Team doctor jailed for abusing athletes
THE leadership of USA Gymnastics remained silent yesterday in the face of pressure from US Olympic officials and others to resign en masse two days after the team doctor was sentenced for abusing female athletes.
They had not issued an official comment on the call for its 18 listed directors to step down after long-time USA Gymnastics team doctor Larry Nassar was sentenced on Wednesday to up to 175 years in prison for sexually assaulting young female gymnasts.
Nassar, 54, was jailed for carrying out the attacks on young girls under the guise of medical treatment following a week-long hearing in which more than 150 accusers recounted their stories in a Michigan courtroom.
“I’ve signed your death warrant,” Ingham County Circuit Court Judge Rosemarie Aquilina told Nassar, following days of accounts from about 160 of his victims.
Spectators and victims cried, applauded and embraced as Nassar wearing a dark blue jailhouse jumpsuit, was led out of the courtroom. Rachael Denhollander, the first woman to publicly accuse him in 2016, shared a hug with Angela Povilaitis, the lead prosecutor.
After the sentence decision, the president of Michigan State University, where Nassar also worked, said she was resigning after facing a barrage of criticism for not doing enough to halt the abuse.
Nassar, who served as the team physician through four Olympic Games, apologised to his victims during the hearing, telling them, “I will carry your words with me for the rest of my days.”
The prosecution and Ms Aquilina emphasised the broader significance of the sentencing, coming amid a national debate over sexual misconduct prompted by accusations against powerful men from Hollywood to Washington.
“At this particular moment in history, this sentence and hearing will be viewed as a turning point in how our community, our state, our nation, our culture looks at sexual abuse,” Ms Povilaitis said.
Ms Aquilina rattled off a series of statistics about the prevalence of sexual abuse before saying, “It stops now.”
The sentencing followed an extraordinary week-long hearing that saw Nassar’s victims unflinchingly, defiantly tell their stories in raw terms.
Despite Nassar’s objections, Ms Aquilina allowed victims who were not part of his guilty plea to speak at his sentencing. Throughout much of the proceedings, the bespectacled Nassar sat with his head bowed, rarely making eye contact with his accusers.
The women ranged from famous Olympic gold medalists like Aly Raisman to former gymnasts like Ms Denhollander, now a lawyer, who was the last of the victims to speak on Wednesday and whom Ms Aquilina described as “the bravest person I have ever had in my courtroom.”
McKayla Maroney, a gold medalist at the 2012 London Olympics, called Nassar a “monster human being,” while a former member of the US national team said his abuse led to depression and an eating disorder.
Another gymnast said she was only six years old when Nassar began molesting her and blamed the doctor for her father’s suicide once he realised she had not been lying about the abuse she endured.