In reply to Mr_Asa :
https://time.com/6084384/why-simone-biles-out-team-event-silver/
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"Biles’ stunning decision comes after a tumultuous five years that she and USAG have undergone since 2016. Biles is the only survivor of a sexual abuse scandal that has upturned USAG in the past five years who is still competing. In an interview with TIME before the Olympics began, Biles admitted that the postponement of the Games from last year weighed on her, as it would mean another year of dealing with the USAG and what the survivors feel is the organization’s lack of transparency and accountability.
USAG remains in bankruptcy and was de-certified by the U.S. Olympic and Paralympic Committee (UOSPC) in 2018, after former national team doctor Larry Nassar was sentenced on multiple charges of child pornography and sex crimes for sexually abusing athletes, including Biles, over several decades. The U.S. Olympic and Paralympic Committee (USOPC) began the decertification process over USAG’s failure to protect athletes from Nassar’s years-long abuse and for its lack of transparency in about early complaints about the doctor. But because of the bankruptcy, which was USAG’s attempt to resolve the costly lawsuits it now faces from dozens of gymnasts who are survivors of Nassar’s abuse, including Biles, USOPC has halted decertification procedures.
According to attorney John Manly, who represents more than 200 of the survivors, “the greatest frustration from my clients comes from the fact that none of the enablers to Larry Nassar in the Olympic movement have been held to account.” Steve Penny, USAG president at the time, has been indicted for evidence-tampering related to removal of documents during the Nassar investigation, but has not gone to trial because of COVID-19 delays. Members of USOPC who the survivors say were notified of the abuse and failed to hold USAG accountable, have also not been held accountable, says Manly. The national training camp system that brought together elite, world championship and Olympic level gymnasts each month from around the country to take advantage of intensive skills workshops has continued, but no longer at the Karolyi ranch in Houston run by former national team coordinator Martha Karolyi, known for her strict and demanding training style.
Whether the camps continue, and in what capacity, isn’t clear yet. How the women’s gymnastics program emerges from the scandal depends on how transparent USAG will be about its past, to ensure that it learns and changes unhealthy practices for the future. Already, the stunning testimony from dozens of survivors at Nassar’s sentencing in January 2018 has improved the culture in gyms around the country, not to mention the training camps for elite athletes. In addition to the sexual abuse that was prevalent at many gyms, numbers gymnasts have also stepped forward to report verbal and physical abuse by coaches who relied on domineering and demeaning training tactics. “The system I grew up in, the coaches motivated us—myself and my teammates on the national team—through fear,” says Jordyn Wieber, member of the gold-medal winning 2012 Olympic team, a survivor of Nassar’s abuse, and now a head coach of women’s gymnastics at University of Arkansas. “It was fear we would disappoint our coaches, fear we would fail, fear we could get in trouble, fear we would be ignored. I wouldn’t say it’s the healthiest way.” At this year’s national championships, which Wieber attended as a recruiter, she already noticed dramatic changes in that culture. “More than anything it was the way the athletes interacted with each other—high fiving, leaning on one another. They were a little more free to be themselves, while I remember feeling like we couldn’t have too much fun and had to be serious. Based on what I saw, I do think things are getting a little better, and I definitely have hope.”
That’s the legacy that the survivors, which include the entire 2012 Olympic team, hope to leave on their sport. Biles has said that as the only remaining survivor still competing, she hopes her presence is a visible and constant reminder of what the USAG still owes all survivors—transparency, truth and accountability for its role in allowing Nassar to continue treating gymnasts. With Biles’ sudden withdrawal from the sport’s most prominent event, more questions likely will be raised about the support that USAG is, or isn’t, providing to its athletes and whether the disarrayed state of the organization is having a negative impact on athletes.
It gets to the fact that a lot of the stress and pressure and uncomfortableness that she has is based upon the fact that people above Nasser who knew within the organization have not been held accountable. She wants to stay above it so she doesn't speak on it publicly because she doesn't want to detract from the efforts of her teammates, and she doesn't want to relive it. But where she is in terms of coping and dealing with things mentally and what she endures is due to this, we cannot forget that aspect or overlook it. I appreciate her strength and not wanting it to define her as being a victim should not define anyone. But it also doesn't mean that we should look past what the organization did, especially until there's accountability for it. "
The reason why you don't hear about it is because the Olympics are supposed to be hand-holding song singing kumbaya. And it doesn't fit their narrative and it doesn't drive ratings and it doesn't make people happy and it doesn't make people proud of their country. But it doesn't mean that it's not a reflection of where we actually are as a society versus where we should be.
