USA Gymnastics (USAG) has quite a bit of brand and reputation rebuilding to do for themselves. On Monday, July 8th, 2019, USAG announced their newest and first ever Director of Sports Medicine and Science. This position was designed to oversee and manage the medical staff. Medical staff including physicians, athletic trainers, and physical therapist, the director position, however, does not directly treat male or female athletes. Unfortunately, the individual whom USAG choose to hire immediately received social media backlash from many athletes. Athletes have a broken trust bond with their medical staff, due to the abuse scandal that the last USAG doctor, Nassar created. Fortunately, Nassar's case is coming to a close, after over 200 victims have come forward stating the abuse the doctor created and Nassar is looking at a lifetime amount of years in prison. The Director of Sports Medicine and Science, unfortunately, was hire and fired all within a 24-hour time span.
Dr. Edward Nyman was announced as the new Director, and he was well qualified for the position. Nyman is a former gymnast and coach who was an assistant with the women’s program at the University of Pittsburgh and has a doctorate in biomechanics. USAG president and CEO, Li Li Leung commented on Dr. Nyman saying “He is a former gymnast and coach; educated in athletic training, biomechanics and exercise science; and has conducted and published impactful sports medicine and biomechanics research.” Dr. Nyman was well equipped to handle the role he was hired for, Li Li Leung described Dr. Nyman as 'uniquely qualified'. Unfortunately, because Dr. Nyman is of the male race, he received pushback from the athletes.
On Tuesday, July 9th, USAG let Dr. Nyman go from his brand new position. Additionally, on Tuesday, Simone Biles, America's sweetheart shared her thoughts on Twitter regarding Monday's hiring announcement of Dr. Nyman. She kept her post very brief, in fact, she only wrote three words, which were "I'm sorry.... what". Based on this response, it is reasonable to believe she was not happy with the decision USAG choose in regards to this position. After being a victim herself of Nassar, having another male as a head of medical obviously did not go over well with Simone. A lawyer for some 200 gymnasts who said they are survivors of Nassar’s abuse, claimed that gymnasts were not consulted and criticized USAG's decision to hire a man. “Competing elite gymnasts are stakeholders. A number of them were abused by Larry Nassar. None of them were consulted about this pick. None of my clients abused by Nassar want anything to do with male physicians".
Wednesday, July 10th, USAG finally made comments about their decision to let go of their newest hire and first-time Director of Sports Medicine and Science. Although they kept their comments regarding their decisions vague, one comment was that there was 'conflict of interest'. A second comment made was, "[in order] to provide clarity, the decision to terminate Dr. Nyman’s employment was not based on any comments made on social media platforms or anywhere else. In accordance with our employment policies, we cannot comment further on this personnel matter.” This does not help the already damaged image that USAG is barely holding onto over the past two years. USAG has a long way to go to recover from their bankruptcy filing from this past December, as well as the trust they need to rebuild. The broken trust is not just with their athletes, but with their members, as well as society at large, their organization image is on the verge of being completely shattered. USAG is walking on thin ice and it is vital they do all they can to survive. Only time will tell what happens to this organization.
