PYEONGCHANG, South Korea — The president of the International Olympic Committee, Thomas Bach, opened a news conference here Sunday by reading a prepared statement that declared the IOC’s policy-making executive board was “deeply shocked and saddened” by the “abuse scandal” rocking USA Gymnastics and Michigan State.
The board also, Bach said, expressed its “moral support for the victims and applauded the courage of the victims who gave testimony.”
The IOC, Bach further said, “took note of the ongoing independent investigation,” the U.S. Olympic Committee announcing Friday it had selected New York law firm Ropes & Gray LLP to conduct the inquiry, and “hopes that this will also give clarity to the responsibilities of the different parties.”
USA Gymnastics clearly has a lot to answer for.Michigan State as well.
The FBI, too, as the New York Times made plain in a blockbuster account published over the weekend, the agency taking a year to pursue the case — the paper identifying at least 40 girls and young women who say Larry Nassar molested them between July 2015, when the matter was first reported to the FBI, and September 2016, when the Indianapolis Star published its first accounts.
For all that, an issue for many, including on Capitol Hill: what about the USOC?
Everyone, it seems, is looking for someone to blame. It’s entirely unclear, however, that — without more — it should be the USOC.
