Simone Biles vs. Larry Nassar

By Chloe Elder ‘24
Simone Biles and hundreds of other gymnasts put their trust into a man named Larry Nassar to be their coach. Just like any other gymnastics coach, his job was to protect and support his gymnasts and to keep them safe from horrific injury. 

Although this is certainly not a new issue, it recently came to light that Nassar sexually assaulted at least 265 gymnasts- each multiple times; taking advantage of their trust and blatantly violating them. 
Nassar was born in Michigan and in 1978,  he became the athletic trainer for the women’s gymnastics team at North Farmington High School. After he stopped working at the high school, he trained gymnasts while studying in medical school.
 In 1992, when Nassar was still in medical school at Michigan State University, a twelve-year-old girl accused him of sexually assaulting her in a gymnastics facility near his home. A few years later, Nassar sexually assaulted another twelve-year-old girl named Jamie Dantzcher who later went on to be an Olympic medalist. She went to him for treatment of lower back pain and was under his dangerous control for six years. 
He went on to train hundreds of gymnasts, one of whom was Simone Biles. Biles, one of the most dominant gymnasts of all time, began training when she was eight years old. Her first Olympics were in Rio 2016, where she won gold in the all-around, vault, floor competitions and the team and won bronze on beam. 
Biles has a total of thirty two Olympic and World Championship medals, four of which are gold. Despite all of these achievements, she struggles with her mental health partially due to the frequent sexual assaults she and her teammates were undergoing with Nassar as their coach. 
One particularly notable incident was in 2000, when he sexually assaulted USA Gymnastics member Rachael Denhollander. She went to him for treatment of lower back pain when she was just fifteen. Denhollander was the first person to publicly accuse Nassar of abuse. 
After Denhollander’s initial accusation, stories of Nassar’s abuse started to rapidly become public in 2004 when Nassar sexually harrassed 17-year-old Brianne Randall-Gay after she went in for treatment of scoliosis, telling the Lansing State Journal she felt “scared and uncomfortable” while undergoing treatment. 
Another incident occured in 2014, when Nassar sexually assaulted Amanda Thomashow who had been attending Michigan State University at the time. Thomashow was the first woman to file an official title IX complaint against Nassar for violating the sexual harassment policy at the school. 
Gradually, women began to feel comfortable enough to publicly address the incidents involving Nassar. One hundred fifty six women came out against Nassar, and over a span of seven days, they were all given the opportunity to confront him personally. The first woman to speak to Nassar was Kyle Stephens, the woman who initially called the police on Nassar and permitted the police to obtain the search warrant that led the police to find the child pornography in his possession.
Unlike Nassar’s other victims, Kyle was not a gymnast. Her family was friendly with his and Kyle was just six years old when the assault occurred. When she was ready, Kyle decided to speak up, stating Nassar had, “figured it out by now, but little girls don't stay little forever. They grow into strong women who return to destroy your world.” 
Simone Biles, along with her teammates, Aly Raisman and McKayla Maroney also spoke out against Nassar. Biles said she blames, “Larry Nassar and [she] also blame[s] an entire system that enabled and perpetrated his abuse.” Simone then stated she believes that, “if you allow a predator to harm children, the consequences will be swift and severe,” portraying her harsh reality, and the need for accountability and change. 
Aly Raisman, former captain of the US Olympic Gymnastics team in 2012 and 2016, said that she was, "still fighting for the most basic answers and accountability," practically begging for help, when the people in authority were silent. She notices the elucidation of how, “a survivor's healing is affected by the handling of their abuse.”
The trauma that Nassar repeatedly induced upon over 265 women will not subside. However justice is finally being served as he is sentenced to jail for over 175 years in Michigan state prison for criminal sexual conduct, and another 60 years for possession of child pornography. 
Although it will take the gymnasts a long time to recover from Nassar's assaults,  they will hopefully be able to rebuild their trust with their new USA Gymnastics Doctor, Dr. Marcia Faustin, and continue their abundantly successful careers.