Taking Down Larry Nassar

I hate that I have to write about this, but I can't write extensively about all the gymnasts who won gold medals at the last Olympic Games and not write about how some of those very same athletes that won gold joined forces to take down a child molester.  I don't like to see a sport that has brought me so much joy as a gymnast and a fan, do so much wrong, but the reality is that USA Gymnastics and Michigan State University failed miserably to protect it's athletes. Last week Larry Nassar former USA Gymnastics, Michigan State University, and Twistars Gymnastics team doctor was convicted of sexually abuse disguised as medical treatment of young girls over a time period spanning twenty plus years.


There's been a ton of media coverage and a ton of information, but last weeks events were set in motion when Out of Balance was published by Indianapolis Star in August 2016 just before the Summer Olympics in Brazil.  The publication initially started out examining the failure of schools and daycare providers to report sexual abuse and then when they began investigating gymnastics clubs they found 54 cases dating back to 1990 where reports of sexual abuse by gymnastics coaches were filed in a drawer.  There was no investigation, no consequences for the abuser, and worst of all they claimed that they did not have a duty to report sexual abuse allegations to authorities.

I was horrified to read that and didn't want to believe it because USA Gymnastics governs a sport that is largely geared towards children.  Members of USA Gymnastics include gyms and coaches, but the majority of memberships is young children.  USA Gymnastics is the governing body for a very young sport, in which most of it's female athlete members quit or move onto college by the young age of 18 so why on earth would they not feel obligated to protect children from abuse?  It doesn't make sense.  Why wouldn't they also fall into that mandatory reporting group, and if they weren't legally bound, surely that is something that they should feel obligated to do.  The report found that not only were the club owners or coaches accused of abuse not reported to local authorities, by USA Gymnastics, they were allowed to continue their duties in gyms full of children.  USA Gymnastics always had an excuse.  They claimed either that the report had to come from the victim or the victims parents, or that only an individual not an organization has a duty to report.  They basically looked the other way.

Larry Nassar was initially let go by USA Gymnastics during the summer of 2015 because allegations surfaced.  At the time all parties were anonymous, but we now know that a conversation between Aly Raisman and Maggie Nichols regarding Larry Nassar's "treatments" was overheard by a coach who reported it to USA Gymnastics.  His departure as national team doctor from USA Gymnastics was reported as a retirement.  He then went on to work at Michigan State University, even though he was reprimanded back in 2014 regarding his "special treatments." There was a full on investigation that amounted to nothing, and not only did they let him come back to work there just a year later, they didn't terminate him until after the August 2016 Indy Star story was published.

In her victim impact statement Rachael Denhollander said she was watching and waiting all these years for a time when she might be heard and believed.  After she saw that Indy star report she made her move, and emailed them regarding abuse by Larry Nassar that took place 17 years ago over the course of a year.  She was a 15 years old doing club gymnastics and she was sent to Larry Nassar at MSU for treatment.  That report was published in September 2016, and by November 2016 Nassar plead guilty to 10 counts of child abuse, and was indicted for federal child porn charges in December 2016.  As tips came in, more and more women came forward, and an article later that month reported that 16 more women had come forward.  By December 2017, a year later, that number had grown to 95.

It took only two months after Indy Star initially reported on Rachael Denhollander's abuse case, for Nassar to be terminated from MSU and in court facing charges, but Aly Raisman wasn't formally questioned by the FBI regarding abuse that occurred under USA Gymnastics until after the 2016 Olympic Games, an entire entire year after that initial report to USA Gymnastics.  This is a perfect example of their reluctance to take action on reports of abuse.  Again with the excuses, when they didn't report it to authorities immediately because they didn't have "reasonable suspicion" that a crime had occurred.

More women from the 2012 and 2016 Women's Olympic gymnastics teams have been abused than have not, and there are probably a lot more survivors out there than are known.  Larry Nassar chose to abuse gymnasts rather than treat their actual injuries for a really long time and it is mind boggling that such widespread abuse was allowed to continue for so long. 

