Athlete A (2020) - full transcript

[ethereal music playing]

[indistinct chattering]

[woman 1] Tight knees, tight knees.

Head in, Abbie.

[woman 2] When I was young,
my dream was always to go to the Olympics.

And so I always had that
in the back of my head.

[woman 1] Guys, the goal is no arm circles
on any of your sticks.

Only count the ones
that are stuck cold, okay?

[woman 2] I just love gymnastics.

I love the drive that it gives me.

[woman 1] Carly, try not to stagger.



[woman 2] It teaches you
to be strong, independent.

- [woman 3] Yep. Sorry.
- [woman 4] It's okay.

[woman 2] Being able to fly through
the air and do the things we do,

it's just so thrilling, and you get
that adrenaline rush and...

You can't even explain it.

[girls] Maggie!
Come on, Maggie! Go, Maggie!

[cheering]

[boy] Yeah!

[applause]

[Maggie] I started gymnastics
when I was three years old

because I was always
climbing out of my crib

and climbing on the furniture
and everything, so...

my parents put me in it,
just be in a safer environment

where there's mats and coaches
and stuff like that.



[shouts]

[woman 5] I liked the sport.
I mean, I did it in high school.

I always watched it on TV, and I loved it.

And so I had this little girl,
after three sons, and I put her in it.

So, yes, as a preschooler.

[applause]

Right away, the coaches picked up on her.

They nabbed her up as a little girl,
like in second grade.

I mean, she was the only ten-year-old
in the country that competed at Nationals.

[man] You know, somebody drove her
to the gym, maybe 45 minutes from here.

Come back, maybe go back to work,

pick up Maggie at the gym.

That was every day
for years and years and years.

[woman] Here's Maggie Nichols,
Level 10 junior from Twin City Twisters.

[Maggie] The goal was to try
to be an elite gymnast

and to make the national team.

Did online school as well,
so I could train more in the gym.

And this is probably
one of my favorite leos. Um...

I love the white.

Like, I don't know what it is, but if it
has white on it, I just... I just love it.

I don't know why. [laughs]

If you wanted to take the next step
to make national team,

you need to be very strong,
because gymnastics would be like...

you know, almost your whole life.
I mean, it was almost my whole life.

You give up almost everything.

[man 1 over PA] Now on balance beam
for Twin City Twisters, Maggie Nichols!

[man 2] When I asked you
who impressed you,

in terms of who's coming up
after Simone Biles,

you said Maggie Nichols was one.

[woman] Talking to her earlier this week,

she said she finally feels
like she's in the mix.

[ethereal music playing]

[Gina] USA Gymnastics took
Maggie's Olympic dream away from her.

It was just so hurtful and so painful.
Everything that happened.

[John] We have fairly good ideas on...

what actually happened.

Evidence, I would say.

[man] So you're watching justice
happen in slow motion?

Well, hopefully justice. [laughs]

Hopefully justice.

[man] When we started reporting
on the initial story,

this was really the most explosive story

that the USA Today Network
has had in several years.

Yet it was coming out of the sticks,
you know?

[laughs] It was coming out
of a small little newsroom.

Okay, what do we got?

Um, one of our sources
who runs the popular blog...

[man] Like everyone,
I'd watch gymnastics during the Olympics,

and I had witnessed some of the stars,
you know, over the years.

USA Gymnastics was an organization
in this town,

but I really didn't know a lot about
what was going on behind the scenes.

So, you know, what that culture was like
was new to me and, uh...

and we sort of were plunged into it.

[man 1] Every four years,
it's our time to shine.

Our moment.

When the toughest sport in the world

takes its rightful place
on the world's biggest stage.

[crowd cheering]

The moment
when the brightest spotlight shines

on the best athletes
these United States have to offer.

Every four years...

starts right now.

[crowd cheering]

[man 2] It is one? of the most
in-demand events at the Olympics,

and it could be historic.

In 1996, there was a Magnificent Seven.

In 2012, a Fierce Five.

This group will make a name for themselves
tonight one way or the other.

[crowd cheering]

[woman] As the Summer Olympics
gets underway in Rio,

an IndyStar USA Today Network
investigation

unveils a possible sexual abuse scandal
at USA Gymnastics.

It alleges the organization has a policy
that may have harmed child athletes.

I had been working on an investigation

into failure to report sexual abuse
in schools.

We'd had a number of local cases
in Indiana.

And so, as I was looking
at a broader piece on,

why does this seem to keep happening?

Why do people not report
as they're required to do?

A source suggested
that I look at USA Gymnastics

and how they handle
sexual abuse allegations.

And that source pointed me
toward a lawsuit

involving a predatory coach...

who had moved from gym to gym to gym,

despite warning signs about his conduct.

You'll have to edit it just a bit.

[man] One coach was shown
to have abused a young gymnast

after USA Gymnastics
had been warned about him years earlier.

In the file, one complaint said,

"This coach needs to be put in a cage
before he rapes somebody."

Uh, USA Gymnastics did nothing.

[indistinct chattering]

[Kwiatkowski] As we were pursuing
this investigation,

we got access to these depositions

with current and former
high-ranking USA Gymnastics officials

that described their policy
for how they handled these allegations.

[man] Mr. Penny, uh, you are the president
currently of USA Gymnastics?

[Penny] Yes.

[man] If you receive a complaint
of sexual misconduct,

whether it be by a professional member
or anyone that has a membership with USAG,

do you turn it over to local authorities?

