Abusive doc gets 175 years
US Olympic Committee to determine how physician got away with sexually abusing women for so long.
CHICAGO: To a generation of young gymnasts, he was known simply as “Larry” – a miracle worker of sorts whose medical skills helped propel the American national team to a string of Olympic victories.
That was the myth.
The real Lawrence Nassar, as a Michigan court heard in a flood of harrowing testimony over the past week, was a serial predator who earned the trust of teen and preteen athletes, and molested them in the guise of treatment.
In a highly-competitive environment where any perceived weakness could end dreams, Nassar used his status as the respected team doctor of USA Gymnastics to win over his victims.
They included four of the “Fierce Five” 2012 Olympic gold medal-winning squad: Simone Biles, Aly Raisman, Gabby Douglas and McKayla Maroney, as well as scores of female athletes at Michigan State University, where he worked.
On Wednesday, Nassar was sentenced to 40 to 175 years in jail for criminal sexual conduct – adding to a previous child pornography conviction of 60 years.
There to watch the 54-year-old fall was an army of survivors, women and girls who took the stand one after the other to detail his abuse and make sure he was held to account.
Nassar’s operating method was always the same: he told the teens – and initially argued as his defence in court – that he was inserting fingers into their vagina or anus to re-adjust their bodies, and relieve pain and other ailments.
“I didn’t say anything to anyone, of course,” testified the former gymnast Emily Meinke.
“He was a medical professional, and I had no reason not to trust him.”
“After all, he had created a facade of trust and compassion.”
Until the allegations against him became public, Nassar’s message to anyone who would listen was clear and consistent: he was protecting athletes “not just physically, but mentally”.
“The physical injuries they almost always can recover from,” Nassar said in 2013 on the gymnastics podcast Gym Castic.
“It’s the mental injuries that leads to scars that keep coming back and haunt them later.”
During the marathon seven days of sentencing hearings, many victims spoke of the scars he left them.
“You pretended to be my friend. You snuck me food and candy, when you knew food was being restricted,” Olympian Jamie Dantzscher told him.
“You manipulated me into thinking you were the good guy and helping me, while sexually abusing me over, and over and over, for your own twisted sexual pleasure.”
The question now for survivors – as reflected by the US Olympic Committee’s announcement Wednesday of an independent inquiry – is who knew about Nassar’s conduct, and what could have been done to stop him.