Senate passes powerful Olympic reform legislation

Aug. 4--The U.S. Senate unanimously passed major Olympic reform legislation Tuesday that demands greater accountability from the U.S. Olympic and Paralympic Committee and the national governing bodies and is designed to transform a culture within American Olympic sports that enabled and then ignored sexual abuse by Larry Nassar and other predatory coaches and officials.

The Empowering Olympic, Paralympic, and Amateur Athlete Act places greater legal liability on the USOPC and NGBs for sexual abuses by coaches, officials and employees and provides Congress with mechanisms to dissolve the USOPC's board of directors and decertify NGBs, groups that Congress and athletes allege have prioritized Olympic success and attracting corporate sponsors over athlete safety.

"Today's Senate passage of our Olympic reform legislation marks a critical step towards providing effective safeguards and protections to Olympic, Paralympic and amateur athletes pursuing the sports they love," Sen. Jerry Moran (R-Kansas) and Sen. Richard Blumenthal (D-Connecticut), the bill's sponsors, said in a statement. "We could not have passed this bill in the Senate today without the input and guidance of the survivors -- athletes who traveled to Washington countless times, shared their stories and demanded change. While powerful institutions failed these survivors in the past, we aren't going to."

The legislation was introduced in July 2019 in response to Nassar, the former U.S. Olympic and USA Gymnastics women's national team physician who was convicted for sexually abusing young female athletes, and similar scandals in which officials at the USOPC, USA Gymnastics, USA Swimming, and other NGBs are alleged to have ignored or covered up sexual, physical and emotional abuse by other coaches and officials.

"Larry Nassar became the face of a pattern of systemic failure and abuse and he reflected a culture of putting medals and money above the lives of athletes, prioritizing those tangible signs of victory above the human lives that were impacted so adversely," Blumenthal said Tuesday. "Systematic failures were reflected in Larry Nassar's success in terrorizing these young athletes and it effected other trainers, other coaches who similarly betrayed trust, it effected other sports, figure skating and swimming as well as gymnastics. None were immune to this sexual, physical or emotional abuse."

Tuesday's passage follows an 18-month Senate investigation into widespread and systemic sexual, physical and emotional abuse within sports sanctioned by the USOPC, a Colorado Springs-based tax exempt, non-profit organization.

"Sen. Moran and I heard and again and again and again that the USOPC and NGBs have failed their athletes at every turn," Blumenthal said. "Men and women in these organizations knew what was happening. They did nothing. They already had a legal duty under the law to report what was going on, clearly laying out in the law what should be obvious, that you must report allegations of sexual misconduct involving minors was not enough for them. They betrayed not only their trust with these athletes but their legal and moral responsibility."

Companion legislation has been introduced in the U.S. House of Representatives by Rep. Ted Lieu (D-California) and others. House supporters hope to pass the bill by the end of the year, possibly as soon as September.

"Our Olympic athletes are a source of national pride," said Lieu, who represents the West side of Los Angeles county and the South Bay. "As more and more brave athletes have come forward detailing abuse at the hands of coaches and other authority figures in recent years, it is clear systemic problems contributed to their abuse. We owe it to athletes to protect them from harm. We cannot hold individuals accountable without acknowledging the institutional failures that allowed this to occur. Institutional leaders at both Olympic Committee and sports governing bodies created the environment where abuse was tolerated and victims were ignored. Our bill will create better mechanisms of accountability and oversight for these powerful athletic institutions."

Olympic gymnastics champion McKayla Maroney, a Nassar survivor from Orange County, said the legislation "recognizes that USOC failed us, and put child athletes at risk. I am grateful to the Senate for passing this bill, and look forward to see the House of Representatives take the next step to hold the leadership of USOPC fully accountable for their failures,"

"When athletes dream of competing for their country, standing on the podium, listening to their national anthem, they don't imagine they'd be forced to suffer years of sexual abuse to get there," Maroney said. "Larry Nassar was an abusive monster, who preyed on thousands of young, vulnerable girls. He abused my trust, he abused my body, and he left scars on my psyche that may never go away. Equally disturbing is the fact that he couldn't have gotten away with his crimes for as long as he did, if it were not for powerful institutions looking the other way, and enabling his abuse. For too long, the wrong people held all the power -- now, it's back in the hands of the athletes, where it belongs."

The legislation requires the USOPC to assert greater oversight of the NGBs and provides the USOPC with expanded tools to discipline NGBs that fail to protect athletes. It also mandates that the USOPC establish clear procedures and reporting requirement for reporting abuse.

Athletes are guaranteed a third of all NGB governing structures under the bill.

The bill also requires the USOPC to contribute $20 million annually to the operation of the U.S. Center for SafeSport. The USOPC contributed $7.5 million to SafeSport in 2019, roughly $300,000 less than the $7.8 million the USOPC paid to

Jet Set Sports, a New Jersey firm specializing in Olympic-related corporate hospitality, according to financial records

"We would like to thank Chairman Moran and Senator Blumenthal for their work in drafting and advancing this important legislation," USOPC CEO Sarah Hirshland said in a statement. "It will cement increases in athlete representation in the U.S. Olympic and Paralympic movements, improvements in athlete safety protections, and increases in transparency and accountability in our system. The USOPC board recently approved the second phase of the most sweeping governance reforms in recent history. Building on that commitment and this legislation, we will move rapidly to implement reforms to address any outstanding provisions from this bill."

Tuesday's passage comes a day after financial records released by the USOPC showed that the organization spent nearly $20 million more in 2019 on its employees than it did on direct financial support to American athletes training for the Olympic Games and other major international competitions even as the USOPC pledged to athletes, Congress and the public that it would become more athlete-centric.

The financial records also reflected the USOPC's focus on corporate sponsors and the impact the sexual abuse scandals in USA Gymnastics, USA Swimming and other USOPC-sanctioned national governing bodies has had on the organization.

The USOPC spent nearly $26 million in legal related expenses in 2018 and 2019. By comparison the organization paid out $667,300 in legal expenses in 2017. The $8.15 million the USOPC spent on legal in 2019, was roughly $600,000 more than the organization contributed to the operation of the U.S. Center for SafeSport. The USOPC also spent $180,366 on lobbying in 2019.

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