Olympic gold medalists Jordyn Wieber and Aly Raisman said in court on Friday they were among the 140 girls and women who were sexually abused by longtime USA Gymnastics team doctor Larry Nassar.
Wieber, who helped the USA team known as the Fierce Five to a gold medal at the London Olympics, addressed the abuse for the first time publicly in a victim impact statement on the fourth day of the disgraced former physician’s sentencing hearing in Michigan.
“Even though I’m a victim, I do not and will not live my life as one,” said Wieber, a Michigan native who began seeing Nassar from the age of eight until she was 18. “I’m an Olympian despite being abused. I worked hard and managed to achieve my goal. But I want everyone especially the media to know that despite my athletic achievements I am one of over 140 women and survivors whose story is important.”
She added: “Larry Nassar is accountable. USA Gymnastics is accountable. The US Olympic Committee is accountable. My teammates and friends have been through enough, and now it’s time for change. The current gymnasts should not have to live in anxiety and fear as I did.” Raisman, a six-time Olympic medalist who went public with her story in November after speaking to FBI investigators after last year’s Rio Games, spoke directly to Nassar.“Adult after adult protected you,” Raisman said. “How do you sleep at night? You are the person they had ‘take the lead on athlete care.’ I cringe to think your influence remains in the policies they [USA Gymnastics] claim will make athletes safe.
“I will not rest until every last trace of the influence you had on this sport has been destroyed like the cancer it is.”
Nassar, an osteopath who spent nearly 30 years as trainer and national medical coordinator with the USA Gymnastics program, faces a minimum sentence of 25 to 40 years in federal prison after admitting to molesting girls at Michigan State University and his home under the guise of medical treatment. The 54-year-old has already been given an additional 60 years in a separate case regarding child abuse images.
The statements by Wieber and Raisman came as Michigan State’s board of trustees called on the state’s attorney general to review the university’s handling of the Nassar complaints amid mounting calls for the resignation of school president Lou Anna Simon – including a scathing front-page editorial by the independent student newspaper that cast “Simon, her appointees and cheerleaders” as “enablers”.
The eight-member board, who will hold a unscheduled, closed-door meeting on Friday, wrote in a letter to Bill Schuette that “questions grew louder this week with the victim impact statements. After watching many of these heartbreaking statements and reading accounts about them, we have concluded that only a review by your office can resolve the questions in a way that the victims, their families, and the public will deem satisfactory and that will help all those affected by Nassar’s horrible crimes to heal.” Many statements from victims and their attorneys have centered on the institutions that allegedly enabled or were negligent in preventing Nassar’s abuse for as long as two decades: Michigan State, USA Gymnastics and the United States Olympic Committee, all of which have been named as co-defendants in civil suits that appear headed to trial.But the board’s letter reopens the possibility of criminal action that so far has not extended beyond Nassar himself.
The statements continued into the afternoon when Nassar broke down in tears during the testimony of Trenea Gonzcar, who said she’d known him for more than 30 years.
“I hope you cry like we cry,” Gonzcar said, shaking as he took off his glasses and wiped his eyes. “I hope you feel bad for what you’ve done. I hope...everyday these girls can feel less pain. But this is goodbye to you, Larry,” Gonzcar told him.
While Nassar’s sentencing hearing was initially scheduled to conclude on Friday, judge Rosemarie Aquilina said it would be extended to Monday or Tuesday in order to hear all the statements of about 40 more survivors, many of whom, including Gonzcar, signed up with the district attorney’s office over the course of the week.
In all, 89 victims have given statements so far.