USA Gymnastics Appoints Interim CEO And She Has A Take On Nike And Colin Kaepernick [Update]

USA Gymnastics announced the appointment of Mary Bono as interim CEO and president of USA yesterday. Bono previously worked at Faegre Baker Daniels Consulting in Washington, DC. Before that, she was a congresswoman from California. She was first elected in 1998 to replace her husband Sonny Bono, who died in a skiing accident. She served in Congress, representing the 44th and the 45th districts, until 2013. Per the USA Gymnastics press release, Bono is a former gymnast.

It’s been just over a month since Kerry Perry was forced to resign after nine tumultuous months on the job. Perry had been hired to replace longtime USA Gymnastics boss Steve Penny, who was forced to resign by the USOC in March 2017 for his mishandling of sex abuse allegations against former team doctor Larry Nassar and member coaches.

Because it’s 2018—though the same was true in 2017, 2016, and so forth—fans took a quick dive into Bono’s social media output. It didn’t take long to find something problematic there. Just a month ago on Twitter, back when some people were destroying their Nike gear to protest Colin Kaepernick headlining a new Nike campaign, Bono tweeted this photo of someone—presumably her—covering up the company logo on her shoes.

It just so happens that the invincible Simone Biles is a Nike-endorsed athlete. Biles probably shouldn’t leave her Nike swag unattended around the new CEO and president.

Update (5:06 pm EST): Simone Biles weighed in on the new interim CEO and president. Unsurprisingly, she’s not pleased with the choice of Bono.

When Biles posted to social media about not wanting to return to training camps at the Karolyi Ranch where she and many others were sexually abused by Nassar, camps at the ranch were almost immediately canceled. It’ll be interesting to see how USA Gymnastics and Bono respond to Biles’ tweet. Bono may be the new interim president and CEO of the organization but Biles is, without a doubt, the most important figure in USA Gymnastics.

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