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SophiaD

By SophiaD
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peachmangosteen
peachmangosteen

I'm sorry, but that reasoning is bullshit. So, you're not gonna get a vaccine that might keep you from training for a couple days to protect yourself against a virus that could keep you from training

Crs97
Crs97

To me it’s no different than if Simone had sprained her ankle, had to withdraw from the team round, and will be evaluated daily to see when/if it is healed enough to continue. I am so glad we are

Conotocarious
Conotocarious

To me it seems like people in this country simply cannot comprehend the severity of the situation until utter disaster strikes. If she had pushed through and ended up with a catastrophic injury, the “

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Shangrilala

Shangrilala

Remember when Shannon Miller just sort of squeaked?  

Get these gymnasts on the board.  Give them advisor roles.  Create paths for them to become coaches. Get them involved in the national level with the usag and the usoc. 

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ElectricBoogaloo

ElectricBoogaloo

21 hours ago, HartofDixie said:

FYI The next trial for Nassar begins tomorrow and victim impact statements will be read.

 

https://deadspin.com/a-list-of-people-accused-of-enabling-larry-nassar-1822393026

FYI - this is just the sentencing. He's already pled guilty to three counts of first-degree criminal sexual conduct in Eaton County aka abuse that took place at Twistars (last week's sentencing was for seven counts of first-degree criminal sexual conduct with minors under the age of sixteen in Ingham County aka abuse that took place at MSU). Judge Cunningham has set aside today, Friday, Monday, and Tuesday for victim impact statements to be read before she sentences him.

1 hour ago, Shangrilala said:

Remember when Shannon Miller just sort of squeaked?  

Get these gymnasts on the board.  Give them advisor roles.  Create paths for them to become coaches. Get them involved in the national level with the usag and the usoc. 

I remember a lot of gymnasts being squeaky or monotone so it's been great to see many of become well spoken adults. I think a lot of them just weren't comfortable being interviewed or speaking with reporters, which is understandable considering their age at the time. On a shallow note, I often have a hard time recognizing them with their hair down (like Shannon in the above interview) because I'm so used to seeing them with their hair pulled up in high ponytails or braids.

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HartofDixie

HartofDixie

15 minutes ago, ElectricBoogaloo said:

FYI - this is just the sentencing. He's already pled guilty to three counts of first-degree criminal sexual conduct in Eaton County aka abuse that took place at Twistars (last week's sentencing was for seven counts of first-degree criminal sexual conduct with minors under the age of sixteen in Ingham County aka abuse that took place at MSU). Judge Cunningham has set aside today, Friday, Monday, and Tuesday for victim impact statements to be read before she sentences him.

I remember a lot of gymnasts being squeaky or monotone so it's been great to see many of become well spoken adults. I think a lot of them just weren't comfortable being interviewed or speaking with reporters, which is understandable considering their age at the time. On a shallow note, I often have a hard time recognizing them with their hair down (like Shannon in the above interview) because I'm so used to seeing them with their hair pulled up in high ponytails or braids.

It was supposed to be 58 victim statements and it's now up to 65.  I don't think we'll have repeat speakers but you never know.  At least one male gymnast has spoken out about being abused.

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ElectricBoogaloo

ElectricBoogaloo

3 minutes ago, HartofDixie said:

I don't think we'll have repeat speakers but you never know. 

The statement being read now for Victim B at Twistars is a gymnast who spoke last week. I didn't catch her name, but the lawyer said this victim spoke last week and asked for someone else to read her statement today. I'm not sure if there will be a lot more repeat speakers, but I do hope that Rachael speaks again. As one of the women who doggedly pursued this for years through multiple channels, I think she should be heard again.

