USA Gymnastics Faces Calls to Decertify Following Mary Bono Hiring and Resigning

In this op-ed, Jessica Taylor Price examines what's at stake as USA Gymnastics searches for a new CEO and president after the four-day tenure of Mary Bono.

With USA Gymnastics, it’s been one major scandal after another.

On Tuesday, Mary Bono, the interim president and CEO of USA Gymnastics, resigned after only four days on the job. She was quietly appointed last Friday as a temporary replacement for Kerry Perry, who took over in the wake of the Larry Nassar scandal that led to then-president Steve Penny’s ousting. Bono, a former Congressman, was hired to “move the organization forward.”

But, like many of USAG’s decisions in the past year, it backfired—terribly.

First, there was the backlash over Bono’s anti-Nike tweet from September, most notably by USAG’s star athlete, Simone Biles. Biles called out Bono for a September tweet in which she marked out the Nike logo on her shoes with a marker. Bono later deleted the tweet and apologized.

Then, Bono’s job history dominated the conversation. John Manly, the attorney for many survivors of Larry Nassar’s abuse, tweeted that Bono “works for the very same law firm Faegre Baker Daniels" that was hired by USAG as it dealt with the allegations against Nassar. USA Today’s Christine Brennan wrote that, according to her LinkedIn profile, Bono was a principal at the firm during the time when an attorney reportedly helped USAG provide excuses for Larry Nassar’s absences from competitions when they knew he was being investigated for abuse. The firm told the Indianapolis Star in a recent statement that in the summer of 2015, it helped report Nassar to the FBI, "a fact that refutes any claim of a cover up."

Survivors like Rachael Denhollander and Sarah Klein were quick to respond to this development, followed closely by Aly Raisman, who tweeted on Monday, “Why hire someone associated with the firm that helped cover up our abuse?” (USAG said in a statement to the Indianapolis Star that Bono was not involved with USAG at the time as a “counsel of record.”) When Bono resigned on Tuesday, the board said in a statement that they are “committed to taking action.” Aly Raisman described the statement as “familiar.”

If this had been USA Gymnastics’ only misstep in the past year, it would have been bad. But it isn’t even their only misstep in the past two months.

When Mary Lee Tracy, perhaps best known for coaching Amanda Borden of the 1996 Olympic team, was hired as USAG’s elite development coordinator in August, the response was similarly fierce. Members of the gymnastics community were quick to locate and spread an article showing that Tracy had voiced support for Larry Nassar even after 50 survivors had come forward. Tracy later told USA Today that her statements about Nassar were only reflective of her own past experience with him and ""That has absolutely nothing to do with a) what I feel today and b) it had nothing to do with the survivors.". They also noted that she had questioned Aly Raisman’s complaints about conditions at the Karolyi Ranch.

In response to the backlash, Tracy said that she made an attempt to reach out to Aly Raisman to reconcile, a move which seems to have led to her ousting. She says USAG’s then-CEO and president Kerry Perry demanded her resignation, ostensibly for contacting Raisman. The absurdity that Tracy was fired, after just three days on the job, for trying to do the right thing was not missed. Kerry Perry, the CEO and president who spent nine controversial months on the job, resigned shortly after.

USAG’s blunders might seem less severe if not for the fact that that some of the country’s greatest athletes—who, by the way, are set to compete at world championships next week—work under an organization so lacking in foresight. The latest statement regarding Bono’s Twitter history, according to USA Today sports columnist Nancy Armour, described her anti-Nike tweet as an “oversight.”

Seemingly neglecting to consider how Bono’s or Tracy’s work and social media history would be perceived after hiring are certainly two glaring “oversights.” Indeed, they’re just two more examples of how USAG has failed to listen to the gymnastics community before making crucial decisions that are doomed to backfire, instead of just reacting when they do.

On Wednesday, the board of directors made an attempt to do just this. They released a statement calling for suggestions from the gymnastics community on “the qualities and attributes desired” in the next CEO.

But it’s clear that many in the gymnastics community believe that the necessary change won’t come from USAG as it currently stands.

Calls for the board to dissolve and the U.S. Olympic Committee to decertify the organization have come from fans, journalists, and survivors. Rachael Denhollander, the first woman to publicly come forward as a survivor, tweeted on Tuesday: “The USOC must decertify. There is no going forward with the current organization.” Sarah Klein, Larry Nassar’s first known victim, said Thursday, “Decertify them.” She also said the board of directors should resign effective immediately. Aly Raisman said on Wednesday, “The board must go,” and had Tweeted earlier in the week, “the USOC needs to act.” Dominique Moceanu called for dissolving the organization altogether on Thursday.

A call for suggestions is way too little, way too late. A board that is only now willing to listen is not the board that gymnasts deserve. They deserve new blood, and a new organization—one that will listen from the very beginning.

Related: How Gymnastics Is Trying to Move On After Larry Nassar