No.

[man] Okay.

We don't turn over a complaint.

[Kwiatkowski] For the first time,
it showed USA Gymnastics had a policy

of not reporting all allegations
to authorities.

That they would dismiss allegations
as hearsay

unless they were signed by a victim,
a victim's parent,

or an eyewitness to the abuse.

[Berta] And we found USA Gymnastics
had sexual abuse complaint files

on 54 coaches.

And if there was no signed statement

by the victim or the victim's parent,
they just tucked it in a folder

and stuffed it
in Steve Penny's filing cabinet.

And then those coaches
went on to molest other children.

[upbeat music playing]

[crowd cheering]

[man 1] Get the gold medals ready again.

[man 2] That is an Olympic
gold medal-winning moment.

[cheering]

[woman 1] As athletes
are gathering in Rio,

a stunning report
from The Indianapolis Star

and USA Today Network dominated this day.

[woman 2] The paper is reporting that,
on multiple occasions,

USA Gymnastics compiled complaints
of coaches accused of sexual misconduct

but refused to share the information
with police,

most often dismissing it as hearsay,

because the complaints
were not made by the victims,

those young athletes, or their parents.

[woman 1] In a statement, Steve Penny,
the president of USA Gymnastics,

said the organization is quote, "Committed
to promoting a safe environment,"

and noted quote, "We feel The Star
left out significant facts

that would have painted
a more accurate picture."

[woman] I was cleaning my kitchen,

and I had two babies
that were 13 months apart.

And they were both fussy,

and so? I had my baby strapped to me.

I was wearing her
while I cleaned the kitchen.

And I needed to make a shopping list,
so I opened my computer

and Facebook was up,

and trending in the news section was
the headline for the IndyStar article.

It was a complete accident
that I even saw it.

But I clicked on it,
and I read it right away.

And the first thought was, "I was right.

They've been burying sexual abuse.
I was right.

And this is it.

Now's the time.

If it's ever going to come out,
it's going to come out now."

[indistinct chattering]

[Alesia] On the morning of publication
of that first story...

we got an e-mail
from Rachael Denhollander.

And she wrote,
"My abuse wasn't by a coach,

but it was by a famous doctor.

And if they're covering things up
for the coaches,

I think they would be
covering it up for him."

And that was the first time

I had heard there could be something wrong
with Larry Nassar.

[beep]

[woman] Hi, Mr. Alesia.
My name is Jessica Howard.

I just wanted to call you
as a follow-up to your story.

Um, I am very nervous
about talking to you about it, but...

I think it would help...

bring justice to a lot of the people

who have been affected
by USA Gymnastics and their policies.

Thank you. Bye.

[crowd cheering]

When the...

story came out in 2016...

Nassar just came back into my head.

When something hits you like...

that realization
that it was sexual abuse...

and you haven't known,
haven't thought about it...

it becomes...

so real.

Like it was yesterday.

Like it just happened to you.
Like you are 15.

[Dantzscher] My head started
kind of like spinning a little bit.

I've never told anybody, but...

I was like, "Wait a minute...

this doctor used to do
very similar things to me."

At that point, I was...

still scared, but...

I was thinking, "If he is a pedophile...

and I...

don't do something about it,
I can't live with that."

[man] I was approached
by Jamie Dantzscher,

who was a 2000 Olympian.

And she told me

the story about this. Dr. Nassar,

and she felt like
he had sexually assaulted her.

I believed her.

After I agreed to take her case,
I called The Indianapolis Star.

And I said, "Great article.

By the way, have you ever heard of a guy
named Larry Nassar?"

I... I was stunned.

I mean, I just thought, "Now this is...
Now we're talking three people."

And these women didn't know each other.

How many more could there be?

[man 1] Oh, golly.

- [woman] Oh, dear. Oh, dear. Oh, dear.
- [man 1] Oh, God.

- [woman] Oh, no.
- Medical?

[sobbing]

Shh-shh-shh. Easy. easy, easy, easy.

[man 2] You can obviously see
the shaking of the head, the resignation.

Everybody knows this goes
with the territory, and they hate it.

[man 1] Medical staff.
Dr. Larry Nassar on the floor.

He keeps these women together.

[indistinct chatter over PA]

[Kwiatkowski] Larry Nassar
had been the team doctor

for USA Gymnastics' women's program
for 29 years.

He was also a Michigan State University
doctor at the time.

So he was this prominent member
of the community...

when we got these allegations about him.

This is part of the sports medicine
tender teaching moments.

I call these TTX.

Over and over and over.

Around and around and around.

It's amazing, the number of treatments

that these kids will get
to keep them healthy enough

to sustain them
at the World Championship level,

Olympic Championship level
that they are.

Um, we'll treat them before practice.

We treat them after practice, then
we treat them before the second practice.

There are two a day. We're there
for the entire second practice.

Then we treat them
to the point that they go to bed.

So we usually see them
at seven in the morning

and get done at ten at night.

[man] In medical school, he worked
as a trainer. He rose up as a volunteer.

And then, when he got on the staff
at Michigan State,

part of his requirement
was to do community work.

[applause]

He started a foundation
for autistic children.

And he seemed like
this larger-than-life, um,

better-than-real person.

Okay, let's see what else you guys have...

discovered down here.

We very quickly
started putting together a story,

and we split up those sources.

So Marisa flew out to California and, uh,
met with John Manly and Jamie Dantzscher.