For anyone who wants to watch the livestream of today's victim impact statements:

https://www.clickondetroit.com/news/live-stream-more-victims-to-speak-at-another-sentencing-for-larry-nassar-in-michigan

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ombelico

ombelico

Quote

Ugh

https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/larry-nassar-s-attorney-doesn-t-believe-all-accusers-were-n843696

Nassar, like all US citizens, is entitled to a defense, but Shannon Smith is truly the worst.  I can't remember now which impact statement this came from last week, but one of the women said that she was supposed to have maintained anonymity, but Smith intentionally revealed her identity in open court, thus stripping away anonymity from an unwilling sexual abuse victim. Truly the worst.

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legaleagle53

legaleagle53

(edited)
2 hours ago, ombelico said:

Nassar, like all US citizens, is entitled to a defense, but Shannon Smith is truly the worst.  I can't remember now which impact statement this came from last week, but one of the women said that she was supposed to have maintained anonymity, but Smith intentionally revealed her identity in open court, thus stripping away anonymity from an unwilling sexual abuse victim. Truly the worst.

It's very telling when even Nassar himself is disgusted by such a comment.  And lawyers like her wonder where the negative stereotypes about lawyers come from!

Edited by legaleagle53
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navelgazer

navelgazer

(edited)
58 minutes ago, woodstock said:

The father of three daughters who were victims tried to attack Nassar in court this morning

 

I don't normally advocate violence but I can't say I blame that father.

 

That was a beautiful thing to see before the bailiffs tackled him.  (I'd been trying to figure out where to post about that, thanks.)

19 minutes ago, Domenicholas said:

The only thing I wish is that he would have gotten at least one hit in.

Don't worry.  Once Nassar gets to prison, if he's not in solitary, his time will be horrifying.  Child molesters don't fare well in general population. 

Edited by navelgazer
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Indy

Indy

21 minutes ago, MostlyC said:

I wonder what Valeri resigning means.  If he's implicated somehow or is he part of the clean sweep USAG needs to make?

My guess is sort of a combo. He's enough of a part of the old establishment that needs to go, so there could have been some pressure from above for him to step down. Plus his negative training methods have been called out in public recently, so that doesn't make him look too good.  And on top of that, Sam Peszek has mentioned that her mom (who is a USAG employee) and family have gotten death/rape threats recently so it wouldn't surprise me if Valeri and his family have as well, since he's way more involved and public than Luan Peszek is. He might just be done with all of it. 

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Stuffy

Stuffy

They need to follow the rules that educators follow. As a teacher, I'm supposed to go directly to either the police or the section of DHS that deals with abuse.  Also don't ask questions let the kid tell their story without prompting. That way the kid doesn't have to tell their story repeatedly because of the trauma.  

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ElectricBoogaloo

ElectricBoogaloo

1 hour ago, galaxygirl76 said:

When I came into work this morning they were talking on the tv about how the USOC knew about it since at least 2015 and didn't do anything either. Is there anything new on that?

 

1 hour ago, PoshSprinkles said:

Steve Penny informed them of reports from 3 top athletes about Nasser in 2015. The USOC told them to report the matter to law enforcement, but USAG didn't. It seems like a case of "we didn't report it because we told them to report it" back-and-forth. 

https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/olympic-committee-was-told-2015-suspected-abuse-nassar-n843786

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HartofDixie

HartofDixie

3 hours ago, PoshSprinkles said:

Steve Penny informed them of reports from 3 top athletes about Nasser in 2015. The USOC told them to report the matter to law enforcement, but USAG didn't. It seems like a case of "we didn't report it because we told them to report it" back-and-forth. 

We know it’s Aly & Maggie but who was the 3rd - Gabby/Simone?

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doodlebug

doodlebug

36 minutes ago, PoshSprinkles said:

I agree. I am a teacher as well and teachers are one of a few professions who are mandated reporters in all states. 

I took some time to research the specific mandated reporting laws in Michigan and colleges, including professors, administrative staff, coaches, ect. are not mandated reporters under their laws. Michigan is also not one of a few states that requires everyone to be a mandated reporter regardless of profession. The argument MSU made that the girls and young women did not report to the "right" person could, legally speaking, be true.

