Simone Biles won the all-around final at the 2018 World Gymnastics Championships in Doha. (Photo: KARIM JAAFAR, AFP/Getty Images) 
 
 USA Gymnastics has not voluntarily given up its status as the sport’s national governing body, triggering a hearing that could lead to the organization's demise. 
 
 In a statement Wednesday, U.S. Olympic Committee CEO Sarah Hirshland said she is moving forward with the process to revoke USA Gymnastics' NGB status. The next step is to select the three-person panel to hear the USOC's complaint against USA Gymnastics. 
 
 The panel will be chaired by a USOC board member and have representatives from the NGB and athlete advisory councils. USA Gymnastics will have the opportunity to “present factual evidence and legal argument regarding the allegations of the complaint,” the bylaws state. 
 
 After the hearing, the panel will issue a report and make a recommendation to the USOC’s board of directors. The board then makes the final decision. 
 
 There is no timeframe in the USOC bylaws for the process, and Hirshland said it could take "several weeks, perhaps a few months." 
 
 "As I’ve said before, the path is not crystal clear, but our motives are – put simply, to ensure the NGB for gymnastics in the United States is the type of organization each gymnast and the coaches, trainers and club owners who support them, deserve," Hirshland wrote in an open letter to the gymnastics community. 
 
 The move does not come as a complete surprise. Despite being informed by the USOC on Nov. 5 that it was beginning the process to revoke its NGB status, known as a Section 8 complaint, USA Gymnastics has continued to operate as if it plans to be around for the long-term. 
 
 Earlier this week, it announced it was seeking nominations for its board of directors. In an open letter published Tuesday, board chair Karen Golz said USA Gymnastics was progressing in its search for a new CEO. 
 
 "As we’ve said before, this is a situation in which there are no perfect solutions," Hirshland said Wednesday. "Seeking to revoke recognition is not a decision that the USOC came to easily, but we continue believe it is the right action." 
 
 USA Gymnastics will continue to operate as usual so long as the revocation process is ongoing. Should it be stripped of its NGB status, the USOC would take control of the elite programs until a new NGB is identified. 
 
 USA Gymnastics could continue to exist, but its members would likely migrate to whatever new group becomes the NGB. 
 
 The USOC is known to have revoked NGB status or cut off funding only three times, with taekwondo, team handball and modern pentathlon. But Hirshland said earlier this month that the USOC had no choice but to step in with USA Gymnastics because of its repeated missteps in trying to move beyond the Larry Nassar scandal. 
 
 Nassar, the longtime team physician for USA Gymnastics and Michigan State, is serving an effective life sentence after pleading guilty to child pornography and sexual abuse charges. More than 350 girls and young women have said he abused them under the guise of medical treatment, including Olympic gold medalists Simone Biles, Aly Raisman, McKayla Maroney, Gabby Douglas, Jordyn Wieber, Kyla Ross and Madison Kocian. 
 
 USA Gymnastics has been through three CEOs since Rachael Denhollander told The Indianapolis Star in September 2016 that Nassar had abused her, prompting hundreds of other women to come forward. Steve Penny was forced out by the USOC in March 2017. Kerry Perry resigned under pressure in September after being roundly criticized during her nine-month tenure for being both aloof and inept. 
 
 Mary Bono lasted just five days after heavy criticism from Biles and other gymnasts about her fitness to lead and what message her hiring sent to survivors. Bono previously worked at Faegre Baker Daniels, a law firm the IndyStar said had helped USA Gymnastics craft a cover story for Nassar after he was fired. 
 
 Bono worked for the firm’s consulting arm and was not part of the discussions with Nassar. But the association was considered tone deaf. 
 
 The federation also remains mired in mediation with survivors. It has lost all of its major sponsors, and its national championships were held in August without a title sponsor, almost unheard of for one of the premier Olympic sports in the United States. 
 
 And in what was the final straw for the USOC, USA Gymnastics said it recently located medical records from the Karolyi ranch that two executives had told Congress were nowhere to be found. Penny, who ordered the removal of the records, was indicted in Walker County, Texas, in September, on a count of tampering with evidence, a third-degree felony. 
 