[Evans] Jessica Howard, at that time,
had spoken to us,

but was not ready to be included
in the story, even as a Jane Doe.

But her story helped us have confidence,

because it corroborated
everything we'd heard from Jamie

and we'd heard from Rachael.

[Alesia] I happened to get Rachael's tip.

And she said it would be fine to do
an interview on camera, on the record,

with her name...

in her home.

Tell me more about why now, why...

you know, why... why you're willing
to be brave enough to talk with me.

Um, I didn't know a lot when I was 15,

but one thing I did know was that
abuse victims aren't treated well.

They are mocked. They are questioned.
They are blamed. They are shamed.

Um, and that does incredible damage
to the healing process.

I wish I could have dealt with it
16 years ago.

I don't think I could have, but I can now.

[mellow piano music playing]

I was very much a perfectionist,

and that's what attracted me
to the sport of gymnastics,

was the perfection that it required.

But my family
wasn't able to afford gym fees,

so I didn't start until I was almost 12.

Because, at that point, I could work,

and my siblings helped me clean the gym,
and my mom worked to pay for my gym fees.

But I was five-four when I started.
Way too tall, long torso, wrong body type.

So I only competed at the club level
and a low club level at that.

So I only competed in Michigan.

I did it because I loved it.
I was not any good.

[Dantzscher] I told my parents
I wanted to do gymnastics

when I was three years old.

'Cause I saw it on TV and...

I just saw these girls...

- flipping and twisting and flying.
- [crowd applauding]

And I just...
I wanted to be able to do that.

It was like my first love.
I loved everything about it.

I was crazy. I look back now,

and I was chucking triple-backs
off a mini trampoline into the pit.

And I was... I was only nine years old.

I had no idea how talented I was.

I was just...
I was just having a good time.

[man] This is
15-year-old Jamie Dantzscher,

who's making a move tonight
after a fine beam routine.

[classical music playing]

[Dantzscher] I trained
with Beth and Steve Rybacki

at Gliders Gymnastics from...

eleven to 18 years old.

I went from training
about 18 hours a week...

to about 30 to 35.

At that time, I was like,

"Yes, I get to be in the gym more
and train more."

Like, I couldn't get enough of it.

Anything they said it would take
to get to the Olympics,

I was going to do.

Come on, Jamie.

[Dantzscher] I remember
having stone bruises on? my heels.

I couldn't even, like, walk on the carpet.

I mean, I had broken toes
I competed on and trained on,

a fractured back I actually competed on.

- [woman] Oh!? Bela's gonna love that one!
- [crowd cheering]

But yet, it was like every time
I had an injury, I wasn't believed.

[man] You can see Bela Karolyi back there.
He seems to always be back there.

[crowd cheering]

[Dantzscher] As far as weight...

I remember I had the flu.

I was literally throwing up
for five days straight.

And I remember getting weighed,

and I'd lost, I think,
like six pounds from being sick.

And...

I remember Beth telling me...

you know, "You lost six pounds.

Now we've got to figure out
how to keep it off."

And to hear they don't care how you do it
had a huge effect on me.

I mean, back then,
I didn't even think of it as abuse.

That's kind of...

It's still psychological for me,

'cause I almost still feel bad for even...

saying the truth.

Like I almost...

Like I hate this sentence, but I actually,
like, looked forward to treatment.

And... Because Larry was...

the only nice adult.

He's really the only nice adult
I could remember...

being...

a part of USA Gymnastics staff.

[crowd cheering, applauding]

He was really the only...

nice adult there.

[ethereal music playing]

[indistinct chattering]

[man] Yeah.

That's it.

[Maggie] So when I was, like, 13? that's
when I qualified for elite gymnastics.

And when I was 15,
I finally made the national team.

[crowd cheering]

[woman] If she keeps this up,
she has a great shot

to make that Olympic team next year.

[man] She's still right in the hunt...

to come second to Simone.

[Maggie] The national team camp
was in Texas.

And Martha and Bela Karolyi owned it.

Martha would walk out of her office,
and we'd all... [gasps]

...go like this
and go shortest to tallest in a line.

We trained about seven hours a day.

And they ranked us from top to bottom.

We just had so many eyes on us.

National staff, our own home coaches,
other athletes.

So it was pretty intense.

[Gina] I remember Maggie saying
that it was really scary,

and they were very strict.

But it was an honor.

That's where the Olympic athletes
come from.

You get on that team,
and now you have a shot.

[Gina] The parents were never allowed
to go to the ranch.

I could hardly ever talk to her
when she was there

because they didn't have
cell phone reception.

[John] It was a strict way
to make them stronger...

and better for their sport.

And so we had to, you know,
trust and believe in... in their system.

You know, you would think
they'd be able to keep,

you know, people safe.
Especially when we're...

not allowed to set foot on the property.

But I knew nothing about Nassar.

I never even thought
to ask those questions,

because I didn't even know he was there.

[Maggie] In 2015,
Larry was doing treatments for my back.

And there's this room called the back room

where we, like, watched TV
and got massages and stuff.

Um, he would just do it right there.

And I was just, like,
kind of, like, confused

and, like, wondering what it was.

It didn't seem right.

Um, because I grew up always going
to physical therapy and stuff,

because I had many injuries growing up,

um, and I'd never experienced
anything like that.

So I thought I'd ask Aly just 'cause...

I mean, we were really close friends,
and she was older, too,

and has been to national team camps
and has worked with him before.

So I kind of just asked her. I was like,
"Does he do this to you? Is this normal?"

