Los Angeles (AFP)
The US Olympic and Paralympic Committee (USOPC), under pressure from Larry Nassar's sexual abuse case in gymnastics, announced deep reforms on Friday to boost athlete representation and safety.
The reform, including the increase of athlete representatives to the USOPC leadership from three to five members, is contained in an amendment approved by the current management following recommendations made in August by a group of reforms.
"We have promised groundbreaking and substantial reforms to our structures and practices that recognize the importance of the role of athletes in our organization, and today we have taken an important step in this direction," said Susanne Lyons, president of the organization. USOPC since January 1, 2019.
The amendments, approved unanimously by the USOPC leadership at a special meeting on Thursday, will come into effect on January 1, 2020, eight months before the Tokyo Olympics. The adoption of these new statutes comes a few months after the recommendations of two senators to strengthen the control of the Congress on the USOPC.
In addition to gymnastics, various US Olympic federations have been shaken by a series of sexual abuse scandals for more than a decade.
On September 14, the US Department of Justice (Doj) opened an investigation into sexual abuse in the country's Olympic sports, focusing on failures in sports matters.
The investigations, which will focus on American gymnastics, result from the Larry Nassar scandal. The latter, then doctor of the American team, assaulted between 1996 and 2014 more than 350 gymnasts, among which the Olympic champions Gabrielle Douglas, Aly Raisman and Simone Biles. Most victims, of both sexes, were minors.
Nassar was arrested and charged with child pornography at the federal level and sexual violence by the state. He has been serving life imprisonment after pleading guilty.
© 2019 AFP