The U.S. Olympic Committee (USOC) fired its chief of sports performance on Monday after an independent investigation found that he and several other individuals took no action to protect athletes after being told of abuse allegations against former USA Gymnastics physician Larry Nasar.
A 233-page report published Monday found that the former USA Gymnastics CEO, Steve Penny, informed the leaders of the Olympic Committee in 2015 that team members had shared allegations that Nassar had sexually abused them.
The report found that Chief of Sports Performance Alan Ashley and then-Olympic Committee CEO Scott Blackmun did not share that information with others and that the organization did not take action prior to allegations against Nassar being made public in the media in 2017.
{mosads}The committee fired Ashley on Monday based on the findings of the report, a spokesman said.
The report also determined that individuals at Michigan State University, where Nassar previously worked, enabled the doctor’s abuse of athletes.
In a statement, the USOC, which commissioned the 10-month investigation, said it must learn from the report.
“The U.S. Olympic community failed the victims, survivors and their families, and we apologize again to everyone who has been harmed,” Susanne Lyons, the incoming chairwoman of the USOC board of directors, said in a statement. “The USOC board commissioned this independent investigation because we knew we had an obligation to find out how this happened and to take important steps to prevent and detect abuse.”
Nassar was sentenced in January to up to 175 years in prison for sexually abusing women and girls while he was a doctor for Michigan State University and for USA Gymnastics. More than 150 women testified against Nassar, describing instances where he had abused them during their time at Michigan State or on the Olympic team.