Lawrence G. Nassar, the former physician for the American gymnastics team, was sentenced on Wednesday to 40 to 175 years in prison for sex crimes.
It capped more than a week of victim impact statements by young women and teenagers who described how, as aspiring athletes, they were sent to Dr. Nassar at gymnastics camps, gyms, his home and the Michigan State University clinic.
Elite Olympic athletes were among those who spoke at the hearing about their abuse. Here is a look at coverage by The New York Times.
The story came to light in 2016
The story of abuse in the gymnastics world surfaced publicly in 2016 in a series of investigative reports by The Indianapolis Star. The first reported that U.S.A. Gymnastics, the sport’s governing body, had kept files of complaints involving more than 50 coaches who had been suspected of abusing athletes. In many cases, the newspaper reported, officials had failed to alert law enforcement of possible wrongdoing. Read that story here.
In September 2016, the newspaper interviewed two former gymnasts, one an Olympic medalist, who accused Dr. Nassar specifically of sexual abuse when they were children. One, Rachael Denhollander, now 33, agreed to be named. Read that story here.
Gymnasts Confront Nassar: ‘You Are Nothing’
More than 150 women, including Olympic gymnasts Aly Raisman and Jordyn Wieber, spoke during the sentencing hearing for Lawrence G. Nassar, a former sport medicine doctor, who pleaded guilty to sexual abuse charges in November.
By NEETI UPADHYE on January 19, 2018. Photo by Matthew Dae Smith/Lansing State Journal, via Associated Press. Watch in Times Video »The Times profiled her this week when she became the last woman — the 156th over the course of seven days — to make a statement at Dr. Nassar’s sentencing.
More than 160 women say Larry Nassar sexually abused them. Here are his accusers in their own words.
He was lauded as the must-see doctor who worked with America’s best gymnasts. Now Lawrence G. Nassar will spend the rest of his life in prison. Over seven days, women recounted his sexual abuse at a marathon sentencing hearing in Michigan.
The courtroom and the victim impact statements
But the “culture of abuse” in the gymnastics world did not generate the kind of outrage detected after other abuse cases in sports, such as when former Penn State assistant football coach Jerry Sandusky was accused in 2012 of sexually abusing young boys. Thursday’s edition of the #MeToo newsletter explores that comparison.
Dr. Nassar, 54, was accused of molesting girls for decades under the guise of giving them examinations or medical treatment. He also treated athletes as a team physician at Twistars Gymnastics Club USA in Michigan.
Michigan’s Department of Licensing and Regulatory Affairs suspended Dr. Nassar’s medical license in January 2017.
He pleaded guilty to 10 molestation charges in November in Ingham County Circuit Court in Michigan. He was also sentenced to 60 years in prison in a separate case on charges that stemmed from more than 37,000 images and videos of child pornography found on his computer. He is expected to spend the rest of his life in prison.
More than 150 victims directly addressed him as he sat across from them in the Ingham County courtroom. They were elite gymnasts, runners, divers, swimmers and other athletes. Dr. Nassar told the judge in a letter that it was difficult for him to hear their statements.
Their voices were heard
The Times compiled the statements of his victims in their own words here, and collected some of their remarks on video. They were also featured on Thursday’s episode of The Daily. Listen to it here.
Among them were elite gymnasts McKayla Maroney and Aly Raisman, the captain of the teams that took home gold medals for the United States at the 2012 London and 2016 Rio Summer Olympics.
Read Ms. Raisman’s complete statement from the hearing in Michigan here.
Many of the young women who spoke were accompanied by their parents, who said they were often in the same room as Dr. Nassar surreptitiously abused their children, and expressed guilt that they did not see the red flags.
Judge Rosemarie Aquilina emerged as an unusually fierce advocate for the victims. This video explored how she encouraged other women to come forward by opening her courtroom to those wanting to speak.
For Victims of Nassar, She’s Judge and Therapist
After opening her courtroom to athletes, coaches and parents, Judge Rosemarie Aquilina has prompted dozens more to share their stories of sexual abuse by the former sports doctor Lawrence G. Nassar.
By SARAH STEIN KERR on January 23, 2018. Photo by Matthew Dae Smith/Lansing State Journal, via Associated Press. Watch in Times Video »What is the impact on the sports world?
There have been complaints that the organizations and people who could have stopped Dr. Nassar sooner did not act quickly. But as the young women were testifying, events began to move swiftly.
On Monday, U.S.A. Gymnastics announced that several of its board members had resigned: the chairman, Paul Parilla; the vice chairman, Jay Binder; and the board’s treasurer, Bitsy Kelley.
On Tuesday, the N.C.A.A., opened a formal investigation into how the university handled Dr. Nassar’s case.
And on Wednesday, Lou Anna K. Simon, the M.S.U. president, resigned under pressure over the way she had handled the scandal.
U.S.A. Gymnastics also cut ties with the private training center in Texas owned by Bela and Martha Karolyi, where some of the abuse occurred. Simone Biles, one of the most decorated gymnasts in history, said she dreads training at the ranch. The Times wrote about the ranch’s connection to the Olympic dreams of many young gymnasts here.
AT&T, Procter & Gamble, Hershey’s, Under Armour and Kellogg’s had already declined to renew or ended their sponsorships of U.S.A. Gymnastics, as this Times Op-Ed noted in summing up the reckoning, or lack of it, in the sport after the abuse became known.