USA Gymnastics Board Given 6 Days to Resign

The USA Gymnastics board has been given six days to resign or its status as the sports national government body could be terminated, the U.S. Olympic Committee said in a letter to the organization, according to ABC News.

The USOC made the demand after the USA Gymnastics' former national medical coordinator and former Michigan State University physician Larry Nassar was sentenced in Lansing, Michigan, Wednesday to 40 to 175 years in prison for sexual assault of gymnasts under his care from the organization and university, the network said.

"New leadership at the board level is critical and you recently saw three USAG board resignations," USOC chief executive officer Scott Blackmun said in a statement on its website.

"Further changes are necessary to help create a culture that fosters safe sport practice, offers athletes strong resources in education and reporting, and ensures the healing of the victims and survivors. This includes a full turnover of leadership from the past, which means that all current USAG directors must resign," he continued.

Blackmun said in the statement that the USOC will begin its own third-party investigation to find out "how an abuse of this proportion could have gone undetected for so long. We need to know when complaints were brought forward and to who. This investigation will include both USAG and the USOC, and we believe USAG will cooperate fully. We will make the results public."

Nassar pleaded guilty to seven counts of first-degree criminal sexual conduct involving girls who were 15 years old or younger, ABC News reported. The network said nearly 160 women charged Nassar with abuse allegations.

In a letter Blackmun sent to USA Gymnastics, according to ABC News, the USOC demanded that it will increase its oversight of the gymnastics organization, including adding a designated liaison, and mandated SafeSport and ethics training.

According to its website, SafeSport is an organization partnered with the USOC, which states that "all athletes deserve to participate in sports [that] are free from bullying, hazing, sexual misconduct or any form of emotional or physical abuse."

"We do not base these requirements on any knowledge that any individual USAG staff or board members had a role in fostering or obscuring Nassar's actions," Blackmun wrote, according to USA Today. "Our position comes from a clear sense that USAG culture needs fundamental rebuilding."

• Judge Rosemarie Aquilina an Internet Hero After Nassar Sentencing
• Larry Nassar Confronted in Court by Gymnastics Sex Victims