The judge allowed every woman (not just the 10 he plead guilty to) who wanted to provide victim impact statements the opportunity to do so.  What started out as a four day sentencing hearing got longer and longer as more and more women came to the court in Michigan wanting to speak.  It seems there is definitely strength in numbers, and by the time Larry Nassar was sentenced to  40-175 years in prison, 156 women came forward with impact statements over the course of seven days.  Larry Nassar had the nerve to write a letter to the judge saying that it was too hard for him to have to listen to all of this.

A lot of people will ask why it took so long after the abuse for the girls to come forward.  I get why one would ask, but at the same time I don't think it's a fair question when you consider the dynamics.

There is such an entrenched history of shame, stigma, and victim blaming that goes along with reporting abuse.  I can only imagine how terrifying it would be to have had it happen in the first place, and then worry about going up against an authority figure and having to relive and talk about everything that happened and the possibility that you might not be believed or that nothing will happen.  That's exactly what  happened when a gymnast attending a youth training center through Michigan State University spoke about Larry Nassar's treatments in 1997.  The coach was in full support of Nassar, and told her there would be consequences for her and Larry if a report was filed. An additional layer is that these are children and teenagers we are talking about, and there is a huge imbalance of power between the abuser who is an authority figure and the victim.  Larry Nassar was highly regarded in the community, and made an extra effort to be their friend.  He was the "good guy." It was hard for them to imagine not only that he would abuse them, but that the organization hiring him, would allow him to abuse them.  He was even bold enough to carry out the abuse out when parents were in the room.  If a gymnast expressed any concern he was very convincing in his defense that placing his fingers inside of them without gloves was a legitimate medical treatment and that it was okay.  While many of them felt uncomfortable, a lot of them didn't recognize it as abuse because it was disguised as a medical treatment by a doctor who was well respected and convinced them of otherwise.  A lot of them didn't realize they were abused until after the fact.  An additional layer on top of that is that most gymnasts have been taught to do what they are told, and  have progressed in the sport with a general understanding that gymnastics is hard, and they have to suck it up when something hurts or is uncomfortable.  They are taught to do what their coaches tell them, and their coaches told them to get treated by Larry Nassar.  It was the perfect environment for him to do what he wanted whenever he wanted to these young girls and get away with it for years. 

How could they continue to allow him to treat young girls?  How could they send this man to the Olympics and into the hotel rooms of their top athletes after those kinds of accusations? Why was this information not shared?  It's just ridiculous, and there is so much more to the story than what I've said here.  It is simply not acceptable to claim you didn't know, when there were known claims of sexual abuse, and nothing was done about it.  They should have known.  They should have had measures in place that would prevent it from happening in the first place, and at the very least, prevent it from happening for so long. There were reports, but they weren't taken as seriously as they should have been.  Nobody listened, and nobody cared enough to make sure that these kids were okay.

It took a lot of guts for these ladies to stand up in court and tell their story in front of Larry Nassar and the rest of the world.  If you don't understand what kind of impact sexual abuse has on a person all you have to do is watch any one of those statements to see the pain this person caused and how they are forever changed by it.  Rachael Denhollander was the first to come forward, first up for victim impact statements, and she delivered the final blow as the last to speak.  I was so moved by what she said, the poise she displayed, and the bite with which she delivered her words.  I saw a comment on a You Tube videos of one of the impact statements.  They wanted to know why they were calling themselves survivors.  They didn't almost die after all.  I think you can be called a survivor of any extreme hardship.  Why call them victims when you can call them survivors?

The Karolyi Ranch in Texas will no longer be the US Women's Gymnastics National Team Training Center, as much of the abuse took place there.  Larry Nassar will spend the rest of his life in prison and has been stopped from abusing the next generation of gymnasts.  Cover ups have been exposed.  Longtime sponsors of USA Gymnastics have pulled the plug,  resignations are being handed in, real investigations are being conducted, and demands are being made for change in USA Gymnastics and MSU.  I'm glad they finally got their much deserved day in court, and that change will be made, but it's a shame that it took something of this magnitude to initiate it.

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