A trove of documents central to a sexual abuse investigation and long sought by investigators in Texas were found by U.S.A. Gymnastics officials at their headquarters in Indianapolis, pushing the United States Olympic Committee this week to avert the possibility of another scandal and move to take over the sports federation.

The belated discovery of the documents, and questions about who handled them or knew about them, led the United States Olympic Committee to move on Monday to seize control of U.S.A. Gymnastics, according to the Olympic committee, which had also grown increasingly alarmed by turmoil in the management of the federation.

Although it is not clear whether the discovery of the documents points to somebody trying to hide them, Olympic committee officials said they decided they could not abide that possibility leading to more turbulence in a popular and successful sport consisting of thousands of athletes, including Olympians, looking for new direction.

The investigators consider the documents central to an investigation into the gymnastics national team doctor Lawrence G. Nassar and his sexual abuse of gymnasts at the now-shuttered women’s gymnastics training center in southeast Texas.