Buckeye Gymnastics (coaches reinstated; owner apologizes)

[RedBirdie]

IIRC, Cuba then limited their participation for a few years. Fairly common for them after people would defect in groups at sporting events.

 

[Denn]

Issues with the Cuban gymnastics federation have continued — Manrique Larduet withdrew from the 2020 Olympics because of that. (And I think he's had other challenges with them...)

Manrique has been in Italy for a good 3-4 years, recently winning the Italian Championships AA. I wish he could compete for them internationally — and I am wondering if that is in the works. That team is already great, and he would just make it even better. One of the best AAers not to win a major (Olympic or Worlds) AA title in my opinion.

 

[barbara_dewey]

Charlie Tamayo is a name that's ringing a bell. Wasn't there drama with him and the Cuban federation or something? I think all this was on the old board.

He has had numerous weird dramas in the past .

 

[Kara]

Oops, false alarm; what a dumpster fire!

 

[makam]

Well, I'm glad it was a false alarm, but yeah

 

[cftmoonlight79]

What a crazy story. I really like Kittia from the little I've known her, so hopefully there was nothing bad going on and it was a mistake.

 

[RedBirdie]

I don't think dumpster fire quite captures what is going on here.

 

[makam]

I'm surprised they willingly went right back to work (though apparently with a raise for Kittia at least) but i guess it is easy to see why, after the last 40 years or so, a gym has to be fast and thorough with its response to abuse allegations.

Just saying "Coach X has taken a leave of absence" will be seen as weak and protectionist if it comes out they were abusive, but "you are fired because there are hints of a problem...oh sorry" looks weak and reactive. There really isn't a good option, especially if the gym owner hasn't been keeping an eye on everything to know if there is any smoke, much less fire.

I suppose SafeSport could give out rankings for its investigations, to give the communities a hint of how bad it looks to be without getting into details. Like a Level 1, we aren't sure it isn't just some disgruntled parents, Level 3, things are looking bad, and Level 5, keep children away, stat. Either way Holcomb's apology doesn't feel like their lawyers looked at it, or else they told him to fall on his sword.

 

[irichluck21]

Or....Holcomb could have done what they do to school staff after allegations are placed on them.
The staff member is placed on administrative leave pending investigation.

 

[KristyJ]

Just saying "Coach X has taken a leave of absence" will be seen as weak and protectionist if it comes out they were abusive, but "you are fired because there are hints of a problem...oh sorry" looks weak and reactive. There really isn't a good option, especially if the gym owner hasn't been keeping an eye on everything to know if there is any smoke, much less fire.

There's also the "there have been no complaints in the last couple of months" statement from the original letter that is going wholly unadressed in this apology. Were there complaints before that or did he just use spectacularly bad wording?

 

[RedBirdie]

"I have found myself making poor decisions lately....." Yeah, like putting that in a letter! Jesus. If I were a parent of a kid at Buckeye, I'd be running far far away. What other poor decisions does he have in store for us?

 

[irichluck21]

I read making bad decisions lately on betting it all for Ohio State to win the College Football playoffs...

 

[rlayt]

But WHY is he making bad decisions lately? That sounds more global than just one incident or a mistake. I would run far and fast.

 

[MaryClare]

So what actually happened? Because the initial statement sounded like he’d been reliably tipped off about a safe sport investigation. And then it turned out there was nothing? Whose info was he acting upon?

 

[makam]

So what actually happened? Because the initial statement sounded like he’d been reliably tipped off about a safe sport investigation. And then it turned out there was nothing? Whose info was he acting upon?

Yeah, the "apology" letter definitely raised more questions and opened him up to criticism and possibly even future lawsuits. If the coaches feel their careers have been harmed by this, he just took credit for it all. I would think a large gym would have a lawyer on retainer, he isn't just some Joe on the street here. Run your communications relating to abuse allegations and personnel through your lawyer before hoisting the dirty laundry up the flagpole. Geez.