And she said,
"Yeah, like, he does it to me, too."

Maggie's coach, Sarah Jantzi,
called me up, and she said,

"I want to let you know that? I overheard
from Maggie and another athlete...

that Larry Nassar was touching her funny,

and Maggie told her he was,
you know, touching her private parts.

He was putting his hands in her vagina,
and he was fingering her."

And I'm like...

"What?"

And I said,
"We need to call the authorities."

And she said,
"Yeah, I'm gonna call Rhonda Faehn,

who is in charge of the women's program,
right away." So she did.

And then, the next day,
Steve Penny called me.

I've never spoken to him personally.

All he said was,

"I hear you have a concern."

I said, "A concern?

I have... This is...
My daughter was molested.

We need to call the authorities."

He said, "No, no, no, don't worry
about that. I will take care of that.

USA Gymnastics
will take care of calling the police."

Three or four weeks later,
Steve Penny calls me again,

and he says, "Well, now,
we want you to talk to an investigator.

Her name is Fran Sepler."

I thought "Well, maybe this is what
they do with child sexual abuse cases."

I'd never been involved with one,
so I didn't know.

You know, at competitions, following...

you know, Maggie's reporting...

Steve Penny would always tell me...

that, "Don't worry about Maggie.

We'll take care of Maggie.
Don't worry about Maggie. We got Maggie."

So why would I not believe him?

You know, we're talking USA Gymnastics.

We're talking US Olympics.

- [phone beeps]
- [Evans] Can you hear us all right?

- I can. Can you hear me?
- Yeah, we've got you on speaker,

- so if it's weird, let us know.
- Okay.

So... This is Steve Berta.

When you were active in gymnastics,
were there coaches,

or other officials like Nassar,
who the girls were suspicious of

or talked about as being abusive?

[Sey] Yes, absolutely.

There were sexual predators everywhere.

They were in my gym.

The national team coach, Don Peters,
was a known sexual abuser.

They were everywhere across the country,
and we knew who they were.

Uh, but, more broadly, emotional
and physical abuse was actually the norm,

and we were all so beaten down by that...

um, and made so obedient

that, when we knew that there was
a sexual abuser in our midst,

we would never say anything.
We were just...

We felt utterly powerless.

[crowd applauding]

[woman] Now watch her face after
this tumbling pass. She's hurt her ankle.

Do you see that little grimace?
It hurts her.

[man] But she must go on here,
the title at stake.

The courage of Jennifer Sey
led her on to the title

as women's all-around champion of the USA,

but the pain was a heavy price.

[Sey] I started the sport in the mid-'70s.

And, I would say, the standard methodology

of coaching in elite gymnastics
was cruelty.

That was the accepted methodology.

You could be as cruel as you needed to be

to get what you needed
out of your athlete.

Um, so this is not new.

We just weren't good at it.
We weren't getting great results.

We were getting okay results.

[crowd cheering]

[man] Bela and Martha Karolyi,
husband and wife,

and what a coaching team they are.

[Sey] And then Bela and Martha Karolyi
came here, and they...

validated that approach.

If success is winning, you know,
medals in the Olympics,

then, you know, they proved that
that methodology was successful

and was the right way to coach.

People know the Karolyis, but I'm not sure
many of them really know their history.

[woman] Chris, this could be the highlight
of the compulsory event.

She is one of the technically strongest,
best gymnasts that I've ever seen.

Watch this.

Beautiful rhythm. Right to a handstand.

Oh, look at that amplitude.

Ooh!

[man] Faultless. Absolutely faultless.

Nadia Comaneci.

Now, what are the judges
gonna say about that?

There's the smile.

Some cynics say it had to be trained...

because she so rarely smiles.

[Manly] They were
Nicolae Ceausescu's chosen? coaches

for the Romanian national gymnastics team.

And they coached Nadia Comaneci
to a gold medal in 1976.

[Sey] If you look back at teams
from the '50s and the '60s,

they look like grown women.

They are grown women.

But that started to change
in the late '60s,

but really solidified in 1976

when Nadia won the Olympics
as a 14-year-old.

And there was just this mad rush of
little girls that wanted to do gymnastics,

'cause we related to her.

And what emerged was an aesthetic
that was very, very young. Childlike.

And so it created
a really dangerous environment,

because eating disorders
became very prevalent.

You know, delaying menstruation

and delaying maturation.

But I think people really believed

that, for the more difficult skills
to be performed, you had to be tiny.

There's also the benefit of the coaches

having more control
when the girls are younger.

[crowd cheering]

[Manly] What's important
for people to know

is that Nicolae Ceausescu and his regime

was arguably the most repressive regime
in the Eastern Bloc.

And the Karolyis were part of that system.

[man] The Romanians started this idea

of training gymnasts
from a very young age.

Like from six years old,
they are selected from their kindergarten

or elementary schools,

and we tested them.

Flexibility, strength and, uh, no fear.

- [woman] No fear?
- No fear, yes. No fear.

We have to put this in the context
of the Cold War.

The Soviet Union or Romania,

they could not say,
"Okay, we build better products

than the American side."

But we can have Nadia Comaneci.

Nadia was Romania's best product.

[laughing]

[man 1 speaking French]

[speaking Romanian]

[man 2 speaking French]

[woman] 1976, Nadia was definitely
the one to be like at that point,

and the Russians, the Romanians,
the East Germans,

all the, what we call the Communist Bloc,

they were the best, by far, in the sport.

