Dr. No No : The Larry Nassar Story

Larry Nassar finally has his day in court

When I was a little girl I always wanted to be an Olympic gymnast. I would spend hours in my room pretending I was doing a floor routine. I believe I took a gymnastics class when I was around 3 years old with my cousin (that was short lived). As I got older I realized that physical labor really wasn’t my thing…..hell moving around at all really wasn’t my thing. Once I found out that my life would be school, home, and the gym I dropped my Olympic dream pretty quickly. So when I heard about the case of Larry Nassar I was particularly saddened and disgusted. As an adult he single handily made me happy that I did not pursue my childhood dream. However, he put all the girls who did achieve through a nightmare.

Lawrence Gerard Nassar was born on August 16, 1963 In Farmington Hills, Michigan to Fred and Marry Nassar. He graduated from the University of Michigan in 1985 with a degree in kinesiology. He married his wife Stephanie in October 1996 and they divorced in July of 2017. In 1983 Nassar started working as a sports trainer for the Women’s USA olympic gymnastics team. In 1996 he would become the team doctor, this lasted until he was outed for his atrocious behavior in 2014. I don’t want to spend too much time talking about this booty holes life so let’s just move on.

In November 2016 Nassar was indited on multiple charges of “sexual assault of a child” between the years of 1998 to 2005. He was arrested in February of 2016 after the FBI found more than 37,000 images of child pornography on his computer (oh it gets even more stomach turning) as well as a video of him sexually molesting a minor in his home, dating back to 2004.

In February 2017 three former gymnasts: Jeanette Antolin, Jessica Howard, and Jamie Dantzscher sat down with ’60 Minutes’ to share their story of the sexual abuse they suffered at Nassar’s hands. Later on fellow gymnasts: Aly Raisman, Gabby Douglas, Simone Biles, McKayla Maroney, and Maggie Nichols would also come forward stating that they too had been sexually abused by Larry Nassar. In April 2017 an unnamed woman would come forward and say she was sexually assaulted by Nassar when he was still a medical student.

Just looking at this guy makes me want to vomit. As of January 18, 2018 up to as many as 135 women would come forward and speak out about the abuse they suffered while working with Nassar. After allowing his victims to read impact statements to the court, Judge Rosemarie Aquilina sentenced Nassar to a term of 40 to 175 years in prison (go ahead girl you do the damn thing). On January 30, 2018 Nassar’s victim count grew to 265 young women (ok, now I am really gonna puke). On February 5, 2018 Eaton county judge Janice Cunningham sentenced him to a term of 40 to 125 years in prison. Both judges also made it very clear that this crap of a human being would be locked up until the day he died. He is serving his time at the United States Penitentiary in Coleman, Florida. His earliest release date will be March 23, 2069, when he will be 105 years old. So, his earliest release date is pretty much NEVER.

More than 150 federal and state lawsuits have since been filed against Nassar, Michigan State University, the US Olympic Committee, USA Gymnastics, and the Twistars Gymnastics Club as a result of the trial. The entire 18-member board of USA Gymnastics tendered their resignations. MSU President and MSU Director of Athletics have both also resigned. At the 2018 ESPY awards ceremony more than 145 women accepted the ‘Arthur Ashe Award for Courage. A very well deserved accolade. In July 2018 Nassar filed an appeal which was later denied.

I usually try to stay something witty when I wrap these things up but in this case I don’t think I can bring myself to do that. Instead I will say, if you or someone you know is being sexually, emotionally, or physically abused by ANYONE tell a trusted authority. Abuse in any form is never okay and will not be tolerated in any situation. Say something even if you feel like nobody will believe you. At the end of the day your biggest advocate is yourself.

National Domestic Violence Hotline – 1 (800) 799 – 7233

National Teen Dating Abuse Hotline – 1 (866) 331 – 9474/
Text: 22522

RAINN National Sexual Abuse Hotline – 1 (800) 656-4673

*All of these hotline are based in the USA

Sources:

‘Athlete A’ On Netflix – News Week

How Larry Nassar Got Caught – NPR

Larry Nassar Disgraced US Olympics – BBC

Who Is Larry Nassar? – USA Today