Mandated reporting also only applies to minors, so it could be that the women who reported abuse were 18 or older.  Of course, it shouldn’t take a law to get people to do the right thing, the ethical and moral thing.  At the very least, these ‘educators’ should’ve steered the young women who reported Nasser to the police or a Sexual Assault Support group which I am sure is active on campus.  That they told the women they were wrong and to keep quiet about it is reprehensible.

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Indy

Indy

USAG is holding a one-day selection camp at LSU to pick teams for upcoming World Cup events, including the second athlete for American Cup. Rhonda must be using her NCAA connections to keep things afloat. 

It’ll be a change for the girls to have a camp at a state of the art facility in civilization instead of the Ranch! 

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CeeBeeGee

CeeBeeGee

Anyone watch the Simone Biles Lifetime movie last night? I quite liked it, for what it was. Although like the movie La La Land, it is out of date (no mention of Nassar or the rapid re-assessment of Marta) as soon as it came out. But the actress playing Simone was actually pretty good, and it's always great to see Tisha Campbell.

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methadonna

methadonna

On 2/4/2018 at 3:06 PM, CeeBeeGee said:

Anyone watch the Simone Biles Lifetime movie last night? I quite liked it, for what it was. Although like the movie La La Land, it is out of date (no mention of Nassar or the rapid re-assessment of Marta) as soon as it came out. But the actress playing Simone was actually pretty good, and it's always great to see Tisha Campbell.

They put a text screen up at the end noting that in (whatever month), Simone shared that she joined the 265+ women who’d been abused by Nassar and that on January [25th? Sorry, trying to keep to the general wording of it but already deleted and don’t feel like checking....], Nassar was sentenced to up to 175 years plus his previous sentence.

 

In the (more interesting, to me, but they usually are) Biography episode that followed it (I’m glad I watched it first, as it addressed quite a few points in the film that I’d have otherwise assumed were artistic license!), they did address it more directly, but mostly via news clips: when asked specifically about it, Simone seemed completely unable to discuss it. Poor thing; after seeing Ali and some of the others who are as recently affected speak so strongly, it was heart-wrenching to see the normally “happier” one  still struggling so acutely (I’d suspected as much when she didn’t choose to give a statement, but her affect was probably an important reminder of both the range of responses and levels of healing these young women are in, and also a harrowing demonstration of the level of compartmentalization that any abuse survivor may need to undergo but especially gymnasts, who are already trained to do so in so many other aspects ... another contributing factor to Nassar’s ability to get so many for so long to comply).

 

Also, there’s a special on Lifetime at 10 tonight called “Breaking their Silence: Inside the Gymnastics Scandal.” All of The promos I’ve seen for it suggest it’s a retitled repeat of last week’s episode of 20/20 (townhall-type interview with Elizabeth Vargas and the same women from the 20/20 one, identical clips of her interviewing Mattie Larson), but maybe there will be some extra footage since they don’t have the requisite 20/20 intro and outro schtuff. But I bet there will just be more commercials...

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SophiaD

SophiaD

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College gymnastics, especially those meets anchored by Kathy Johnson Clarke and Bart Conner, has been addressing this regularly throughout the season.  As @HartofDixie notes above, at the recent UCLA/Oklahoma meet, an extremely moving tribute to the five survivors present was held, with both coaches speaking out very powerfully, and that beautiful tribute video shown. 

As I look at college gymnastics, it seems so much better and more healthy - the athletes are of different shapes, not all waif-thing, energized, cheering LOUDLY for each other, and seem incredibly supportive.  It's really great to see.  My wish for the Elite Gymnastics program is that they look to the colleges for how to build and train healthy, excellent athletes.

(Also, Maggie Nichols is absolutely tearing it up this season.  And Valorie Kondos Field is an amazing advocate, coach, and choreographer, as well as being, apparently, ageless.  She doesn't look even close to 58 - and she's a cancer survivor!).

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methadonna

methadonna

(Thanks @HartofDixie for posting that video. If I ever cooked, I’d be blaming my passionate onion chopping for the next 30 minutes, but I’ll just have to admit I kinda lost it, watching it).

