Photo: Alex Livesey/Getty
Simone Bilesis standing up for her sport – and her fellow athletes.
One day after Mary Bono was appointed as the interim president and CEO of USA Gymnastics, Olympic gymnast Biles, 21, slammed Bono for a tweet she posted in September that showed the executive blacking out the Nike logo on her golf shoes in response to NFL starColin Kaepernick‘scontroversial Nike ad.
“mouth drop don’t worry, it’s not like we needed a smarter usa gymnastics president or any sponsors or anything,” Biles tweeted on Saturday.
In Bono’s photo, which was posted in September and has now been deleted, she used a black marker to cover up a white Nike logo on a pair of golf shoes. Similar actions were shared on social media as anegative reaction to the brandafter it featured Kaepernick, who started the #TakeAKnee movement in 2016, in its ad campaign.
“Playing in a charity golf tournament raising money for our nation’s Special Forces operators and their families. Unfortunately had these shoes in my bag. Luckily I had a marker in my bag too,” Bono, a former GOP congresswoman from California and widow of late pop star Sonny Bono, wrote along with her photo.
John Salangsang/BFA/REX/Shutterstock; Picture Perfect/REX/Shutterstock
Kaepernick, 30, has become the preeminent voice in protesting police brutality since he began kneeling during the national anthem as a member of the San Francisco 49ers in September 2016. Though he is currently not signed to a team, other athletes have followed his lead, which the NFL attempted to sanction earlier this year. Nike’s decision to feature Kaepernick in its ad sparked a boycott of their products, as many conservativesburnt Nike-branded shoes and clothing.
“I regret the post and respect everyone’s views & fundamental right to express them. This doesn’t reflect how I will approach my position @USAGym I will do everything I can to help build, w/ the community, an open, safe & positive environment,” she tweeted. “I look forward to telling my gymnastics story, my vision for the future of the sport and why I wanted the job.”
On the same day Bono’s tweet received national attention, USA Gymnastics board chairwoman Karen Golz promised its members that the board would take steps to support a safe environment “where every athlete can grow, learn life lessons, have fun and succeed.”
In thestatement, shared on Friday, Golz also said, “Mary [Bono] is known to be an outstanding communicator who can coalesce people with differing views and perspectives.”
Raisman also spoke out against Bono on Monday.
“My teammates & I reported Nassar’s abuse to USAG in 2015. We now know USOC & lawyers at Faegre Baker Daniels (Mary Bono’s firm) were also told then, yet Nassar continued to abuse children for 13 months!? Why hire someone associated with the firm that helped cover up our abuse?” she tweeted.
“Clearly this is not a “new” USAG. Same corrupt decisions. Perhaps it’s because true accountability is less likely if authority is placed in the hands of someone similarly motivated to avoid it,” Raisman wrote in a follow-up tweet.
Biles will represent Team USA in the upcoming World Championships in Qatar.
source: people.com
