Push for bill tackling abuse in US gymnastics

WASHINGTON: Several senators and former star gymnasts pushed Tuesday for a bill that would criminalize the failure of athletics organisations to report suspected sex abuse, after a huge scandal that shook US gymnastics.

The Indianapolis Star newspaper reported late last year that 368 former gymnasts claimed to have been sexually assaulted by coaches or other adults involved in the sport over the previous two years.

The scandal led Steve Penny, president of USA Gymnastics, the national governing body for the sport, to resign mid-March following allegations of turning a blind eye.

A bipartisan group of senators is now calling on Congress colleagues to pass a bill aimed at ending the “culture of silence” surrounding such crimes.

Several former gymnastic stars were invited to testify before the Senate Judiciary Committee on Tuesday and at times struggled to hold back tears.

“For a lot of us, for so long we felt we had no voice,” said Jeanette Antolin, a former Team USA gymnast and victim of abuse, at a news conference after the hearing.

“And to have the kind of support that we do now and finally have a voice is so important.”

The proposed legislation would require amateur athletics governing bodies like USA Gymnastics, and adults who work with young athletes, to immediately report suspected sex abuse to local or federal law enforcement agencies.

Failure to report such acts would be a federal crime.

The new law aims to make it easier for victims who wish to report their attackers, in particular through a call center that would guarantee them anonymity.

It would also mandate greater oversight of adults in gyms, and trainers accused of sexual abuse would be kept on record to prevent them being able to reoffend simply by changing their workplace.

Dominique Moceanu, a 1996 Olympic gold medalist and reform advocate, who was not sexually abused herself, said the legislation would mark “a positive turning point in the history of this sport.”