USA Gymnastics Pleads the Fifth for Protecting Nassar in 2013

Bad optics, great legal advice.

Faehn (sp?) looked way out of her element and in over her head big time.

Congress really needs to repeal the Amateur Sports Act of 1978, limit USOC/Olympic Sports execs to un-paid, uncompensated volunteers, and force USOC and all Olympic sports to move to Hollywood where the money is.

It's the Money, stupid! wrote:

Congress really needs to repeal the Amateur Sports Act of 1978, limit USOC/Olympic Sports execs to un-paid, uncompensated volunteers, and force USOC and all Olympic sports to move to Hollywood where the money is.

I might be taking this way too seriously, but when the USOC (or the American OC as it was once called) was run by unpaid volunteers things were not so good in different ways.

I think the USOC has gotten a bloated but the funding from sponsors that provides a lot of the money and opportunities comes because the USOC has been professional in its pursuit of sponsors.

The Amateur Sports Act needs revisiting but there is a lot of good. My guess is most people are not familiar with why the act was passed and what were the events that led to its passage.

Every NGB has a monopoly to some degree. The IOC requires each country to have a single entity responsible when it comes to the Olympics and selecting a team. Not sure how else it would work. If there were a USATF and an American Track League each running its own championships, how would Olympic teams be picked?

I asked that question once of a friend and he said let the winners of each go to a Trials. Okay, then whose rules are the trials run under? What if one organization allows each athlete a false start and the other has a rule where you are DQed on the first false start?

NGBs must have oversight especially when it comes to the people who are directly employed by them.

Clubs also need to do a better job and not simply rely on a criminal background check. They only work if a person has been convicted of a crime.

Also people need to understand that a NGB can deny a coach a coaching license or certification and even prohibit the coach from entering a competition sanctioned by the NGB, but if that coach wants to open his/her own club and hold camps there is really nothing a NGB can do about it. The NGB might not sanction that club which means it cannot compete in its events, but there is a limit.

Also, if you are a parent of a child that you think is being molested, GO TO THE POLICE! Then go to the club or school or NGB.

Luv2Run wrote:

Not sure how else it would work. If there were a USATF and an American Track League each running its own championships, how would Olympic teams be picked?

False choice.

2, 3, 5, 10 federations can exist and run a single olympics qualifier for the best athletes from all federations.

Luv2Run wrote:

Also people need to understand that a NGB can deny a coach a coaching license or certification and even prohibit the coach from entering a competition sanctioned by the NGB, but if that coach wants to open his/her own club and hold camps there is really nothing a NGB can do about it.

More false choices.

Nassar was being protected by the NGB with athletes in an opaque system with no other options.

The federation bans athletes that attended the banned coach's event. Every IOC NGB has WADA compliant rules to this effect.

That rules to protect athletes are being ignored for the 10,000th time hints that the monopoly IOC sports have been granted needs to be revoked. The sports federations have been shown they cannot police themselves. Enough children have suffered!

WHAT ABOUT THE CHILDREN Luv2Run?????

Hollywood Tv needs to consolidate offices of IOC USOC USATF USAG in L.A. that's for sure.

pop_pop!_v2.2.1 wrote:

Luv2Run wrote:

Also people need to understand that a NGB can deny a coach a coaching license or certification and even prohibit the coach from entering a competition sanctioned by the NGB, but if that coach wants to open his/her own club and hold camps there is really nothing a NGB can do about it.

More false choices.

Nassar was being protected by the NGB with athletes in an opaque system with no other options.

The federation bans athletes that attended the banned coach's event. Every IOC NGB has WADA compliant rules to this effect.

That rules to protect athletes are being ignored for the 10,000th time hints that the monopoly IOC sports have been granted needs to be revoked. The sports federations have been shown they cannot police themselves. Enough children have suffered!

WHAT ABOUT THE CHILDREN Luv2Run?????

Well Nassar was not a coach. No argument that USAG (and Michigan State) screwed the pooch on him.

Please show me some examples of an athlete being banned because of attending a banned coach's camp or being coached by a banned coach. At least when it comes to doping the USATF has had (may still have?) national team staff that served doping suspensions. There are a lot of people coaching who have no certification from the sport's NGB.

True, more than enough kids have been abused. It is a societal problem and not just in Olympic sports. The Center for SafeSport was set up to handle these situations although it needs to be more independent. Before that too many people relied on the NGB (or club) to handle situations. If my kid were abused, the police would be the first call not the NGB.

pop_pop!_v2.2.1 wrote:

Luv2Run wrote:

Not sure how else it would work. If there were a USATF and an American Track League each running its own championships, how would Olympic teams be picked?

False choice.

2, 3, 5, 10 federations can exist and run a single olympics qualifier for the best athletes from all federations.

Which federation rules would you run the event under?