MINNEAPOLIS — USA Gymnastics was a house afire five years ago, the massive fallout surrounding the Larry Nassar sexual abuse scandal rendering one of the U.S. Olympic movement’s marquee programs radioactive.
Lawsuits. Bankruptcy. Potential decertification. A revolving door at the top as CEOs incapable or unwilling to find a path forward came and went. Sponsorships vanished.
And perhaps most damaging of all: the erosion of trust between the organization and its tens of thousands of members, from the men and women competing at this week’s Olympic trials to club owners to coaches to the parents of kids just starting out.
Before Li Li Leung took the job as president and CEO of the flailing national governing body in early 2019, the former Michigan gymnast turned NBA executive asked a longtime mentor for guidance.
“He said to me ‘You have the opportunity to be a part of potentially the greatest turnaround in sporting history, how can you not take it?’” Leung told The Associated Press. “And I’m like, ‘That’s pretty compelling.'”
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Five-plus years after taking over, things are improving. Not perfect — fitting for a sport where perfection is essentially unattainable — but better. Legally, fiscally and Leung believes, culturally.
A packed Target Center will be awash this weekend with the logos of blue-blood corporate partners that fled in the wake of the Nassar revelations. Underneath the rebranded USA Gymnastics logo, athletes eyeing a spot in Paris will compete in an environment they believe is in a far healthier place than it was between the 2016 and 2020 Olympics.
