USA Gymnastics should’ve been gone years ago, why does it still exist?
Just over four years after one of the largest scandals in sports history, the governing sports body for American gymnastics, USA Gymnastics, is still profiting off of the gymnasts that it so wrongfully hurt.

In August 2016, the Indianapolis Star released an article about the sexual abuse by the organization’s team doctor, Larry Nassar. Since then, over 500 survivors have come out to say that they have been abused by Nassar and several others within the USA Gymnastics organization. Let that sink in. Nassar was sentenced to over 200 years in a Michigan state prison, but no matter how many years he serves, the pain for the survivors will never go away.

In the last four years, a lot has changed for the organization and the sport itself. USA Gymnastics filed for bankruptcy in December 2018 after numerous lawsuits were filed against USA Gymnastics. The organization claimed bankruptcy allowed them to maintain their governing body status with the United States Olympic Committee. Almost all of USA Gymnastics major sponsorships including Under Armour, Hilton, and Hershey, dropped the organization after the scandal worsened.

After all of the negativity and heartbreaking incidents, why not just get rid of the organization and start over? Instead of the current organization, which is currently going through a bankruptcy suit, as well as other negative changes, why not create a new organization with a different idea and motto that better suits the needs of gymnasts in the United States rather than the organization itself? Keeping the old program and updating it, is not the same as building an entire new one. The old organization had its chance to make a difference and work for gymnasts, but when athletes reported something was wrong, they didn’t listen. Instead they locked those complaints away and let it happen, while they made millions in profits off of the gymnasts getting hurt the most.

Simone Biles, the most decorated female gymnast of all time, has come out with multiple statements saying that she does not feel that the organization is making a difference, or at least not fast enough. It took them almost three years to develop an athlete protection policy, and bring an outside source, SafeSport, for external auditing. It’s time to cut USA Gymnastics and start making the survivors feel safe and happy again. They deserve that much.