And, after that, I’m really not ready to watch the special I mentioned above, but I [unrelatedly] can’t sleep so decided to do a quick fast fwd to see if, indeed, it was the 20/20 ep., and I guess the Simone movie must have preceded it, because my recording happened to open on the first epilogue frame I’d referenced, so I grabbed a shot of it (and the second/only other one, which was a quote/message from Simone). If the images aren’t clear enough, I’ll be happy (fsvo happy) to transcribe them: sorry, but unlike these amazing athletes, I’m not motivated enough to even get out of bed to get a closer shot with my phone).

251FE750-D6A7-4FF2-AD3E-3422BA15C938.jpeg

D86DC2A8-91BD-4A4F-BD82-37B280C2F562.jpeg

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Stuffy

Stuffy

(edited)

Unless something changes, it's sounding like Aly is going to pass on the next Olympics to focus on holding USAG and the USOC accountable. She's keeping her options open, but they're not a priority right now. That seems like it'd affect her training. 

Edited by Stuffy
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HartofDixie

HartofDixie

(edited)
8 hours ago, Stuffy said:

Unless something changes, it's sounding like Aly is going to pass on the next Olympics to focus on holding USAG and the USOC accountable. She's keeping her options open, but they're not a priority right now. That seems like it'd affect her training. 

 

To be honest I don’t think Toyko was really part of the plan. A lot of athletes will say that they want to return to the Olympics to keep their options open but mainly its to keep getting endorsements & stay in the public eye. And if she really wanted to try for a 3rd Olympics  I imagine she would have waited until 2020/2021 to release her book.

Edited by HartofDixie
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ombelico

ombelico

Aly has said (paraphrasing) that speaking up and fighting for change is "more important than any gold medal." I think that's a pretty good indication that her priorities have shifted away from actively training and competing. More power to her!

At this point I think the only top gymnast from the last quad who has a realistic shot at going to Tokyo is Simone. Laurie's supposedly back in training but I don't envision that going very far at this point (I'd love for her to prove me wrong, though).

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Minneapple

Minneapple

On 2/6/2018 at 1:50 AM, SophiaD said:

As I look at college gymnastics, it seems so much better and more healthy - the athletes are of different shapes, not all waif-thing, energized, cheering LOUDLY for each other, and seem incredibly supportive.  It's really great to see.  My wish for the Elite Gymnastics program is that they look to the colleges for how to build and train healthy, excellent athletes.

The team USA gymnasts are nowhere near waiflike, though. They are muscled and powerful. They have strong shoulders and thighs. They are excellent tumblers. They are small, to be sure, but they all look healthy. 

In college, the NCAA very strictly regulates how many hours athletes can practice. I think it's now 20 hours a week. That's why you see the gymnasts in college develop breasts and hips. I promise you, the NCAA is just as bad as USA Gymnastics. 

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SophiaD

SophiaD

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They're having a very powerful, but too brief, feature on the current situation the US Gymnastics just before the America Cup.  I must say, Andrea Joyce is much more palatable as a reporter (not a floor reporter).  

I wish John Roethlisberger was one of the commentators.  He has a good influence on Tim and he always asks Nastia for her opinion, unlike Tim, who never lets her talk.

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ombelico

ombelico

Dare I hope that the absence of Al Trautwig from the American Cup (an event he has typically commentated on) means he won't be involved in NBC gymnastics coverage anymore? Pretty please?

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Indy

Indy

(edited)

Not-Al’s voice is kind of boring, but he’s not Al so I’m 100% in favor of him remains in this position for future meets. Or John R - I like his dynamic with Tim, Tim is less annoying when someone is there to call him out on his stupid sayings 

 

Also apparently not having to make room for AT&T commercials left plenty of time for Safe Sport commercials and awkward Kerry Perry soliloquies. The 2018 American Cup, brought to you by Damage Control. 

Edited by Indy
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