USA Gymnastics to move training facilities following sexual abuse

USA Gymnastics announced Tuesday it will relocate its training facilities after a former doctor with the group pleaded guilty to sexually assaulting female Olympic gymnasts.

The group, which serves as the governing body for gymnastics in the U.S., said it has terminated its agreement with a Texas facility that currently hosts the National Team Training Center for the women’s team.

Larry Nassar, the former national team doctor, molested gymnasts at the Karolyi Ranch, 60 miles north of Houston, Texas. 

“It has been my intent to terminate this agreement since I began as president and CEO in December,” Kerry Perry, the group’s president and CEO, said in a statement. “Our most important priority is our athletes, and their training environment must reflect this. We are committed to a culture that empowers and supports our athletes.”

USA Gymnastics replaced former CEO Steve Penny last year after criticism over the way the organization handled the sexual abuse claims.

“It has been my intent to terminate this agreement since I began as president and CEO in December. Our most important priority is our athletes, and their training environment must reflect this. We are committed to a culture that empowers and supports our athletes.

— USA Gymnastics (@USAGym) January 18, 2018

The group has yet to select a new location for the training center, Flo Gymnastics reported. 

{mosads}

The decision comes after Simone Biles, a four-time Olympic gold medalist, said longtime USA Gymnastics doctor Larry Nassar had sexually assaulted her and that it would be difficult to continue training at the current training center. 

“It breaks my heart even more to think that as I work toward my dream of competing in Tokyo 2020, I will have to continually return to the same training facility where I was abused,” Biles wrote on Twitter and Instagram.

Olympian Aly Raisman made a similar plea.

“I hope USA Gymnastics listens because they haven’t listened to us so far,” Raisman said this month on ESPN’s “Outside the Lines.” “I hope they listen, and I hope they don’t make any of the girls go back to the ranch. No one should have to go back there after so many of us were abused there.”

Nassar is awaiting sentencing after pleading guilty to molesting seven women at his Michigan clinic, six of whom were gymnasts. More than 125 women have accused him of molestation.

Biles’s Olympic teammates McKayla Maroney, Aly Raisman and Gabby Douglas, among others, have accused Nassar of molesting them, claiming he did so under the false guise of medical treatment.

-Updated 4:40 p.m.