A. Maroney
The big news this week: In December 2016, USAG and Maroney signed a nondisclosure agreement in which USAG paid Maroney in exchange for her silence over being abused by That Guy. Because USAG is so proud of these brave victims. Remember: at USA Gymnastics, nothing is more important than the safety of the athletes making sure you never find out.
It turns out that under California law, that agreement is possibly illegal because a victim of child sexual abuse cannot be forced to sign a nondisclosure agreement as part of a settlement, but what’s mostly come out is that a lot of people were very interested in using Maroney as a strategic pawn without any attention to her well being.
Here’s what I’m thinking about: As recently as last December— so AFTER the story had come out and several lawsuits had been filed—Cosplay Chris Christie was still focused only on playing damage control with the potential public relations fallout. Boy, your ship had already sunk. Where did you think this was going? It’s so revealing about the heart of the sickness. “It’s not that bad if Jamie Dantzscher was abused because she’s not famous, but if they find out about Maroney, we could really be in trouble.”
B. Vika’s back
Phew. The year’s final competition, the Voronin Cup, brought us a special present, the return of Viktoria Komova to competition. She finished second in the all-around behind Melnikova in what was very much a “testing the waters” performance. She elected not to participate in the event finals and did not yet have full, I’m-trying routine composition. Because it’s the beginning.
For example, this #ButHerInbars bars routine is just a piddly little 4.7 because she has too many toe-on skills, meaning the toe-on 1/1 gets no credit and therefore does not fulfill the full-turn composition requirement. This is not a set designed to get a score. It’s a set designed to be something she can go out and do. It’s also ridiculously gorgeous until the “no me gusta giant swings” moment.