Former Olympic Medalist Loses Job For Misunderstood Facebook Post

The father of three girls who said they were abused by Larry Nassar lunged at the former gymnastics doctor during his sentencing hearing. Here, Nassar is shown in court in Lansing, Michigan, Jan. 24, 2018. Getty Images/Jeff Kowalsky

In an age where social media has made a difference in the lives of many, most are warned to be careful about what they put up and share. For people like former Olympic gymnast Terin Marie Humphrey who chose to become an athlete representative on USA Gymnastics' Athlete Council back in 2009, one post spelled doom.

In a report from KCTV5 News, Humphrey was fired this spring because of a Facebook post tackling the difficulty of pushing young athletes to do their best without stepping over the line. The post showed a meme of a football coach yelling at players and the 32-year-old captioned it with "What champions consider coaching is what the entitled consider abuse."

Unfortunately, the post was taken in a different way and most associated it with the sexual abuse scandal that has gone rampant in the sport. For the benefit of those who may not be up to date, a scandal involving dozens of young girls by sports doctor Larry Nassar. Multiple gymnasts have accused the 55-year-old former Gymnastics national team doctor of sexually abusing them under the guise of medical treatment for quite some time, the New York Post reported. That included the likes of Aly Raisman and Gabby Douglas.

It may have been a matter of bad timing with some parties misinterpreting what message was Humphrey was trying to send. She clarified however that it was in reference to her being lazy at times during her career.

"They took it that I'm okay with abuse, okay with physical abuse," Humphery said. "That's actually farthest from my mind."

Humphrey also added that she had no knowledge of Nassar's abuse. Serving more than four years as a police officer in Raymore-Peculiar, Missouri, she emphasized that she would never turn a blind eye to abuse of any kind.

While there are people ready to support her, Humphrey chose to think about the repercussions on the people who may do so. Now, she chooses to focus on coaching and sharing what she knows about the sport rather even if it means living her life under a shadow.

“It's devastating because I've worked for 10 years for this and I've given gymnastics my entire life," said Humphrey who won two silver medals for the US in the 2004 Summer Olympics in Athens. "For them to just throw me away like this, it's very hard."