Sexual predation encroaches USA gymnastics
After sexually assaulting over 150 gymnasts and being charged with child pornography, Larry Nassar will spend the rest of his life in prison. Nassar was not just any doctor, but the doctor for the U.S. Olympic Gymnastic Team. The standards for Olympic athletes are much higher, therefore they have mandatory physical checkups weekly. Nassar’s perverted mind saw this as an opportunity and used it to his advantage to sexually assault hundreds of young women for decades.
It is shocking that such a thing could happen with so many people unaware. Those such as the board of directors for USA Gymnastics were unwilling to help those who attempted to speak up. According to The New York Times, every member of this board of directors has resigned. Initially, it was hard to understand why more gymnasts did not speak up sooner or refuse to go to checkups. After further research, it was evident that if any gymnast did not attend their mandatory checkups they would be removed from the Olympic team. Most gymnasts start very young and work toward an Olympic career their entire lives so it is understandable why it would be conflicting to come forward and end their careers or to stay quiet and continue in the opportunity to become one of the greatest athletes.
One of the first victims to speak up was gymnast Mattie Larson. Nassar began abusing Larson at the age of 14, and that alone is completely disgusting and violating to comprehend. Being 14 and naive Larson just assumed that it was necessary for the treatment. Clearly, she did not understand what he was doing.
The sport that Mattie initially loved as a young child became her nightmare. According to ABC News, Larson stated, “Larry, my coaches, and USAG [United States of America Gymnastics] turned the sport I fell in love with as a kid into my personal living hell.” This is infuriating and awful to think about. It is truly disheartening when a sport you loved becomes plagued with sexual misconduct.
According to Sports Illustrated, Larson recalled “I was taking a bath when I decided to push the bath mat aside, splash water on the tiles, get on the floor and bang the back of my head against the tub hard enough to get a bump so it seemed like I slipped,” Larson said, fighting back tears. “My parents immediately took me to the hospital because they thought I had a concussion. I was willing to physically hurt myself to get out of the abuse that I received at the ranch.” The fact that Mattie Larson tried to harm herself purposefully to get away from the abuse she was receiving from Nassar speaks for itself of how horribly he was sexually and physically assaulting these young girls.
Two other victims of Nassar were sisters Abigail and Amanda Mealy. They spoke of how they thought it was supposed to be a privilege to work with Nassar, but instead received odd and uncomfortable treatments. Being an athlete who has had many injuries, the concept of trusting your doctor is understandable. Athletes are constantly told to never self-diagnose or self-treat and to always trust their injuries or illnesses with their physician. To be violated by the person you are told to trust hurts and will damage a victim’s trust.
The greatest news to come out of this is that of Larry Nassar’s near life sentence. Nassar’s actions as a 52-year-old man are completely violating and disgusting. The fact that he was able to do this to so many young girls for so many years is horrifying. No number of years in prison will give innocence back to the hundreds of young girls that Nassar so viciously took away, but Nassar deserves to rot in a jail cell for the rest of his life. For now, our job is to stand with the victims, and remember the words of victim and gymnast Aly Raisman, “We, this group of women you so heartlessly abused over such a long period of time, are now a force, and you are nothing.”
Your turn: Do you think Larry Nassar’s sentence was adequate for his crimes? Should USA Gymnastics suffer any further consequences?
