USA Gymnastics to leverage Paris 2024 medal haul: Governing body’s CEO Li Li Leung says athlete-first approach has been key to winning back trust of partners.
USA Gymnastics (USAG) will look to leverage its ongoing success at Paris 2024 and the runway to a home Olympics in Los Angeles to further rebuild its sponsorship portfolio, which had to be overhauled after major partners deserted the organisation in the wake of the Larry Nassar sexual abuse scandal.
Approaching the end of the first week in Paris, Team USA currently sit top of the artistic gymnastics medal table with two golds and two bronze triumphs and could yet add more to their haul before the end of the Games.
Simone Biles has been one of the stars of the Games so far, leading the US to victory in the all-around team competition on Tuesday before winning the individual final two days later, cementing her status as the most decorated gymnast ever.
As well as sporting success, USA Gymnastics has also been bouncing back commercially under the leadership of chief executive Li Li Leung, who joined the organisation from the National Basketball Association (NBA) in 2019.
A partnership signed with Nike in 2023 is the largest in the national governing body’s (NGB) history and it has also struck deals with media and tech giant Comcast, water brand Core Hydration, and luggage firm Samsonite.
Leung, a former gymnast herself, told SportsPro the organisation is talking to “a lot of potential partners” and said the prospect of LA28 on the horizon could even create more commercial opportunities on the back of Paris 2024.
“We have been very lucky in terms of attracting high-profile new brands to come onboard,” she said. “We are signing record deals and we’re in a good place when it comes to corporate partners, and we’re looking at further leveraging the success not only here in Paris, but towards LA28.”
When Leung joined USA Gymnastics a little more than five years ago, the organisation was reeling from the fallout from the Nassar scandal. The former team doctor was sentenced to up to 175 years in prison after hundreds of athletes – including Biles and other gold medal-winning gymnasts such as McKayla Maroney and Aly Raisman – accused him of sexually abusing them.
The case did significant reputational damage to USA Gymnastics, which had to fight to retain its status as the sport’s NGB amid accusations it had failed in its duty to protect its athletes. The organisation also lost major sponsors, including the likes of AT&T, Hershey’s, Kellog’s and Under Armour, and filed for bankruptcy shortly before Leung was appointed as its fourth chief executive in two years.
Leung said USA Gymnastics has overhauled about 70 per cent of its staff since she joined the organisation, which she added is no longer focused solely on developing “technically superior” athletes to win medals.
“We are focused on the experience of our athletes,” she said. “Our mission is about holistically developing our athletes. And really our goal is for them to have the best experience possible. We believe that if they are happy and healthy physically, emotionally, and mentally, then they will perform well. So the performance is the end result.”
Leung said she made a conscious decision at the start of her tenure not to pursue new sponsorships until USA Gymnastics got its “house in order”, but recent activity suggests that process has reached a stage where the governing body is comfortable selling again.
Within those conversations, the athlete-first culture being implemented by the organisation has played a key part in getting brands back onside. Leung noted that it is now a requirement for USA Gymnastics sponsors to have an element of athlete health and wellness incorporated into their partnership.
“I think all corporate partners before they sign on to any organisation will do their due diligence,” Leung said.
“We are also very focused on doing the right things rather than just talking and saying the right things. We wanted to make sure that the infrastructure and the framework and the foundation was in place before we went out to start recruiting corporate partners so we could answer those questions.
“And obviously, what we’ve shown is that we have built the fundamental foundation because they’re coming back.”
The revenue from those partnerships will go some way to rebuilding the finances of USAG, which along with the US Olympic and Paralympic Committee (USOPC) reached a US$380 million settlement with the victims of the Nassar scandal at the end of 2021. But Leung is keen to bring more into the fold.
“We’re in a really good place,” she said. “We have a healthy operating budget and we’re always looking to improve on that. Because what we also want to do is to be able to supply additional resources for athletes.
“While we have increased resources to our athletes, we want we want to continue to increase those for them.”