By Emilee White
A parent’s worst nightmare is their children not being safe; their children being hurt. What is it then when a once-safe space for their children turns into a hunting ground for a monster? A living terror.
USA Gymnastics (USAG) has been the epicenter of sexual abuse long before action was ever taken. In 1990, the organization released a list of permanently banned coaches, which also included coaches accused of sexual abuse. Only two years later, a USAG coach plead guilty to raping a 12 year old, but it was until 2007 when the organization made background checks mandatory. In 2011, the 1984 national team coach Don Peters was accused by two former gymnasts of sexual abuse and was subsequently banned from USA Gymnastics, who did a good job of sweeping everything under the rug. Eventually, in 2015, that rug was removed and everything USAG was doing was exposed, and it all happened because of Larry Nassar.
Nassar is a former team doctor for USAG. While working at Michigan State, Nassar was fired in 2016 due to concerns of safety for the athletes. This turned heads and it soon came out that Nassar had sexually abused over 250 women and girls, most of whom were minors at the time of the crime, dating all the way back to the 1990s.
Rachel Denhollander was the first of Nassar’s victims to accuse him of sexually abusing her in 2000 when she was 15 years old. It took Denhollander five sessions to realize what Nassar was actually doing to her — that she was his victim, not her patient. Under the guise of “physical therapy” and “massage treatment”, Nassar would digital penetration his victims, both intervaginal and anal, with an ungloved hand. This remained Nassar’s preferred “treatment” until 2015 when a coach at MSU overheard her gymnasts describe what was going on during these physical therapy sessions and reported him to USAG.
After Nassar’s ban from USA Gymnastics and firing from MSU, he was eventually arrested and pled guilty to possession of child pornography and tampering with evidence, and was sentenced to 60 years in federal prison. Nassar also pled guilty to seven counts of rape of minors, and three additional rapes, receiving two additional sentences of 40 to 125 years and 40 to 175 years, respectively, with all three sentences are to be served consecutively. So yes, Nassar will die in prison where he belongs.
Now, you may be wondering how someone like Nassar could slip through the cracks and commit so many violating crimes right under USAG’s nose. Well, that’s because USAG already knew. It was discovered that the organization had known about Nassar’s abuse since 2012 and addmitted in 2013 that sexual abuse allegations are never taken seriously unless its from the victim or the victim’s parent. Subpoenaed records revealed USAG received complaints about Martin Sharp, Mark Schiefelbein, James Bell, and William McCabe years before any action was taken.
The USAG President at the time, Steve Penny, was quoted in a deposition saying, “To the best of my knowledge, there’s no duty to report if you are—if you are a third-party to some allegation […]. You know, that lies with the person who has first-hand knowledge.”
Penny resigned from his position in 2017 and was charged with tampering with evidence in the Nassar case, but the charges were dropped in April 2022. USAG went bankrupt at the end of 2018 and Nassar continues to rot away in prison.
Photo Credit: Salty View
