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Kerry Perry out as USA Gymnastics president

By OlympicTalkSep 4, 2018, 9:45 AM EDT

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Kerry Perry is out as USA Gymnastics president and CEO after nine months, informing the board of directors of her resignation Monday night.

The move, first reported by the Orange County (Calif.) Register late Monday night, came three days after new U.S. Olympic Committee boss Sarah Hirshland called for leadership change after more problems within the organization following the Larry Nassar sex-abuse scandal.

“As we close the day, I’m afraid I can offer nothing but disappointment,” Hirshland said in a Friday statement. “Under the circumstances, we feel that the organization is struggling to manage its obligations effectively and it is time to consider making adjustments in the leadership.”

She said the USOC would reach out to the USAG board over the weekend to discuss changes. Perry took over for Steve Penny as president of USA Gymnastics in November 2017.

“USA Gymnastics has been in the midst of a difficult and painful transition to ensure that the safety and interests of our athletes remain at the heart of our mission,” USA Gymnastics Board of Directors chair Karen Golz said in a statement. “While much as been accomplished over the past several months to stabilize the organization, we still face tremendous challenges as we all work to achieve fundamental changes to move our sport forward.”

Golz said a search is on for an interim CEO, and a formation began of a search committee to find a permanent CEO, chaired by board member and 1988 Olympic champion swimmer Brent Lang.

Perry has made very few public statements in nine months, and has had trouble gathering support in the gymnastics community, since taking over as part of a USOC-directed turnover of the federation’s board and senior management.

Two weekends ago at the national championships, Olympic gold medalist Simone Biles, a Nassar abuse victim herself, withheld judgment on the path USA Gymnastics has taken, saying “nobody can know until Kerry Perry speaks up. It’s kind of hard.”

Perry did speak up later that weekend, saying all but a few of the 70 recommendations suggested by an independent review of the federation’s actions had been implemented.

Much of that progress has been overshadowed by a steady stream of new allegations against Nassar and missteps by USA Gymnastics.

On Friday, USA Gymnastics awkwardly fired the coach it had hired only three days earlier as its elite program coordinator.

That led to Hirshland’s comments as the USOC itself is under the microscope for its own handling of sex-abuse allegations.

She took over for Scott Blackmun, who resigned as CEO in February due to health problems, while calls for his ouster were increasing for what critics said was the USOC’s own slow reaction and unwillingness to take responsibility for abuse in Olympic sports.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

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Naomi Osaka’s popularity in Japan ahead of Tokyo Olympics

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By Nick ZaccardiSep 4, 2018, 2:52 PM EDT

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Japan is having its best Grand Slam singles tennis performance in 23 years. The name everybody is learning, if they didn’t know it already, is Naomi Osaka.

Osaka, a 20-year-old born in Osaka to a Japanese mother and a Haitian father, reached her first Grand Slam singles quarterfinal at the U.S. Open. Osaka, who has lived in the U.S. since age 3, and male veteran Kei Nishikori are both in the last eight here.

Japan last put a man and a woman into the quarterfinals of the same Grand Slam at Wimbledon in 1995.

It is well-timed, with the Tokyo Olympics approaching in two years.

“Every time the Japanese press is at a tournament they always talk about the Tokyo Olympics,” Osaka said in June, according to the Times of London.

Nishikori is already an Olympic medalist, taking bronze in Rio by beating Rafael Nadal.

Osaka was ranked 87th in the world on the rankings cutoff date to choose the Rio Olympic field in June 2016.

The lowest-ranked player to make the Olympic women’s singles field — outside of continental/tripartite/host country representation — was No. 86. Osaka could have been ineligible anyway because she had yet to compete for Japan in Fed Cup.

Recent profiles marked Osaka’s rising popularity in Japan, a nation whose biggest sports stars have been baseball players. She could be the highest-profile female athlete for the host nation in two years.

Her coming-out tournament title came in Indian Wells, Calif., in March, an event often dubbed the sport’s fifth major. In Osaka’s very next match, she beat Serena Williams, albeit in Williams’ second event back from childbirth.

Osaka, now ranked 19th, and Williams could meet in the U.S. Open final. Osaka faces 36th-ranked Lesia Tsurenko in Wednesday’s quarterfinals and, potentially, 2017 U.S. Open runner-up Madison Keys in the semifinals.

A spring survey published by Central Research Services in Japan showed that Osaka was the eighth-most popular athlete (active or retired) in Japan among female respondents, trailing seven men and retired figure skater Mao Asada. People were asked to name his or her favorite athlete, foreign or domestic.

Osaka ranked outside the top 10 for overall popularity among 1,207 male and female respondents over the age of 20.

Nishikori, the 2014 U.S. Open runner-up, ranked fourth overall behind baseball players Shohei Ohtani and Ichiro (now retired) and figure skater Yuzuru Hanyu. Potential Tokyo Olympians high on the list included golfer Hideki Matsuyama (seventh) and Yomiuri Giants shortstop Hayato Sakamoto (eighth).

Osaka could also share exposure at Tokyo 2020 with 18-year-old swimmer Rikako Ikee, who just earned six golds and two silvers at the Asian Games. Ikee became the first woman to be named MVP of the entire Games.

Other big names on the road to Tokyo include wrestler Kaori Icho, potentially seeking to become the first athlete to earn an individual gold medal at five Olympics, and gymnast Kohei Uchimura, winner of the last two Olympic all-around titles.

Tennis was the 10th-most popular Olympic sport, with swimming, gymnastics and the marathon leading the list, according to the survey.

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Sloane Stephens upset at U.S. Open before possible Serena Williams match

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By OlympicTalkSep 4, 2018, 2:34 PM EDT

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NEW YORK — Sloane Stephens‘ U.S. Open title defense ended in the quarterfinals, one match shy of a possible Serena Williams showdown.

Latvian Anastasija Sevastova upset the American 6-2, 6-3 on another steamy day inside Arthur Ashe Stadium. Temperatures reached the low 90s. All but a few games were won by the player on the shady side of the net.

Stephens also dealt with a “bad” sinus infection since Monday.

“Nothing was wrong with me before the match,” Stephens said. “Obviously, the better player won. … It was hot for both of us. She handled it better.”

The 18th-ranked Sevastova, not No. 3 Stephens, will face the winner of Tuesday night’s match between Williams and former No. 1 Karolina Pliskova for a spot in the final.

Williams is now the only woman left in the draw with a Grand Slam singles title — 23 of them, one shy of Margaret Court‘s record.

Stephens ended an up-and-down year in Grand Slams that included a French Open final loss to Simona Halep and first-round defeats at the Australian Open and Wimbledon.

Stephens made a remarkable run to her first Grand Slam final at the 2017 U.S. Open. She had missed 10 months due to a foot injury, unable to walk for four months after January 2017 surgery, and was ranked No. 957 less than a month before the tournament.

Her run included a three-set quarterfinal win over Sevastova, followed by ousting Venus Williams and Madison Keys to become the first U.S. woman other than the Williams sisters to win a Grand Slam singles title in nearly 16 years.

Stephens followed that by losing eight straight matches between September and January.

“I s— the bed for, like, 10 tournaments in a row,” she said. “I could have s— the bed in the first round [here], and that would have been really bad. So the fact that I made it to the quarterfinals and played some really good matches and I just competed as hard as I could, I mean, a lot to be proud of.”

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