And certainly, you always want to be
like the ones who are winning.

But we would be at competitions,
and they always seemed very scared.

The gymnasts did.

And you never saw them talk,

and they almost looked like robots.

The... All I can say is the athletes...

did not look happy, ever.

[Pozsar] From the very beginning,
Bela had this idea

that we will have total control
over the girls

absolute control.

Bela was controlling their weight.

They had to step every single day
on a scale.

He was yelling at them
and putting them down.

"Fat cow."

"You are a pig."

He, you know, slapped the girls,

and the girls were very, very scared.

Martha had this habit
of grabbing their neck

and get her fingers into their necks.

Plus slap them, you know, a lot.

The girls have the prints of the...
her rings on their faces sometimes.

[woman] Did you report it
to the authorities?

[Pozsar] Yes, sure. I reported them,
but also you have to understand

that nobody took any kind of measures,
you know, to stop them.

In Romania, that was acceptable.

[country music playing]

[man] When he heads for his ranch
on a rural highway north of Houston,

in his four-wheel drive with Merle Haggard
on the dashboard cassette deck

and a day's collection of bugs
on the windshield...

well, you'd swear you were riding
with a born Texan.

When Bela Karolyi defected to the West,
he defected to the West.

Wee-hoo! Yip, yip!

[Pozsar] When we defected together...

we knew that United States
has lots and lots of talent.

We saw the talent
in the international competitions.

And we know that it's
a very, very? fertile soil

for athletes in United States.

[crowd cheering]

I declare open
the Olympic Games of Los Angeles.

Mary Lou.

Never better, okay?

The best...
the best what you can vault, all right?

[Talavera] With Bela and Martha
coming over here...

we copy, cut, paste their style,
and now we're doing it in the US.

We knew what their system was,

but we also knew they won all the time.

[man shouting]

[crowd cheering]

[screaming]

[indistinct shouting]

America loves a winner.
And when a perky little bundle of energy

from West Virginia named Mary Lou Retton
took home the gold medal in gymnastics

at the '84 Olympics,
she became the national sweetheart.

[man] I was the president
of USA Gymnastics in '84,

and one of my goals was I wanted
our property on all the networks.

That was the most valuable thing
we could do to build our brand,

the image of our sport.

And then, all of a sudden,
gymnastics was earning

almost $12 million a year in revenue
in 1991.

[Alesia] USA? Gymnastics
had a wholesome image,

and they had companies
who wanted to be attached to that image.

And that image was vital, uh, to protect.

[Penny] What makes this sport so special
are the athletes.

I've never seen athletes
that train as hard as these guys do

and that are as intelligent
and personable.

I mean, it's just the complete package.

[Evans] Steve Penny was hired
as vice president of marketing

when they started out.

He worked with television marketing,
then he worked with USA Cycling.

And, um, by the end of the '90s,

the focus of USA Gymnastics
just became raising money...

attracting sponsorships

and, you know, making the best
out of their Olympic athletes.

[Berta] Eventually, Steve Penny
became the president of USA Gymnastics.

So you had an organization
that was run by a sports marketing expert.

And, uh, that's what he cared about.

He cared about marketing this brand.

[man] This is the image of Bela Karolyi
the world has grown accustomed to seeing.

The intense, relentless coach

who now turns out championship gymnasts
for the United States.

[Berta] You know, these children
are all being advised by adults

as to how they can realize
their Olympic dream.

So you're basically using
that child's dream to build this brand.

And they were so busy
trying to sell that brand...

that they didn't have time
for those girls.

[crowd cheering]

[man] Right now,
we turn to women's gymnastics

and the United States,
which has become a power in recent years,

now looking to become the power.

I remember watching the Olympics
in my little apartment, um, in 1996.

And Kerri Strug was vaulting.

And it was viewed sort of
as this heroic Olympic achievement,

but I saw it differently at the time.

[man] So, Kerri Strug,
if she can score 9.493...

then she will win the team gold...

for the USA.

She's the last to go.
She's the only one who can do it.

Oh!

[woman] This is scary.

[man] She is limping.

Here's the reaction of her parents.

And she falls on the first vault,
and she's clearly in a lot of pain.

She's limping back
to the other end of the runway.

We learn afterwards that
she had been competing on a severe injury.

You can do it. You can do it.

[Sey] You get two vaults,
and the highest score counts.

And Team USA needed that second vault.

All right.

- [man] Go.
- Go! Go!

- [woman] Come on! Come on!
- [crowd cheers]

[Sey] And she does it.
She lands the vault on one foot.

[man] Kerri Strug is hurt.

[Sey] And she literally crawls
off the mat.

She crawls away.

[man] Everyone in this place is...

[Sey] And Larry Nassar,
at the time nobody knew, but is there.

[crowd cheering]

[man] She's being carried off...

by two of the medical technicians.

We have got to find out if she's...
A 9.712! She has done it!

Kerri Strug has won the gold medal
for the United States team.

The Russians are in tears.

They got so close,
and the Americans took it away from them.

[Sey] And Bela swept her up
and carried her off.

And everybody's cheering her on
as this hero,

and all I could think was,
"Why are we celebrating this?

Don't pretend she had a choice."

Wave to the people.

She was not gonna do anything
but go do that vault.

We love winners in this country.

This is a competitive country.

We consider ourselves
the best in the world at everything.

Right?

But this notion that we would sacrifice
our young to win...

I think disgusts us a little.

We would never have said
that that was the case.

