the Nichols family read one of the IndyStar articles and saw that attorney John

Manly was representing other Olympians who had been abused by Nassar and contacted him for help. USA Gymnastics took a strong stance of silence, and then denial, which greatly angered

Olympians, gymnasts, athletes of all areas, and Americans overall. Their stance was incredibly insensitive to the victims of abuse. When questioned under oath about the abuse of Nassar, Steve

Penny indicted his fifth amendment rights against self-incrimination. Once again, with victims of the abuse in the courtroom, USA Gymnastics chose silence over the lives and well-being of the victims.

Throughout the entire case, Larry Nassar also denied any allegations against him, up until his sentencing, where he eventually plead guilty for the abuse of seven girls. When the investigation first began, Nassar’s lawyer, “Matthew Borgula, said Nassar ‘emphatically’ denies any wrongdoing. After being shown a copy of the lawsuit Monday, Borgula said, ‘Dr. Nassar, to the extent the allegations are against him, adamantly denies any misconduct at this or any other time’” (Evans, 2018a). His denial of any allegations angered the public. His lawyer released a statement saying that he never performed any medical treatments that were intravaginal, 8 resulting in another wave of women coming forward admitting to being abused by Nassar. His statement that no treatment was intravaginal struck a nerve in his victims who then knew for sure that Nassar was lying and deserved to be punished to the fullest extent of the law.

The IndyStar did an incredible job at consistently reporting and uncovering information the USA Gymnastics wanted to keep hidden. They continually put pressure on USA Gymnastics and Larry Nassar to respond to the abuse allegations and to come forward with the truth. In their reporting, they were in constant contact with the victims of the abuse. The constant corroboration of facts from the victims who lived the abuse helped strengthen the newspaper’s case against

USA Gymnastics and Larry Nassar. Their reporting and investigating also gave many victims the confidence to come forward about their own abuse and helped to build a case against Larry

Nassar, Steve Penny and all of USA Gymnastics in court, allowing for proper sentencing for the crimes committed.

Communication Strategies and Tactics

This case dealt solely with news media. The IndyStar, in collaboration with USA Today

Network, were the leading reporters and investigators of this case. Any and all information from this case was reported through the IndyStar. The news coverage of this story followed an episodic framing tactic. The investigation and coverage of this case focused on “portraying this case as centering around one bad individual, contained within the two organizations involved, and an additional focus on the victims” (Smith & Pegoraro, 2020, p. 380). IndyStar was the leading news source on this case, however, the case started receiving more national news attention in January of 2018 when Nassar received his sentencing. The national news and local news both had an episodic framing viewpoint but focused on slightly different aspects of the case. 9

The local news was mainly IndyStar, which fully focused on all aspects of the case and started the original investigation of the corruption at all levels of USA Gymnastics. This news source and other local newspapers went more in detail of how the case directly affected the community. The articles often mentioned the impacts on Michigan State and other organizations that are local. Nassar was running for school board at the time, so many articles mentioned this aspect and encouraged voters not to vote for him. “In the local articles, more information was provided about the Michigan State University administration as well as specifics regarding his abuse while employed there” (Smith & Pegoraro, 2020, p. 380).

The national news articles were significantly less prominent, not really highlighting the issue until Olympian Aly Raisman spoke out about the issue in December 2017, and the arraignment of Nassar in January 2018. These articles focused less on Michigan State and how local administrations were affected. Instead, the articles primarily focused on specifically Nassar and the abuse of the athletes. The athletes were more in the spotlight, especially the big names athletes like Simon Biles and Aly Raisman who are two-time Olympians. The big names gained more traction for the articles, gaining the attention of more publics.

USA Gymnastics remained fairly silent throughout the whole process, angering many people, especially athletes. The only statement that were continually released by USA

Gymnastics were through news sources, claiming that "Nothing is more important to USA

Gymnastics, the Board of Directors and CEO Steve Penny than protecting athletes, which requires sustained vigilance by everyone—coaches, athletes, parents, administrators and officials. We are saddened when any athlete has been harmed in the course of his or her gymnastics career” (Evans, 2018b).

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Analysis

This case is interesting in the sense that USA Gymnastics took almost no productive steps to try and make amends. Steve Penny and USA Gymnastics are completely to blame for allowing the horrible actions of Larry Nassar and other coaches to go on for so long. Their original policies in place allowed for the corruption to grow within the USA Gymnastics organization and community. The actions of Steve Penny, Rhonda Faehn, Marta and Bela Karolyi and the entire

USA Gymnastics executive staff in covering and hiding the evidence against Nassar for the sake of their own reputations worsened an already terrible situation. Then, when the public became aware of the situation at hand, the organization’s continued silence created an overall distrust and disrespect for the organization.

