The Middletown Press (Middletown, CT)
A time of national reckoning
HARTFORD — Larry Nassar is the face of evil. He is not the only face of evil.
Rachael Denhollander, the first to go public with accusations of Nassar’s sexual abuse, Aly Raisman and the more than 150 women who would testify at his sentencing are heroes. They are not the only ones.
As heroes named Bridie Farrell, Marcia Frederick, Debra Denithorne Grodensky and Craig Maurizi stood Wednesday, flanking U.S. Senator Richard Blumenthal at the Legislative Office Building, this much had been made abundantly clear:
We have only begun to understand the decades of abuse suffered by young athletes at the twisted hands and sick minds of coaches, trainers and supervising adults. It goes far beyond gymnastics and one doctor to our worst imaginations. We, too, have only begun to take the steps necessary to put a stop to pedophiles masquerading as mentors and forces of good in their sport.
“This nation has reached a moment of reckoning,” Blumenthal said. “The simple horrendous fact is Larry Nassar, whose trial and sentencing gripped the nation, was only one of many abusers. This scourge continues. It is widespread and prevalent in this country.”
It is much easier to tune into the Red Sox or Yankees than it is to tune into the most pressing sports story of 2018. Who wants to picture your kid, my kid, our kids at every level of athletic competition being molested?
The Senate Subcommittee on Consumer Protection, Product Safety, Insurance and Data Security, with Blumenthal its ranking member, has been holding an investigation committed to new measures to address abuse in Olympic sports. One hearing, at which Farrell and Maurizi testified, was held in April. Another is scheduled for May 22.
Congress overwhelmingly has passed the “Safe Sport” Act requiring amateur sports organizations, including the USOC, to report accusations of sexual abuse to law enforcement. And, importantly, it prohibits retaliation.
“All too often these young athletes fear retribution from their coaches and the Olympic committees and supervising bodies,” Blumenthal said.
Parents trust adult authority figures just as vulnerable young athletes do. And that trust has been betrayed.
“The warning should go to parents,” Blumenthal said. “If you see something, say something. Also, if you suspect something, ask about it.”
The establishment of the U.S. Center for Safe Sport that provides an independent investigative body certainly helps. These measures aren’t nearly
enough, Blumenthal said. Accountability for abuse should include the governing bodies, the USOC and the national supervising entities of individual sports.
“We want to know what they knew, when they knew it and why they took no action,” Blumenthal said. “My hope is sponsors ask questions, too. If the Olympic Committee fails to take action and resists accountability, sponsors may want to impose it themselves.”
Farrell, a former speed skater, spoke. Followed by Frederick, a former gymnast, who trained in Connecticut. Then Denithorne Grodensky, a former swimmer, and Maurizi, a former figure skater. By the time they were finished, I’m not going to lie. I must have fought back tears a halfdozen times.
The strength they show to speak in public is remarkable.
“My tears are starting finally to be tears of joy,” Farrell said. “No one listened to us for so long. It took over 250 strong, brave women (in total who have accused Nassar) to stand up and repeat what they already said before.”
Farrell, who says she was sexually abused by Andy Gabel, an Olympic silver medalist who would become president of U.S. Speedskating, stepped forward to the U.S. Olympic Committee in 2013. She had been quiet for 18 years.
Gabel had arrived at Saratoga Springs to train in 1997. He was 33 at the time, a skating hero and Farrell’s teammate. She was 15.
“I was molested countless times, hundreds of times,” she said.
She said adults suspected, but did not say anything. They were scared. Farrell compared the situation to Matt Lauer at NBC. Two years after it ended, Farrell said, Gabel cornered her in England at a banquet and asked, ‘Have you told anyone?’ “He knew how wrong his actions were.”
Gabel admitted an inappropriate relationship. He resigned his positions of power. He remains a member of the U.S. Speedskating Hall of Fame.
“The U.S. Olympic Committee did not intervene,” Farrell said. “He still could be your kid’s coach.”
Farrell talked about how the #MeToo movement allowed thousands of women to step forward to tell their stories yet has missed on two matters.
“#MeToo shouldn’t be a pink hashtag,” she said. “One in four girls are sexually abused by 18. One in six boys are. We need to erase that stigma so both girls and boys can come forward. The second part is #MeToo tells terrible stories, but there’s something even worse. That’s #KidsToo.”
Frederick, who grew up in Springfield, Mass., trained and boarded at the Muriel Grossfeld School of Gymnastics in Milford. In 1978, she became the first American woman to win a gymnastics gold medal at the world championships.
“I stared down the world,” Frederick said.
“I was 16 when one of my coaches began grooming and eventually sexually abusing me for years while I represented my country.”
She became a member of the 1980 Olympic team, but there was President Carter’s boycott and no trip to Moscow. Knowing she wouldn’t represent the U.S., she came forward “to the people I loved and trusted and all who had authority of me. I was 17. I was met with silence, fear and inaction.”
She suppressed her devastation and started a life outside of gymnastics.
“I am not a young girl anymore,” Frederick said. “If someone had been monitoring my coach, just listened to me a long time ago, Larry Nassar and others may not have been able to thrive.”
Connecticut Child Advocate Sarah Eagan spoke about a national study of eighth- to 11th-graders showing 3.5 million kids reporting sexual misconduct by adults. An alarming number, she said, that screams for training. People think abuse would not be perpetrated by someone a child and family has a relationship with and trusts.
“The reality,” Eagan said, “is it almost always.”
One by one the survivors talked about the intricate web of grooming the abusers weave. Frederick, for her part, insists she does not want to be remembered as a victim. She wants to be remembered as an advocate.
“Things are moving forward,” Frederick said. “The intent of the Safe Sport Act was made retroactive and includes avenues for recourse for people like me. But there are more important things. I truly believe we need to create a national database, where an individual who has been banned or suspended from a sport cannot simply move to another sport, school, college, playground or local club.
“This thought is horrifying to me as a human being, athlete and a mother. Maybe this time I will not be met by silence.”
Yes, it is a time of national reckoning.