Gymnast at OU says she told of assault in 2015
Maggie Nichols, a former U.S. national team gymnast and sophomore at Oklahoma, says she was sexually assaulted by former Team USA physician Larry Nassar and was the first to report the abuse to USA Gymnastics in 2015.
Nichols went public with her story in a letter released by her attorney Tuesday morning.
“Up until now, I was identified as Athlete A by USA gymnastics, the U.S. Olympic Committee and Michigan State University,” she wrote. “I want everyone to know that he did not do this to Athlete A, he did it to Maggie Nichols.”
Nichols is one of more than 100 women and young girls who are being represented by attorney John Manly in lawsuits against USA Gymnastics and Michigan State.
Among the women are three former Olympic gymnasts — Aly Raisman, McKayla Maroney and Gabby Douglas — who have come forward alleging sexual assault by Nassar during medical exams and treatments when he worked for USA Gymnastics, the U.S. national team and Michigan State.
“USA Gymnastics’
brazen attempt to cover up the largest child sex abuse scandal in sports resulted in the molestation of hundreds of little girls,” Manly said in a statement. “ChairmanPaul Parillaand his Board should resign. If they don’t, the United States Olympic Committee has a responsibility to decertify this organization and replace it with one that will put the health and safety of athletes above money and medals.”
Nichols, who helped OU win the 2017 NCAA national title and won the elusive GymSlam in her freshman season by recording perfect 10.0 scores on every apparatus, made the national team at 14 and competed at the World Championships in 2015.
In her letter, she writes that she first met Nassar when she was 13 or 14 to receive treatment for an elbow injury, and there was nothing unusual about that treatment. When she was 15, she began to have back problems while at national team camp. That’s when, she wrote, the molestation began.
“I trusted what he was doing at first, but then he started touching me in places I really didn’t think he should,” she wrote in her letter. “He didn’t have gloves on and he didn’t tell me what he was doing. There was no one else in the room and I accepted what he was doing because I was told by adults that he was the best doctor and he could help relieve my pain. He did this ‘treatment’ on me, on numerous occasions.”
When a coach overheard Nichols tell a teammate about Nassar’s treatments at practice and saw social media interactions between Nassar and Nichols, the coach decided to report the abuse to USA Gymnastics.
“USA Gymnastics and the USOC did not provide a safe environment for me and my teammates to train,” Nichols wrote.
“His job was to care for our health and treat our injuries. Instead, he violated our innocence.”
Nassar, who was removed as the USA Gymnastics and U.S. national team doctor in 2015, was sentenced to 60 years in prison on federal child pornography charges in November.
He also pleaded guilty to 10 counts of criminal sexual conduct in state court in Michigan stemming from his work as the Michigan State team doctor. He’s set to be sentenced for those charges next week.