Larry Nassar Sexual Abuse Summary

The purpose of this article is to give a brief summary of research regarding the prevalence of sexual assault, child sexual abuse, the consequences of not testing rape kits; as well as, child sexual abuse within sports. This paper will examine the statistics around how often sexual violence occurs, according to the crimes that are reported. This paper will also look into the case involving Larry Nassar, the US Women's Gymnastics, team doctor. With a focus on how the surrounding organizations, namely Michigan State University (MSU), USA Gymnastics (USAG), and the United States Olympic Committee (USOC), enabled Nassar to commit such a heinous crime for decades. As well as, how these organizations mishandled the information once they were notified.

He received his osteopathic medical degree in 1993 from Michigan State University. In 1994, a gymnast alleged being sexually abused by Nassar, as reported in a 2016 lawsuit. In 1996 Nassar began working with the John and Kathryn Geddert at their gym, Twistars USA Gymnastics Club in Dimondale, Michigan, as the club doctor. That same year, USAG Board of Directors appointed Nassar as the USAG national medical coordinator (TIMELINE, 2018).

An MSU staff member was notified of an accusation against Nassar alleging sexual assault by then teenage gymnast Larissa Boyce. Boyce notified her coach Kathie Klages in 1997. Klages, who happened to be a close friend of Nassar, took offense to the accusations. She took it upon herself to downplay Boyce’s concerns and insist that a formal complaint against Nassar would result in serious consequences. In February 2017, MSU suspended Klages two weeks after a lawsuit accused her of dismissing sexual abuse complaints against the former MSU doctor (TIMELINE,

The ranch was the national team training facility for USAG up until January 18th, 2018 (Park, 2018). Parents are not allowed to stay at the ranch, even if their children are minors. There is also no cellular service at the ranch. However, each athlete must be accompanied by a personal coach. The gymnasts who shared victim impact statements during Nassar’s sentencing hearing attest to the unnecessarily intense and abusive conditions at the ranch. Recently, former national team member Sabrina Vega filed a lawsuit against the Károlyi’s claiming that Nassar was not properly supervised and warning signs of abuse were ignored by the institution (Connor & Fitzpatrick, 2018). The Károlyi’s have denied any allegations of physical, emotional, and mental abuse. Also, they denied having any knowledge of Nassar sexually abusing their athletes. The Károlyi’s also stated that they were never notified of any sexual abuse occurring at the hands of Nassar (TIMELINE,