USA Gymnastics to expand its partnership with Nike, a sign it's gaining trust in the post-Nassar era

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USA Gymnastics and Nike have reached an agreement on a sponsorship deal that will carry through the 2028 Los Angeles Olympics

USA Gymnastics and Nike have reached an agreement on a sponsorship deal that will make the athletic giant the exclusive apparel and footwear provider for the men's and women's national teams.

The deal, which USA USA Gymnastics says is the largest ever both in terms of annual value and total value for the national governing body, runs through the 2028 Los Angeles Olympics.

It also signals a shift in perception of USA Gymnastics in the corporate world as it tries to distance itself from the Larry Nassar sexual abuse scandal.

The organization has undergone a litany of changes — both in terms of leadership and the culture it is attempting to create at the sport's highest level — since athletes began coming forward in late 2016 saying they were abused by the former national team doctor.

Corporate support vanished in the immediate aftermath. During the 2018 national championships at TD Garden in Boston, walls usually plastered with signage from companies looking to align with a program that had become the gold standard in the sport were largely barren.

Li Li Leung, who in March 2019 became USA Gymnastics’ fourth president in less than two years, believes the organization has come “full circle.”

“It is incredible that a corporate partner such as Nike… (has) the trust in us and belief in us that we have turned around,” Leung said.

On the day she was hired, Leung stressed her primary goal was to build an organization focused on athlete health and safety while creating an infrastructure that would make sure all stakeholders in an organization with roughly 200,000 members felt heard, supported and safe.

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