By Andrea Moncado, Courier Staff Writer
Most parents sending their kids off to gymnastics camp only expect their children to get better at the sport they love, to build confidence and character, as well as to develop new friendships and experiences. This wasn’t the case for the National Gymnastic Olympic team. While these girls were striving to get better at their sport, they were being sexually harassed by the team’s traveling doctor.
Larry Nassar, the USA gymnastics national team doctor, harassed many of the young athletes that came to him for treatment. More than 150 girls testified against him and faced him in court throughout the course of 3 days. Nassar, 54, sexually harassed girls from the ages of 6 to 17. Most of the athletes were harassed inside his doctors office or the hotels the gymnast stayed at. There were even some cases in which the athletes were abused in front of their parents during medical visits. Most of the girls that testified against him were minors when the abuse began, but now over 18. It took them a long time to tell their parents and also to understand the inappropriate actions Nassar made upon them.
Nassar was sentences to 175 years in prison for multiple counts of child molestation and child pornography. These girls started a revolution by standing up for their rights. With their stories, they gave a voice to the injustice that many women and children face due to the powerful standing of their abusers. This sentencing is a clear message to abusers that their time is up and the truth will come out one way or another.
No kid deserves to suffer this kind of nightmare. Erika Venegas, a Logan senior discussed what she felt about the case and its outcome.
“I think it’s fair that he got a life sentence and I don’t think he needs a death penalty,” she said. “But I also feel like this needed to happen to start a movement.”