 USA Gymnastics has defended itself by saying its board inherited “an organization in crisis” when it was seated in June, and said it is taking steps to reform. It finally parted ways last week with Ron Galimore, the longtime chief operating officer who, according to emails obtained by IndyStar, helped provide the cover story for Nassar. 
 
 But the moves might have come too late. ||||| CLOSE SportsPulse: USA TODAY Sports' Nancy Armour believes the court system served justice with Nassar's sentencing of up to 175 years in prison, however, there are many lessons still needed to be learned from this nightmare of a story. USA TODAY Sports 
 
 Larry Nassar was sentenced Wednesday to up to 175 years in prison for sexually abusing more than 150 girls and women. (Photo: Matthew Dae Smith, USA TODAY Sports) 
 
 USA Gymnastics’ status as the sport’s national governing body will be terminated unless it meets six conditions set out by the U.S. Olympic Committee, including the resignation of the entire board by next Wednesday. 
 
 USOC CEO Scott Blackmun outlined the conditions in an email sent Thursday to the USA Gymnastics board. While Blackmun had called on the board to resign Wednesday in an open letter to the Olympic community, the email was far more specific in both what the USOC expects from USA Gymnastics and the repercussions if it doesn’t deliver. 
 
 The letter comes a day after former national team doctor Larry Nassar was sentenced to up to 175 years in prison for sexually abusing more than 150 girls and young women, including Olympic champions Simone Biles, Aly Raisman, McKayla Maroney, Gabby Douglas and Jordyn Wieber. 
 
 “We do not base these requirements on any knowledge that any individual USAG staff or board members had a role in fostering or obscuring Nassar’s actions,” Blackmun wrote. “Our position comes from a clear sense that USAG culture needs fundamental rebuilding.” 
 
 In victim impact statements during Nassar’s sentencing hearing, USA Gymnastics and the USOC repeatedly were criticized for not doing enough to protect athletes from abuse. Raisman has been the most pointed, saying in court last week that USA Gymnastics was an organization “rotting from the inside,” and calling out the USOC for its lack of public support. 
 
 While the chair, vice chair and treasurer resigned Monday, Blackmun said the rest of the 21-member board must go, too. The federation, Blackmun wrote, needs a "categorically fresh start at the board level." 
 
 More: There are more who must pay a price for Larry Nassar scandal 
 
 USA Gymnastics will face immediate decertification unless an interim board is in place by Feb. 28, according to Blackmun’s email. No one currently serving on the board is eligible to be an interim member except the five athlete representatives. 
 
 The federation then has 12 months to replace the interim directors. Current board members are not eligible for those seats, either. 
 
 Also within that 12 months, USA Gymnastics must cooperate with the independent investigation into whether anyone knew about athlete complaints of Nassar’s abuse and didn’t report them and the systemic failures that contributed with his ability to go unchecked for so long. 
 
 The board also must “substantively discuss” at each of its meetings how the federation is progressing in implementing 70 recommendations made by former federal prosecutor Deborah Daniels, whose review of USA Gymnastics found a “complete cultural change” was needed. It must then report its progress to the USOC. 
 
 The USA Gymnastics board was quick to accept all of Daniels’ recommendations, but it has been slow to implement them. 
 
 Before the leadership of the board of directors resigned this week, former CEO and president Steve Penny had been the only USA Gymnastics official held publicly accountable. He was forced to resign in March under pressure from the USOC. 
 
 And despite repeated calls from athletes to stop holding training camps at the Karolyi Ranch, where Nassar abused some of his victims, USA Gymnastics did not terminate its agreement until last Thursday. That was four days after Biles acknowledged she, too, had been abused by Nassar and said she was further traumatized at the thought of going back to the ranch. 
 
 The other conditions imposed by the USOC are: 
 
 --All USA Gymnastics staff and board members must complete SafeSport training offered by the U.S. Center for Safe Sport within three months. 
 
 --All staff and board members must complete a comprehensive ethics training unit within the next six months. 
 
 “USA Gymnastics completely embraces the requirements outlined in the (email),” USA Gymnastics said in a statement posted on its website. “We understand that the requirements imposed by the letter will help us enhance our ability to build a culture of empowerment throughout the organization, with an increased focus on athlete safety and well-being.” 
 
