Thanks to Simone Biles, USA Gymnastics leader Mary Bono steps down

Oct 17, 2018

 

Interim U.S.A. Gymnastics leader Mary Bono has stepped down from her post less than a week after Simone Biles took her to task over an anti-Nike tweet she posted last month.

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Bono, a former congresswoman, apparently was against Nike after the company unveiled Colin Kaepernick as the face of its “Just Do It” campaign.

In a since-deleted tweet, Bono shared a photo of herself in September using a marker to black out the Nike logo on her golf cleats. Biles wasted no time sharing and responding to Bono’s month old tweet, one day after Bono was appointed to the top gymnastics spot, reports The New York Times.

“*mouth drop,*” Simone Biles, an olympic athlete sponsored by Nike, wrote in her tweet. “don’t worry, it’s not like we needed a smarter usa gymnastics president or any sponsors or anything.”


Bono quickly apologized and removed the tweet.

“I deeply regret posting the tweet because I respect everyone’s views and their fundamental right to express them,” she said in a statement released by U.S.A. Gymnastics. “This in no way reflects how I will approach my position at U.S.A. Gymnastics. I will do everything I can to help change the culture and to work with the entire community to build an open, safe and positive environment.”

However, on Monday Aly Raisman pushed the envelope further and tweeted that Bono worked for a law firm in 2015 that was behind covering up for Larry Nassar’s sex-abuse scandal. Raisman came forward earlier this year saying that she was sexually assaulted by the USA Gymnastics team doctor.

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Bono resigned after Raisman tweeted:

“My teammates & I reported Nassar’s abuse to USAG in 2015. We now know USOC & lawyers at Faegre Baker Daniels (Mary Bono’s firm) were also told then, yet Nassar continued to abuse children for 13 months!? Why hire someone associated with the firm that helped cover up our abuse?”

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