As a result of the organizations’ poor choices in handling the situation, many athletes and young children’s lives were impacted in a way that will effect-them and their mental health for the rest of their lives. Steve Penny’s decision to invoke his fifth amendment against self - incrimination encompasses USA Gymnastics entire strategy in dealing with the allegations against Larry Nassar. For fear of damaging the reputation of an organization that represents the

United States of America and its’ athletes, USA Gymnastics stayed silent. They chose to hide email evidence of knowledge of the abuse, and continually deny that they had any knowledge of the abuse. As a result, the public, the gymnastics community, the elite athletes and their families, and the entire Olympic association lost all trust in the organization, and feared for the protection of children. USA Gymnastics lost all of its’ sponsors, that contributed to much of the organization’s budget, and any respect that the organization held from individuals. Eventually,

USA Gymnastics had to file for bankruptcy, and is still struggling to recover. 11

There were many points in which USA Gymnastics and its’ executive board could have made better choices and helped the lives of so many individuals and athletes. If you look back at the very beginning, USA Gymnastics did not have proper protocol set in place for handling abuse reports and allegations. Their previous protocol stated that they could consider any reports of sexual abuse as hearsay unless the report was signed by a victim or a victim’s parent. This allowed for abuse to be apparent in many levels of the USA Gymnastics organization. It also allowed for coaches who were reported as sexually abusing children to move to different gyms without being detected. Steve Penny knew of many allegations all over the country and chose to do nothing. When Maggie Nichols reported her abuse from Larry Nassar in 2015, USA

Gymnastics should have informed the police right then and there. Instead, they chose to wait 5 weeks before reporting it to the FBI, and then just let the investigation lose momentum. Steve

Penny then chose to tamper with evidence and hide emails proving that he, and other members of

USA Gymnastics executive staff, had knowledge of Nassar’s actions. The blatant disregard for the lives and protection of its’ athletes proved the selfishness of Steve Penny and the entire USA

Gymnastics organization, and proving that reputation and money was more important that individual lives.

When Steve Penny chose to plead the fifth during his questioning of the actions of Larry

Nassar, he created an outrage from all the athletes and most of the public, including senators that were questioning him. He had a duty as an individual to apologize for not taking care of the athletes while they were in the care of USAG staff and for allowing the abuse to go on for so long with his knowledge. Instead, he chose to stay silent, showing a public display of disrespect for the athletes who were abused by Larry Nassar. This silent defense created a reputation for

USA Gymnastics that dramatically implicated the entire organization. 12

From the beginning of the coverage of this case, US Gymnastics should have been proactive in releasing statements about its’ efforts to make changes in its’ protocol and investigate further incidents within the many levels of the organization. They should have been constantly publicly apologizing and creating a transparent account as to all the steps they were taking to make amends and anything information related to the case. Their constant silence only created more issues in the eyes of the public. The well-being of an organization’s members and community are at the upmost importance, and in this case USA Gymnastics disregarded any efforts to promote well-being for its’ athletes and community.

The lawsuits for this case are still currently being handled. Aly Raisman and Simone

Biles were offered a settlement of $215 million to drop all lawsuits against USAG and the United

States Olympic Committee. This has created even more outrage from the athletes, as money does not solve all the world’s problems.

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References

Alesia, M. T. E. (2017, January 31). Ex-USA Gymnastics doctor’s charges are “tip of iceberg.”

Indystar. https://eu.indystar.com/story/news/2016/11/22/larry-nassar-michigan-state-

university-child-sexual-assault-usa-gymnastics-michigan-attorney-general/94280568/

Evans, T. M. A. (2016, September 13). Doctor disputes USA Gymnastics claim. IndyStar.

https://eu.indystar.com/story/news/investigations/2016/09/13/doctor-disputes-usa-

gymnastics-claim/90304998/

Evans, T. M. A. (2018a, January 24). The Indianapolis Star. Indystar.

https://eu.indystar.com/story/news/2016/09/12/former-usa-gymnastics-doctor-accused-

abuse/89995734/

Evans, T. M. A. (2018b, February 8). A 20-year toll: 368 gymnasts allege sexual exploitation.

IndyStar. https://eu.indystar.com/story/news/2016/12/15/20-year-toll-368-gymnasts-

allege-sexual-exploitation/95198724/

Kristen Jordan Shamus, Detroit Free Press. (2018, January 24). Larry Nassar gets 40-175 years

in sex abuse scandal, issues apology. Detroit Free Press.

https://eu.freep.com/story/news/local/michigan/2018/01/24/larry-nassar-sentenced-

gymnastics-abuse/1060964001/

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Kwiatkowski, M. M. A. A. T. E. (2020, June 24). A blind eye to sex abuse: How USA

Gymnastics failed to report cases. Indystar.

https://eu.indystar.com/story/news/investigations/2016/08/04/usa-gymnastics-sex-abuse-

protected-coaches/85829732/

Kwiatkowski, M. T. E. (2016, October 27). 16 more women accuse former USA Gymnastics

doctor of sexual abuse. Indystar.

https://eu.indystar.com/story/news/investigations/2016/09/25/16-more-women-accuse-

doctor-sexual-abuse/90410436/

Marshall, S., Sey, J., Benello, J.P. (Producers), & Cohen, B., Shenk, J. (Directors). (2020).

Athlete A [Motion picture]. United States of America: Netflix.

Smith, L. R., & Pegoraro, A. (2020). Media Framing of Larry Nassar and the USA Gymnastics

Child Sex Abuse Scandal. Journal of Child Sexual Abuse, 29(4), 373–392.

https://doi.org/10.1080/10538712.2019.1703233

USA Gymnastics | About USA Gymnastics. (n.d.). USA Gymnastics.

https://usagym.org/pages/aboutus/pages/about_usag.html

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