The U.S. Olympic Committee’s board of directors last week recommended that USA Gymnastics president Steve Penny resign or be removed.

To former U.S. national team gymnast Jeanette Antolin, the USOC’s concern about sexual abuse within gymnastics came nearly 20 years too late.

Antolin, skeptical that the USOC recommendation will lead to Penny’s ouster during a USA Gymnastics board meeting Thursday, has called on USAG’s corporate sponsors such Kellogg’s, AT&T, Under Armour and P&G to apply pressure on the governing body to force Penny and other top officials out and to implement strategies and policies to combat sexual abuse.

“If corporations like Kellogg’s came out did stuff like that then (USA Gymnastics) would be obligated to make change,” said Antolin, one of more than 100 athletes who allege they were sexually abused by former USA Gymnastics national team physician Larry Nassar. “I think that’s the only way at this point. (USA Gymnastics board members are) clearly not willing on their own to stand up to Penny and force him out.

“If people stopped buying Kellogg’s because they support USA Gymnastics, that would help. It’s almost like we have to campaign to have the right thing done. We’ll have to start a hashtag #dontsupportKelloggs or something.”

Antolin filed suit in Orange County Superior Court in January alleging she was sexually abused by Nassar and sexually harassed by 1984 U.S. Olympic team coach Don Peters, who coached her at SCATS, the world-renowned Huntington Beach gymnastics academy. The suit also charges that USA Gymnastics, the sport’s national governing body; Bela and Martha Karolyi, both coaches of Olympic gold medal-winning teams; and the last three USA Gymnastic presidents created environments that enabled Nassar to sexually abuse numerous underaged female gymnasts.

Antolin and her Orange County attorney, John Manly, joined former U.S. national team gymnasts and Olympic medalists in multiple sports in criticizing a public relations campaign launched by Penny and USA Gymnastics chairman Paul Parilla, also an Orange County attorney, since the Nassar controversy broke last fall.

USA Gymnastics has retained two law firms, which previously represented several California Catholic dioceses, religious orders and the Los Angeles Unified School District in sex abuse cases, to represent the organization in multiple civil lawsuits filed in California.

Removing Penny “would be a good start, but this culture, a toxic culture that exists in USA Gymnastics’ leadership, isn’t just Steve Penny,” said Manly, who represented sexual abuse victims in cases involving the Catholic Church. “Its tentacles reach far and wide and the fact they would hire the Catholic Church’s lawyers is endemic to who they are and how they think. They’re using the Catholic Church hierarchy’s playbook and it’s not right and it didn’t work for (the church) and it won’t work for USA Gymnastics.

“I think people who care about the sport, and (Antolin) loved the sport, want it to continue, but what (USA Gymnastics officials) don’t realize is that unless they fundamentally change they’re going to kill the sport in this country. Because no one is going to put their kid in it because it’s not safe.”

In particular Antolin joined a number of former athletes who said they are outraged and offended by “An Open Letter to the USA Gymnastics Community” that the organization released Friday, a day after the USOC recommendation. The letter was released by Penny, Parilla, vice chairman Jay Binder and treasurer Bitsy Kelley.

“For many years, USA Gymnastics has provided safety and education programs to promote a safe environment for our athletes, and this work will continue,” the letter reads. “Together, we must all do everything possible to prevent the opportunity for abuse and misconduct from happening in gymnastics. … USA Gymnastics will remain vigilant in confronting this serious issue.”

Nancy Hogshead-Makar, an Olympic swimming champion and chief executive of Champion Women, a women’s sport advocacy group, said “USA Gymnastics’ letter is defensive; there is not one word of empathy for the dozens of women who have come forward, only to be ignored. Yet it is these women and their advocates that will do the most to turn the organization into one that protects athletes from predatory coaches.

“ ‘Gymnastics is not just a sport, it is a community, a family, and for many, a way of life’ and it is this community that is most at-risk when an athlete dares to complain about a sport or offer a compelling critique,” Hogshead-Makar continued, quoting the USA Gymnastics letter.

Antolin described the letter as another attempt at damage control by USA Gymnastics.

“They’re trying to cover their (rears), trying to cover their tracks and trying to hide what they did know,” Antolin said. “They don’t want to admit to any wrongdoing. They still haven’t apologized to anybody for what happened to us. Even a simple statement from anybody, ‘Well, we’re so sorry that this happened’ in a phone call or email. I’m sure they have one for every single one of us who have come forward. They know who we are. They know our information and not one person has said ‘You know what, we’re so sorry this happened on our watch.’ Not one. That alone would have taken so much anger out of my heart for them.”

Antolin said she, like other sex abuse survivors, has been criticized by some in the USA Gymnastics community since going public with her allegations against Nassar, Peters, USA Gymnastics and the Karolyis.

“It’s like we almost have to defend ourselves from being a victim,” Antolin said. “It’s scary coming forward because I know how USA Gymnastics is. I expected people bashing me because that’s what they do. It’s never a stance of compassion, it’s always ‘Oh, let’s do what’s best for us at USA Gymnastics.’ That’s what needs to be changed. It’s not about saving a company or corporation. It’s about saving kids’ lives in the future.”

Antolin is also skeptical about USOC’s motives in calling for Penny’s removal.

Then-USA Gymnastics president Bob Colarossi warned USOC chief executive Scott Blackmun in a 1999 letter that the USOC was not doing enough to combat sexual abuse. The Colarossi letter to Blackmun was among the documents unsealed earlier this month in a lawsuit against USA Gymnastics in Georgia.

“(USOC officials) were made aware of it by Bob Colarossi, then why didn’t they step in?” Antolin said. “That’s what’s so frustrating to me. All of these people have power and they had a chance to make changes that were essential to many but they didn’t. I guess for me it’s frustrating because as an athlete and somebody that cares so much about the girls in the sport now, that’s why I’m stepping forward because no one did for me. It’s frustrating to know so many people were aware of this a long time ago and did nothing about it.”

The USOC does not have the financial clout with USA Gymnastics that corporate sponsors potentially have. Of USA Gymnastics’ $23.7 million in revenue for the 2015 fiscal year, $6.1 million came from marketing and sponsors, $2.47 million from the USOC, according to Internal Revenue Service filings and USA Gymnastics financial documents. In 2012, the most recent Olympic year for which financial records are available, USA Gymnastics received $3.29 million from the USOC, $9.4 million from marketing and sponsors and $1.66 million from Tour of Gymnastics Champions, a post-Olympic extravaganza sponsored by Kellogg’s.

“#KelloggsTourOfChildMolesters (Ouch.) Lots of letters for Twitter – but it says it all,” former gymnast Amy Compton said.

The Register in recent days contacted USA Gymnastics’ top sponsors – Kellogg’s, AT&T, P&G, Hershey’s and Under Armour asking for comment. Only one responded, and that was an AT&T spokesperson who declined comment.

“These companies have so much power,” Antolin said. “Allowing this to happen is not right, not right at all and I would love to see people stand up and say ‘Look we’re not going to sponsor you anymore.’ Because that would prove that people can’t get away with this anymore.”