Disgraced Olympic doctor sentenced to 175 years

A former sports doctor who admitted molesting some of the United States’ top gymnasts for years has been sentenced to 40 to 175 years in prison by a judge who proudly told him: “I just signed your death warrant.”

The sentence capped a remarkable seven-day hearing in which scores of Larry Nassar’s victims were able to confront him face to face in a Michigan courtroom.

Judge Rosemarie Aquilina said Nassar’s “decision to assault was precise, calculated, manipulative, devious, despicable.

“It is my honour and privilege to sentence you. You do not deserve to walk outside a prison ever again. You have done nothing to control those urges and anywhere you walk, destruction will occur to those most vulnerable,” Judge Aquilina said.

When the hearing ended, the courtroom broke into applause.

A prosecutor said Nassar found competitive gymnastics to be a “perfect place” for his crimes because victims saw him as a “god” in the sport.

“It takes some kind of sick perversion to not only assault a child but to do so with her parent in the room,” prosecutor Angela Povilaitis said. “To do so while a line-up of eager young gymnasts waited.”

She described the “breadth and ripple” of Nassar’s sexual abuse as “nearly infinite”.

Nassar said the accounts of more than 150 victims had “shaken me to my core”.