Leaders of the US Olympic Committee said they will not part ways with chief executive Scott Blackmun before the completion of an independent investigation into the federation’s response to the Larry Nassar sexual abuse scandal.

USOC chairman Larry Probst said on Friday the federation will cooperate with the independent investigation to be conducted by the Boston-based international law firm Ropes & Gray, whose charge “is to figure out who knew what about Nassar’s abuse, when, and what was done with the information”.

He added: “[Blackmun] has served the USOC with distinction since he rejoined the organization in 2010. We think that he did what he was supposed to do and he did the right thing at every turn.”

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The federation’s response to Nassar’s decades of abuse dominated the discussion at the USOC’s traditional pre-Olympics news conference on Friday, which took place just hours before the opening ceremony at Pyeongchang Stadium.

Probst opened with written remarks of apology to the hundreds of gymnasts abused by Nassar, the longtime USA Gymnastics team doctor who has been given an effective life term in federal prison for abusing athletes under the guise of medical treatment in addition to sentencing on a separate child abuse imagery conviction.

“To the women, both those who chose to testify and those who did not, who have demonstrated tremendous bravery, poise and strength in the most difficult circumstances imaginable, let me say this: the Olympic system failed you and we are so incredibly sorry,” Probst said.

“Words cannot express the anger that the board and leadership of the United States Olympic Committee, and me personally, feel about the human toll that Larry Nassar’s abuse has taken on these young women and their families. I have read and listened to the impact statements of the brave young women who stood up at his recent sentencing hearings to tell their shocking stories and how the system failed to protect them. I felt their sense of betrayal and sorrow and anger.”

More than 260 girls and women have said they were sexually abused by Nassar, a scandal that’s prompted the resignation of the entire USA Gymnastics board of directors under threat of decertification by Blackmun, who has served as chief executive of the USOC since January 2010. But none of the USOC board members have stepped down in spite of a number of victim impact statements, including that of six-time Olympic medalist Aly Raisman, that accused the federation of enabling Nassar’s decades of abuse.

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Probst repeatedly cast culpability as a failure of the “Olympic system” as a whole.

“The Olympic system in the United States failed those athletes,” he said. “And we are part of the Olympic system in the United States.”

But Probst did offer a mea culpa for USOC’s much-criticized absence at Nassar’s seven-day sentencing hearing in Ingham County last month, when the disgraced physician was given 40 to 175 years on seven counts of sexual assault after a total of 156 girls and women came forward.

“That was simply a mistake, we should have been there,” Probst said. “We took too long to reach out to the gymnasts after the revelations became public. We’re in the process of doing that now.”

On Monday, Nassar was handed an additional 40 to 125 years for three separate counts of sexual assault in Eaton County, Michigan. He was sentenced to 60 years on federal child abuse imagery charges in December.

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Anita DeFrantz, a fellow USOC board member who is also a member of the International Olympic Committee, joined Probst in throwing her support to Blackmun, who is not in Pyeongchang after undergoing surgery for a recent diagnosis of prostate cancer.

“I have felt he’s done a great job for us,” DeFrantz said. “I feel he deserves to have everything cleared.”

While the Nassar scandal dominated the conversation during the 45-minute news conference, Probst confirmed there will be no American bid for the 2026 Winter Games – citing the financial burden of the 2028 Summer Games awarded to Los Angeles last year – although 2030 remains a possibility.

Probst did, however, allow for the possibility of a US bid if the IOC decides to award the 2026 and 2030 Games together as it did with the 2024 and 2028 Summer Olympics.

Current candidates for 2026 include Calgary, Stockholm, Sapporo and Sion, Switzerland.