You know, in other sports,
the athletes are adults.

They can reasonably make choices
about what they want.

I don't think that is true in gymnastics.

You know, these kids go to these
national training centers

when they're ten years old.

They are abused and mistreated...

for years.

So even by the time they're of age,

the line between tough coaching
and child abuse gets blurred.

So then when real, like, obvious abuse,
sexual abuse happens,

you already don't believe
your own take on things.

Because you think you're hungry.
You think your ankle hurts. [laughs]

You think that you're working really hard.

But you're told and you're screamed at
that you're lazy and fat

and there's nothing wrong with your ankle.
So when a man...

puts his ungloved hand into your vagina
without asking you,

I can only imagine that what you feel is,

"He's this great doctor, and I'm lucky
to be here. I'm not gonna say anything."

[Nassar] We protect our athletes.

Not just physically, but mentally...

you have to protect your athletes.

If you screw up once...

if you do something
where you break their trust, you're done.

Gymnasts first. Gymnasts first.

Gymnasts first.

[Manly] The environment and the culture

Bela and Martha Karolyi
created at the ranch

was one of fear...

intimidation...

and silence.

The only bright light at that place
was Larry Nassar.

It's just a bibbidi-bobbidi-boo,
I like to call it.

You just go, "Bib, bib, bib,
bob, bob, bob, boo, boo, boo."

So a little bibbidi-bobbidi-boo.

There. [pops]

Pop goes the weasel. So this little ball...

[Manly] He was kind. He was funny.

He made them laugh.

[Nassar] I can articulate it, go...
[gibbering]

That's what I do when I articulate. Okay?
And then I thrust...

[Manly] He snuck them snacks
and gave them food,

and he engendered trust
in all these women.

Nassar was everything
the Karolyis were not.

where you can see
over 400 educational videos

on how to rehabilitate your gymnast.

[Manly] To try and justify
the methodology that he used,

Larry Nassar produced dozens of videos

of him doing these various,

what he described as osteopathic,
procedures to little girls.

It runs through this tunnel

from the ilial... um, uh, iliac crest
to the pubic symphysis, and there's a...

[Manly] He has an excellent command
of anatomical vocabulary.

And it all seems legitimate.

A standard...
this is like a standard tape job.

Um, this will help
for, like, up the muscles.

So we're gonna give her
a little bit of a wedgie here.

Or a lot of a wedgie, you could say.
Okay? When you do this...

[Manly] But if you tune that out
and really watched what he did...

the frequency and the ease
at which he touched little children

was just wildly inappropriate.

[Dantzscher] When I met Larry Nassar...

I was young.

[indistinct chattering]

They were doing testing on everybody.

You know, "We just want to make sure
everyone's healthy on national team."

And Larry gave me a physical.

And he...

got me completely naked.

And I thought that was...

normal.

[Manly] When they went
in his office at the ranch,

the walls were littered
with pictures? of Olympians.

"I treated her. Oh, yeah."

And then he would get a call.
And it was Martha Karolyi on the line.

And he would discuss
one of the gymnasts' health

while this person
was sitting on his table,

which, you know, to a little child,
is very impressive.

It's a HIPAA violation,

but it's impressive to a child.

[Denhollander]
The first time I went to see Larry,

it was at MSU sports medicine clinic
in early 2000.

I was barely 15 years old.

I had a lot of low back pain
and a lot of wrist pain,

to the point that it got very difficult
just to do basic daily chores.

Lay down on the table for me.

On your back
with your ponytail off the edge.

So if I allow for non-stretch...

[Denhollander] He asked
to do myofascial release,

which I knew was a legitimate
physical therapy technique,

and he did that with his right hand,
externally.

He did legitimate therapy.

And with his left,
he sexually assaulted me under the towel.

Arms up over the head.
So now she's on...

He would position himself
in between me and my mom.

But since she was so close, I presumed
that she was aware of what was going on.

I didn't know until months later
that she had no idea.

She couldn't see where his other hand was.
He was intentionally blocking it.

If she leaps and jumps...

[Denhollander] There was
definitely an escalation.

He started anal penetration over time.

Then, on one of the last appointments,

he unhooked my bra and went up my shirt
and did a full-on breast massage.

He was clearly sexually aroused.

It was an average of once a month.
I saw him for a little over a year.

And on the majority of those visits,
he abused me.

It was something that was always present.
I couldn't just put it away.

Some years later,

I went to the head coach at
the gymnastics facility where I worked...

and I said, "Larry sexually abused me
under the guise of a medical exam."

I told her
that no one should be seeing him.

When I was told... "No one else is saying
what you're saying..."

um, and...

and cautioned even about speaking out,
because of the ramifications...

that really solidified to me,
"There's nothing I can do. Not right now."

[crowd cheering]

[man] Amy Chow!

Jamie Dantzscher!

[Dantzscher] When they announced my name,
I was really able to take in that moment,

to feel like
maybe all of this was worth it.

[man] Bela has selected his team!

But, for me, the Olympics were not...

a dream come true.

[crowd cheering]

[man] The United States
makes its entrance. Look at the smiles.

Look at the waving flags,
the new uniforms.

[woman] Was Larry abusive at the Olympics?

Yes.

Yes. Larry was abusive at the Olympics.

When we got there,
we had to train morning and night.

And all that stress, physically
and mentally, to do that every day...

My back was always so bad.

I mean, I had to get adjustments...

every day.

Sometimes, four times a day.

I thought that's what was helping me.

