We first heard about the sexual abuse allegations of coaches under the USA Gymnastics governing body back in August of 2016, just before the Rio Olympics, where the United States women’s gymnastics won gold. It’s now March of 2017 and the situation is only continuing to escalate.
Larry Nassar, the former USA Gymnastics team doctor and Michigan State gymnastics team doctor, now faces 22 felony counts related to his work. This is in addition to his arrest in late 2016 regarding the possession of child pornography and the molestation of a neighbor’s young daughter.
Nassar, once a respected member of the gymnastics community is accused of sexual assaulting athletes as far back as the early 1990s. According to NBC, more than eighty women and girls have come forward to police to report complaints and accusations against Nassar.
Many are now calling upon USA Gymnastics President to step down, after reports began circling that the organization failed to report Nassar to the FBI for five weeks after receiving complaints. It isn’t the first time USA Gymnastics failed to handle sexual assault allegations appropriately, however. On Friday, 5,600 pages of instances of sexual abuse that were reported to USA Gymnastics were released by a Georgia judge. These files revealed many instances where coaches accused of sexual assault and misconduct weren’t banned from coaching in the sport for several years after the complaints were made.
The scandal has led many to question the inter-workings of both USA Gymnastics and the Michigan State gymnastics program that allowed this abuse to occur for so many years. Former Olympic champion, Dominique Moceanu says that the culture of USA Gymnastics helped to foster abuse for years and that reforms to the system are long overdue. Until changes are made at USA Gymnastics, it is plain to see that there is no way that gym owners, parents, and gymnasts can truly be certain they are safe in the sport of gymnastics.