In 2016, during the last Olympics in Rio de Janeiro, mention of USA Gymnastics conjured up little other than awe. And rightly so: American female gymnasts were on top of the world. Led by Simone Biles—who became the most decorated U.S. female gymnast of all time—the U.S. squad in the team event boasted a margin of victory over Russia so great that the ensuant medal ceremony felt less like the conclusion of a hard-fought competition than a coronation.
Five years later, USA Gymnastics still wears the crown—and nothing suggests that it will shed it in Tokyo. But its name is soiled for perpetuity by the September 2016 revelations that many of the same U.S. gymnasts who charmed global audiences a month prior had been serially molested by the man who was also their doctor. Even more chilling was the discovery that USA Gymnastics not only ignored, but actively enabled, the sexual abuse of its athletes for decades.
