US gymnasts failed by system
In the annals of courtroom drama, one young woman’s televised excoriation this week of Larry Nassar, the USA Gymnastics doctor who has pleaded guilty to 10 counts of criminal sexual conduct with minors, deserves saving for posterity.
Until now, she had been known only as “Victim Z.A”, portrayed with long hair and teenage braces in faded family photographs. But now, dropping the veil of anonymity, she stepped forward as Kyle Stephens, reading a statement that in its unsparing detail tore through not just Nassar but the system that shielded him for the best part of 20 years.
“You used my body for six years for your own sexual gratification,” she said to Nassar’s face. “Now, as the only non-medical victim to come forward, I testify to let the world know that you are a repulsive liar. Little girls don’t stay little forever. Sexual abuse is so much more than a disturbing physical act. It changes the trajectory of a victim’s life.”
The shadow cast by Nassar’s crimes envelops an entire generation of female gymnasts and their families. Stephens disclosed how her father committed suicide in 2016, arguing that he felt consumed by shame and self-loathing over the revelations of what the doctor had done to her. Then there was the testimony by Donna Markham, whose daughter Chelsea had described how Nassar had molested her even while her mother was in the room. Chelsea was subsequently drawn into a spiral of depression and drug abuse, taking her own life at the age of 23.
Over the coming days, inside the sterile walls of a small courthouse in Lansing, Michigan, at least 98 victim statements are expected to be read out, documenting the scale of evil that can be unleashed when one man’s depravity is combined with an institutional code of silence. Olivia Cowan, abused for 10 years under the guise of medical treatment at Michigan State University (MSU), where Nassar practised, said: “It is horrifying that MSU and USA Gymnastics [USAG] are not stepping up to to admit their wrongdoing. MSU knew what was being done to these athletes and decided to turn a blind eye, to keep their reputation strong and their pockets full.”
What is unfolding is nothing less than one of the worst abuse scandals in sports industry, and yet it has moved the needle in America barely