 CLOSE Judge Rosemarie Aquilina sentenced Larry Nassar to 40 to 175 years in prison after pleading guilty to 10 charges of sexual assault. USA TODAY Sports 
 
 Blackmun said the USOC’s own board has formed a working group, led by Susanne Lyons, to identify failings and ensure athletes are protected in the future from abusers like Nassar. That comes as Sens. Jeanne Shaheen and Joni Ernst announced they will introduce a resolution to establish a select committee to investigate both the USOC and USA Gymnastics. 
 
 “This happened to over a hundred athletes over several decades, on the U.S. Olympic Committee and USA Gymnastics’ watch,” Ernst said in a statement. “A Select Committee dedicating its complete attention to USOC’s and USA Gymnastics’ role in this tragedy is imperative to holding the appropriate parties accountable and working to ensure this doesn’t happen again.” 
 
 Nassar became USA Gymnastics’ team physician in 1996, and has acknowledged abusing athletes under the guise of medical treatment. He was dismissed by the federation in July 2015, after a coach overheard athletes talking about the abusive procedure and became concerned. 
 
 But USA Gymnastics did not notify the FBI for five weeks, conducting its own investigation first. Even after it turned the case over to the FBI, it did not notify Michigan State or authorities in Michigan, despite knowing that Nassar was still working there. 
 
 The allegations against Nassar became public in August 2016, when Rachel Denhollander contacted the Indianapolis Star, which is part of the USA TODAY Network, and said she’d been abused by Nassar. That led to dozens more accusations, along with the revelation that athletes had reported Nassar to Michigan State as early as 1997. 
 
 Before Wednesday’s hearing, Nassar, 54, had already been sentenced to 60 years in prison after pleading guilty to federal child pornography charges. 
 
 Follow Armour on Twitter @nrarmour and Axon @RachelAxon ||||| U.S.A. Gymnastics will face a hearing that could lead to the organization’s demise after it decided against surrendering its status as the sport’s national governing body, the United States Olympic Committee said on Wednesday. 
 
 The Olympic committee filed a complaint 16 days ago, seeking to remove U.S.A. Gymnastics’ recognition as a national body after the sexual abuse of hundreds of female athletes by Lawrence G. Nassar, a former national team doctor. 
 
 The Olympic body offered U.S.A. Gymnastics the option of giving up its recognition voluntarily. 
 
 Yet in an open letter to the gymnastics community, the U.S.O.C. said U.S.A. Gymnastics had replied to its complaint on Tuesday and had chosen not to relinquish its recognition, instead asking questions about the matter and about the U.S.O.C. hearing process. 
 
 “This is a situation in which there are no perfect solutions,” Sarah Hirshland, the U.S.O.C. chief executive, said in a statement. “Seeking to revoke recognition is not a decision that the U.S.O.C. came to easily, but we continue to believe it is the right action.”
– USA Gymnastics has refused to give up its status at the sport's national governing body, so the US Olympic Committee has started what could be a months-long process to force it out. The USOC first moved to decertify USA Gymnastics earlier this month, saying the organization had failed to make the right changes after the Larry Nassar sexual abuse scandal. The USOC says USA Gymnastics declined the option to voluntarily relinquish its status and instead asked questions about the hearing process, the New York Times reports. "This is a situation in which there are no perfect solutions," USOC chief executive Sarah Hirshland said in a statement. "Seeking to revoke recognition is not a decision that the USOC came to easily, but we continue to believe it is the right action." "The path is not crystal clear, but our motives are ... to ensure the NGB for gymnastics in the United States is the type of organization each gymnast and the coaches, trainers and club owners who support them, deserve," Hirshland said. Her next step will be to select a three-person panel with representatives from USOC's board of directors, the National Governing Bodies Council and the Athletes' Advisory Council to review the complaint and make a recommendation to the full USOC board, USA Today reports. USA Gymnastics, which is still seeking a new CEO, will remain the sport's governing body during the process. (A former USA Gymnastics president has been charged with evidence-tampering in the Nassar case.)