Report: Former Olympics Coach John Geddert Suspended by USA Gymnastics

USA Gymnastics has suspended John Geddert as a result of his ties to Larry Nassar, who stands accused of sexually assaulting over 150 girls and women during his time as a physician for USA Gymnastics and Michigan State, according to John Barr of ESPN. 

Geddert served as the coach of the Team USA women's gymnastics team that won gold in 2012. He also ran two different gyms that employed Nassar.

According to a story by Barr and Dan Murphy for ESPN's Outside the Lines, Geddert and Nassar "have been all but inseparable, professionally and socially" for the past 25 years:

"They worked together for more than 25 years, first at Great Lakes Gymnastics and, starting in 1996, at the gym Geddert owns now, Twistars USA Gymnastics Club near East Lansing. They worked the 2012 Olympics together. Geddert was in Nassar's wedding party when Nassar got married in East Lansing in 1996. They attended each other's house parties and traveled the country and, later, the world together at competitions. They vouched for each other when faced with career-threatening circumstances."

"John and Larry were like this perfect storm," Priscilla Kintigh, a former office manager at Twistars and gymnast under Geddert, told Barr and Murphy. "You become so unapproachable that your own gymnasts don't feel comfortable telling you what's going on. There's no way any of the girls would have felt comfortable saying anything to John [about Larry]. Kids were terrified of him."

Per that same report, a number of Geddert's gymnasts, their parents and various coaches said that his "coaching style was largely based on fear and intimidation."

And Amanda Smith, a former gymnast who gave a victim impact statement during Nassar's sentencing hearing, told Barr that Geddert would "regularly shove and berate girls in the gym, punishing them for failures in courage by forcing them to do hours of physical conditioning."

He was also accused of assault and battery by two separate gymnasts at Twistars, though he was never charged by the authorities in either alleged incident. 

One woman also alleged that Geddert walked into the training room while Nassar was molesting her. 

"All I remember is him [Nassar] doing the treatment on me with his fingers in my vagina, massaging my back with a towel over my butt, and John walking in and making a joke that I guess my back really did hurt," she said in her testimony, per Barr and Murphy. 

Geddert's suspension comes amid a number of the USAG's board members resigning, including chairman Paul Parilla, vice chairman Jay Binder and treasurer Bitsy Kelley. 

A number of former gymnasts have accused USA Gymnastics of institutional failure for its inability to protect their athletes from Nassar and its attempt to protect its image at all costs.

"You know, their biggest priority from the beginning and still today is their reputation—the medals they win and the money they make off of us," Aly Raisman told ESPN's Bob Ley (h/t Julia Jacobo of ABC News). "I don't think that they care."