And he would sneak us food and candy.

And leave stuff under our pillows.

I wasn't proud to be an Olympian.

[ethereal music playing]

[man] And now, please welcome

the reigning world
and Olympic team champions,

the United States of America!

[crowd cheering]

Double world all-around champion,
Simone Biles!

Gabrielle Douglas!

Brenna Dowell!

Madison Kocian!

Margaret Nichols!

Alexandra Raisman!

And MyKayla Skinner!

[woman] So, next up,
it's Maggie Nichols here.

Can she do it?

Oh, and she does!

It's the Yurchenko two-and-a-half twist.
The Amanar.

Maggie reports the child sexual abuse

in, you know, the very beginning
of June of 2015.

And actually, she had a huge, huge year.

I mean, she was doing awesome.

She was at the peak of her career.
Second again behind Simone Biles.

But Maggie did phenomenal.

I mean, she's amazing and beautiful,
and she's consistent and winning.

[girls] USA! USA! [cheering]

A Minnesota gymnast
who just won gold with Team USA

returned home to a warm welcome
by fellow gymnasts

from Twin Cities Twisters.

- Her mom...
- Very proud.

- She did awesome!
- [Santaniello] ...her coach

and her dad were in Scotland
cheering her on.

[man] As of right now, I would say that,
unless something happens,

both Maggie Nichols and Gabby Douglas,

they are on the path to 2016.

[crowd cheering]

[woman] That was excellent.
She's one of those athletes

that really does keep improving
each time she competes.

[man] Maggie Nichols
is from Little Canada.

The graduate of Roseville High School
is practically a shoo-in

to be picked for Team USA next month
at the Olympic trials.

It's such an honor that, you know,
all my hard work

throughout my whole career is paying off,

and I'll just be so honored
to represent the US and Minnesota.

And I just want to do my best
and help Team USA.

[applause]

[classical music playing]

[man] NBC Sports presents
the 2016 Secret US Classic.

Well, Al, Maggie Nichols is not here.

She is back home in Minnesota
working her way through a knee injury.

This is an athlete
who had an amazing breakout 2015.

And then Maggie tore her meniscus,
had to have surgery.

But remember,
the last time Maggie Nichols was injured,

she came back stronger,
physically and mentally.

She was a completely different athlete.
We don't know what's gonna happen,

but, Al, they don't call her Swaggy Maggie
for nothing.

[John] Maggie had
kind of a rough couple of months...

going into the Olympic trials.

Uh, she had hurt her knee...

um, at the ranch.

She had a tough road ahead of her...

you know, to try to make the Olympic team.

[Gina] So we've got Maggie trying to rehab
a knee injury and a surgery,

while in the meantime,
during the spring of 2016...

Steve Penny controlled every single thing
that we did

before we went to the Olympic trials.

One thing was that Hershey's wanted
to make a commercial in honor of Simone.

And the only people who were gonna be
in the commercial is Simone's family

and a best friend or two.

So she invites Maggie
to be in this commercial for her.

So they get down there, and they
started filming in Simone's house.

And then, all of a sudden,
the film crew for Hershey's

gets a phone call from Steve Penny,

saying Maggie is not gonna be
in that commercial.

He was screaming and yelling,

"I'm supposed to be in charge of this!
I'm in charge!"

[woman] And you still haven't heard
anything from the FBI?

Not one thing. I was told that they knew.

Um, I was told
that the police were all over it,

but Steve Penny told us
we could not talk about it.

We really weren't gonna go...

public or say anything,

because we were told
that there's an FBI investigation,

and we could possibly jeopardize it.

And also, you know,
we didn't want to upset,

you know, Steve Penny and Martha Karolyi.

They knew
that Maggie reported Larry Nassar.

We had to do
exactly what they wanted us to do.

You know, they were the ones
that actually pick our Olympic team.

They had us under the gun.

They had the Olympics
hanging over our heads.

[classical music playing]

[man 1] NBC Sports welcomes you
to the 2016 US Olympic trials.

And this is a big stage
for 13 hopeful women.

As we often say, the selection committee
is watching everything,

but the two most important eyes
in the building are those.

Martha Karolyi,
who's the boss of Team USA.

But tonight, everybody's watching.

We'll start things off with Maggie Nichols
on the vault.

She's trying to get to the Olympic Games
after two really bad knee injuries.

[man 2] Martha said,
for Maggie to be in the hunt,

she has to be as good as she was in 2015.

She was capable
of doing this very difficult vault.

We'll see it from Simone Biles.
It's called the? Amanar.

It's a two-and-a-half twist.

Yup, just the double full. Great landing!

She's gonna get a very nice score,
but once again,

it doesn't have
the same maximum level score

that the Amanar would have.

[no audible dialogue]

[John] You watch
and watch her do her best.

And you watch her compete,
and she did well.

But for us, you know, as parents,

every meet that we had gone to
up until this point,

we had our seats marked.

You know, we had
camera crews following us.

Even at the America's Cup,
a couple of weeks prior,

we had a camera crew following us
throughout the whole arena.

But we showed up at Olympic trials and...

our seats aren't marked.

We don't have mics.
There's no camera crew following us.

And so...

something was definitely off.

[man 1] So here are the final standings.

Laurie Hernandez was the second best,
then Aly Raisman,

by a significant amount.

And then MyKayla Skinner, Ragan Smith,

and then Gabby Douglas finished
exactly the way she started the night,

in seventh place.

Okay, they took more than 18 minutes.

