“The human seems distracted. so i put my paw on their knee. and now they know. that whatever it is. we’re in it together.” -Thoughts of Dog. Just putting you in a good mood before we dive into this news toilet.

Voronin Cup

The Voronin Cup happened on December 12-13. Alyona Shchennikova and Yeo Seo-jeong did very well, Shchennikova taking the all-around and bars titles plus the beam silver, and Seo-jeong winning gold on vault, silver in the all-around, and bronze on floor.

For the dudes, Artur Davtyan of Armenia cleaned up, earning the all-around and pommels gold, floor bronze, and rings silver.

The report

Ropes & Gray’s single dropped. The Ropes & Gray report that we’ve all been waiting for was released on Monday. The big takeaway from the 252-page report is that former U.S. Olympic Committee CEO Scott Blackmun and chief of sport performance Alan Ashley did not alert the board of directors or SafeSport after learning of Larry Nassar’s abuse. Ashley was fired Monday morning.

Otherwise, the report summarized much of what we already know, providing an overview of how key institutions failed to protect gymnasts from abuse for years. If you want more, Dvora Meyers of Deadspin brilliantly and articulately listed details that you might like to know, like how Nassar helped draft USA Gymnastics’ sexual misconduct policies. You can also read the full report here.

Orgs responded. Suzanne Lyons of the USOC responded to the report, saying “The U.S. Olympic community failed the victims, survivors and their families.” USAG said in a statement, “We are indebted to the brave women who came forward and have made our sport safer by speaking out.”

Rachael Denhollander said Congress needs to step in and investigate the USOC and USAG, and Senator Richard Blumenthal asked for the FBI to investigate on Tuesday. On Friday, a Senate subcommittee requested that the FBI investigate Scott Blackmun for allegedly lying to Congress when he told them he had shared information about Nassar with SafeSport.

Wut else happened

Simone was honored. Simone Biles was named ESPN’s most dominant athlete of 2018 on Tuesday. Here’s the…sigh…here’s the article. She also appeared on Good Morning America that morning.

So was Rachael. Rachael Denhollander, the first woman to publicly accuse Larry Nassar of abuse, was named Sports Illustrated’s Inspiration of the Year on Tuesday. Christine Blasey Ford presented the award to Denhollander, who gave a speech.

Survivors want the fund reopened. Survivors like Morgan McCaul are upset that Michigan State University’s $10 million Healing Assistance Fund was closed last week. Some of them addressed the MSU board of trustees on Friday, urging the uni to reopen the fund, but it doesn’t appear that interim president John Engler will budge. McCaul shared this petition to have the fund reinstated.

Court will review Nassar’s sentence. The Michigan Court of Appeals decided last week to review whether Judge Rosemarie Aquilina should have decided on Nassar’s resentencing motion in Ingham County, and whether she was a biased judge.

• The NCAA preseason poll happened, and Spencer has thoughts. Speaking of NCAA, Maggie Nichols will be given the NCAA Inspiration Award in January.
• Former Canadian national team coach Dave Brubaker’s trial was completed on Friday. The decision will be made in February.

Required reading

• Check out Rachel Axon, Nancy Armour, and Brent Schrotenboer’s work on how banned coaches stay with kids (USA Today)
  • Three keys to keeping banned coaches banned and children safe (USA Today)
  • These changes must be made by Olympic sport leaders to protect young athletes (USA Today)
• The time has come for congress to dismantle the USOC (ThinkProgress)
• Words I’ll never say again: ‘It’s OK, the doctor is allowed’ (WBUR)
• Olympic leaders failed gymnasts at every level, then worried about themselves (The Washington Post)
• Believed: Epilogue (Michigan Radio)

Star status

Injuries. Oksana Chusovitina pulled out of the Voronin Cup with a minor injury to an undisclosed body part.

Upgrades. Cintia Rodriguez of Spain showed off a beautiful new skill [combo, sorry Nastia] in slo-mo.

Staying social

Tough stuff. Bridget Sloan opened up about former coach Marvin Sharp on Sam Peszek’s podcast.

Gym fail. Dominick Cunningham hurt his shin on parallel bars, but don’t worry, his friend was there to point and laugh.

Beff +1. Beth Tweddle is prego!

Because you asked…

…Lauren answered. Oh, and here’s some supplemental info.

Last words

If you’re sick, get away from me. Go home. You’re sick.

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