Let's Fix This For Good

THE HORRIFIC SCANDAL IN U.S. GYMNASTICS IS PART OF A LONG HISTORY OF SEXUAL ABUSE IN AMATEUR SPORTS—ESPECIALLY SWIMMING. THE TIME FOR LASTING CHANGE IS NOW

- Irvin Muchnick

I’VE BEEN COVERING sexual-abuse scandals in swimming for the past seven years, and you could have knocked me off a diving board when the sentencing of Larry Nassar, the perverted osteopath who worked for USA Gymnastics, finally led to some organizational accountability. Nassar will be in prison basically forever for his exam-table molestation of more than 150 girls and young women. And public opinion quickly sent USA Gymnastics’ entire board of directors, as well as the president and athletic director of Michigan State University, where Nassar worked, into disgraced retirement.

In Nassar’s wake, the House of Representatives passed legislation, previously approved by the Senate, that compels national governing bodies (NGBs) like USA Gymnastics and USA Swimming to report all allegations of sexual misconduct to police. (Previously, these groups had broad discretion to exercise internal remedies and weren’t required to inform the authorities.) While I applaud this first step, I’m even more intrigued by another development. The bipartisan leadership of the House Energy and Commerce Committee has announced public hearings to fully air reports of the horrors that have occurred inside USA Gymnastics, along with USA Swimming and USA Taekwondo.