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Reuters

The remaining directors of USA Gymnastics will resign following revelations that the former national team doctor sexually abused at least 150 female athletes, complying with a demand from the US Olympic Committee, a spokeswoman for the gymnastics group said on Friday.
The doctor, Larry Nassar, was handed an effective life prison sentence this week, following days of emotional statements by gymnasts, including Olympic medallists Aly Raisman and Simone Biles.
The USOC had threatened to strip the group of its power to run its sport if the remaining 16 directors did not resign by Wednesday. Five have already resigned as a result of the scandal.
“USA Gymnastics will comply with the USOC requirements,” Leslie King, a spokeswoman for USA Gymnastics, said in an email on Friday.
The US House of Representatives, the US Senate and the US Department of Education on Thursday and Friday joined the USOC in opening broad investigations into possible sex abuse in sports.
Those investigations seek to establish if other sports officials turned a blind eye to doctor Nassar’s abuses and to examine allegations of harassment by officials in other sports, including swimming and taekwondo.



Raisman vowed to keep the pressure on sports organisations, to see who else knew about Nassar’s abuse. He worked for the federation through four Olympic Games, but the allegations did not come to light until 2016.
“Everyone stood up for him,” Raisman said in an interview with ABC’s The View. “My work, and the army of survivors, we’re not done yet. We still have to hold these organisations accountable.”
None of the remaining listed directors were immediately available for comment.
Investigators from the US House of Representatives sent letters to the USOC, USA Gymnastics, USA Swimming, USA Taekwondo and Michigan State University, where Nassar also worked, asking questions about sexual abuse. US Senators also announced an investigation earlier this week.
Ex-doctor Larry Nassar gets 40-175 years in jail for sexual assault of scores of young Olympic gymnasts
“My heart breaks for the survivors of Larry Nassar’s disgusting crimes,” said US Education Secretary Betsy DeVos, whose department will also investigate Michigan State University. “What happened at Michigan State is abhorrent. It cannot ever happen again.”

The school’s sports director, Mark Hollis, retired on Friday, two days after university President Lou Anna Simon stepped down.
Michigan Attorney General Bill Schuette, whose office prosecuted Nassar, confirmed on Friday on Twitter that his office is investigating Michigan State University.
The USOC’s own investigation into how Nassar was able to abuse victims for years will include looking at whether any USOC officials themselves turned a blind eye to his actions.
Nassar, 54, was sentenced to up to 175 years in prison by a Michigan state judge on Wednesday for carrying out the attacks on young girls under the guise of medical treatment. More than 150 accusers recounted their stories in the courtroom.
USOC Chief Executive Officer Scott Blackmun called on Thursday for the resignation of all current members board of USA Gymnastics and outlined six steps that the organisation must take to achieve governance reform.
“While the USOC encourages USAG to think and act broadly on reforming its culture, we also believe that reform must start with an entirely new board,” Blackmun wrote in a letter to USA Gymnastics’ board.

USA Gymnastics said in a statement that it “completely embraces” the requirements laid out by Blackmun.
The scandal could take a financial toll on the sports federation for years, sponsorship executives said. The group already stands to lose millions of dollars in revenue through the 2020 Olympic Games, as sponsors back away, the executives said.
In Washington on Friday, the US House Energy and Commerce Committee, in announcing its investigation, said sports organisations “must have mechanisms in place to ensure complete oversight and prevent such abuses from occurring.”
The panel asked Michigan State to disclose if it is aware of any other abuse allegations involving other faculty members.
The US House next week will vote on a bill approved by the Senate in November to require amateur athletics governing bodies to report sex-abuse allegations immediately to law enforcement or a child welfare agency.
The bill makes clear that aspiring Olympic athletes can report allegations of abuse and ensures all national governing bodies follow the strictest standards for child abuse prevention.


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United States

Entire USA Gymnastics board resigns after ex-Dr Larry Nassar sexually abused 150 child athletes

Larry Nassar, a former team USA Gymnastics doctor who pleaded guilty in November 2017 to sexual assault charges, is escorted into the courtroom during his sentencing hearing in Lansing, Michigan, on January 24, 2018. Photo: Reuters

FILE - In this Aug. 16, 2016 file photo, United States gymnast Simone Biles displays her gold medal for floor during the artistic gymnastics women's apparatus final at the 2016 Summer Olympics in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. In a statement via Twitter on Monday, Jan. 15, 2017, Biles says she is among the athletes sexually abused by a now-imprisoned former USA Gymnastics team doctor.. (AP Photo/Rebecca Blackwell, File)

Olympic gymnast Aly Raisman attends the Glamour Women of the Year Awards on November 13, 2017 at the Kings Theater in New York City, N.Y. (Dennis Van Tine/Abaca Press/TNS)

(FILES) In this file photo taken on September 25, 2017 shows USOC CEO Scott Blackmun during the Team USA Media Summit ahead of the PyeongChang 2018 Olympic Winter Games in Park City, Utah. The United States Olympic Committee warned USA Gymnastics on January 25, 2018 that its entire board of directors must resign by January 31 for the body to avoid being decertified in the wake of the Larry Nassar sex abuse scandal.In a letter addressed to American gymnastics' governing body, USOC chief executive Scott Blackmun laid out a detailed road map that USAG must follow in order to remain viable. / AFP PHOTO / GETTY IMAGES NORTH AMERICA / Maxx Wolfson