When you think of the Olympics and USA Gymnastics, several things may come to mind. You may think of sparkly leotards, incredible flips and turns or the hundreds of cereal boxes lining grocery store shelves with the U.S. Women’s Gymnastics team and their gold medals on the front. Even if you have never participated in gymnastics or aren’t particularly interested in or knowledgeable of gymnastics as a sport, the entire nation rallies in support of the gymnasts that compete on the international stage.
In the summer of 2016, an Indianapolis Star report shocked the gymnastics world with a piece that began to uncover USA Gymnastics’ recurring behavior and negligence to follow through with several sexual abuse claims from coaches and staff made by their gymnasts. However, this report only scratched the surface.
In the months following, over 150 women came forward with allegations against USAG and Michigan State University doctor and physician Larry Nassar, which weren’t even the first allegations made against him. Among the brave survivors to come forward with allegations against Nassar were Olympic medalists Aly Raisman, Jordyn Weiber, McKayla Maroney and Simone Biles. Between 2017 and 2018, Nassar was sentenced to a maximum of 175 years in prison on multiple charges of sexual assault and misconduct.
Although this is one of the largest cases of sexual abuse in U.S. sports history, the investigations into Nassar’s long history of sexual abuse also exposed USAG’s long-standing history of dishonesty, exploitation, and cover-ups.
“Athlete A,” a Netflix documentary released in June, takes a deeper look into the corruption of USAG, MSU and the claims against Nassar. “Athlete A” was the moniker given to the anonymous gymnast who first reported Nassar to USAG directly, now publicly recognized as Maggie Nichols. Nichols was a hopeful for the national team that would go on to compete in the 2016 Summer Olympic Games in Rio. Unfortunately, despite being described as a “shoo-in” for the team, it is suspected she wasn’t chosen because of her allegations against Nassar.
The documentary features several gymnasts and their stories, their families, as well as the lawyers and writers for The Indianapolis Star who worked endlessly to make sure justice was brought to the survivors. It reveals the extensive timeline of not only the gymnasts’ complaints about Nassar, but the emotional, mental and physical torment by USAG head coaches Bela and Martha Karolyi and the overall underhandedness of former USAG president Steve Perry among other officials including former MSU president Lou Anna Simon.
The officials that headed USAG and MSU knew about the numerous ongoing complaints against Nassar and the Karolyi’s, yet continued to sweep everything under the rug. Out of all who were involved in these allegations, it was often the gymnasts themselves that faced consequences by the organizations and coaches, and not those at fault.
The goal of the documentary is not to dwell on the disheartening and upsetting mistreatment of these gymnasts, but rather give the survivors the chance to rightfully reclaim their voices and experiences. In light of the #MeToo movement on social media, survivors around the world have spoken publicly about their experiences as a way to de-stigmatize sexual assault and its repercussions and advocate for change.
In 2018, Maggie Nichols, now a successful gymnast at the University of Oklahoma, was awarded the Arthur Ashe Courage Award with fellow survivors at the ESPYs. In August, the U.S. Senate passed a bill in honor of the cases against Nassar to ensure Olympic and amateur athletes are protected. Gymnasts from all levels of the sport bravely came forward with their claims against Nassar and to demand change and reform within USAG and the organizations that allowed this to happen, by taking such action, it is already a step in the right direction in making sure this doesn’t happen in the future and athletes can pursue their dreams in a safe and protected environment.