U.S. Olympic Committee CEO Sarah Hirshland fired USOC chief of sport performance Alan Ashley on Monday morning after she was made aware of the contents of the Ropes & Gray report revealing that he failed to take action for 13 ½ months after learning about sexual abuse allegations against Larry Nassar.
USOC spokesman Patrick Sandusky confirmed the dismissal Monday afternoon, 20 minutes after USA TODAY broke the news of the damning report.
The law firm Ropes & Gray was hired in February by the USOC to investigate when USA Gymnastics and USOC officials first became aware of evidence of Nassar’s abuse and what they did with that information. It reviewed more than 1.3 million documents and interviewed more than 100 people, including gymnasts and employees and board members of the USOC, USAG and the U.S. Center for SafeSport.