President Steve Penny
is going to step to the microphone.

[man 2] Ladies and gentlemen,
please welcome

the president and CEO of USA Gymnastics,
Steve Penny!

[crowd cheering]

Good evening!

It is now my great pleasure
to introduce to you

the five ladies who will represent
the United States of America

in Rio de Janeiro.

Three-time world champion, Simone Biles!

[crowd cheering]

The reigning Olympic all-around champion,
Gabrielle Douglas!

Making her first Olympic team...

Laurie Hernandez!

The reigning world champion on bars...

Madison Kocian!

And the second member of the Fierce Five,

2012 Olympic gold medalist, Aly Raisman!

They will be joined
by the three replacement athletes...

[Maggie] I got sixth in the all-around,
and then five girls were chosen.

And then they chose three alternates.

MyKayla Skinner...

Ragan Smith, and Ashton Locklear.

[Maggie] I trained my whole life
to make that Olympic team,

and then not making it,
even as an alternate...

I was mentally and physically
just ready to move on.

[John] Maggie was crushed.

She had, you know, many things...

taken away.

And how do you accept it?

You know, I'm trying to justify
and explain, rationalize things to myself.

But it's hard to come up and say things
that, you know, you really can't prove.

And so the girls that get selected
jump up and down

and get flowers and flashes and photos.

And Maggie stands down...

and congratulated
every single one of them.

[Gina] After being abused by USAG,
by Steve Penny, by Larry Nassar...

all I wanted to do
is get my child out of there

and take her home
and hug her and love her.

[Maggie] I try not to...

think too much about it.

I just try to, you know, carry on and...

hope that they made the right decision
for the right reasons.

[Alesia] What are your intentions then,
going forward?

I will be filing a police report
with the hope that the DA picks it up

and presses charges
for first-degree sexual assault.

[Alesia] How hard was it
to get to that point?

I know that means,
if the DA picks it up, I'll be testifying

with great detail in open court
in front of him,

knowing we both have
the same memories,

and I hate that idea. I hate it.

But if I don't, he can continue.

And I hate that idea more.

[Alesia] By the time
I interviewed Rachael...

she had about 100 pages

of medical documents.

She had basically prepared a case

against Nassar herself,
as a lawyer, really.

[woman] On August 25th of 2016,

our dispatch called and said,
"You investigate sex crimes, right?"

I said, "Yes." They said,
"We have a woman that called.

She lives out of state. And she
was sexually assaulted by a doctor...

sixteen years prior, and she would like
to speak to someone about it."

And I called her that day,
and it was Rachael Denhollander.

She said, "I'd like to meet you in person.

I want to bring you some documents
and things."

Um, I'd asked her,
"What's the doctor's name?"

And she said, "Larry Nassar."

I had heard of him
from a 2014 investigation

where another survivor had reported

that he had sexually assaulted her
during medical treatment.

But the case was presented
to the prosecutor's office...

and they declined to...
to charge it at that time.

What I found out when I came forward

was that multiple women and young girls
had spoken up

years before I walked in his door.

As early as 1997.

All of the women were assured
it was common medical procedure,

that it was not sexual abuse, and they
were sent back to him for continued abuse.

- I'm sorry.
- I'm Andrea Munford.

Hi. Nice to meet you. Larry Nassar.

[Munford] Thanks for coming in
so quick, too.

Obviously, you're not under arrest,
and you can leave whenever you want.

Um...

The day after I talked to Rachael,
he came in,

and he was very friendly.

Congenial. Quirky.
A lot of people call him quirky.

[Munford] Now, how long
have you been doing this technique?

[Nassar] I have video from...

thirty pounds ago, um...

[laughing]

From like the..
It would have been in the 1990s.

[Munford] And I started asking him
about the 2014 investigation.

There were certain protocols
that were put in place

about getting informed consent,

having another medical person in the room,
wearing gloves.

[Munford] Have you had any instances

where there hasn't been anyone in the room
for an exam?

There would be some... on occasion,
of course.? You know what I mean?

That just is the way medicine is now,
it's difficult.

[Munford] Would this ever involve,
like, digital anal penetration?

Only if we're doing a coccyx,
you know, problem. I mean, then...

If I...
If I actually have to fix a coccyx,

uh, then I would've been using
my finger inside

and my thumb on the outside.
You know, to...

[Munford] Do you wear gloves
when you do this?

If I'm gonna go in... intra, yes.
You know what I mean?

[Munford] Well, the reason I'm asking
is that we did have another complaint.

- Really?
- [Munford] Yeah.

And it's a patient from a while ago.

- Okay.
- [Munford] And she does describe,

um, some things that sound to me
like they're out of the norm

- from your typical treatment.
- Okay.

And the more I continued asking him
about the specifics, he got very nervous.

He was sweating, he was stuttering.

And then he would try to reframe it...

to blame...

Rachael or any other patient.

[stammering] What's confusing me...
to me about it is

why wasn't there anything said
back when I was treating them

if they felt that uncomfortable?
If I'm talking to the patient...

[Munford] Okay, put yourself
being a teenage girl, all right?

Okay.

[Munford] Most people
that are sexually assaulted...

Uh huh.

...are very uncomfortable.
They don't know what to say.

Okay.

He would talk about,
uh, medical terminology,

referencing certain parts of the body.

Then he would say
"You don't need to know that,"

or, "You won't understand all that."

The sacrotuberous ligament...
it runs from the pubic symphysis,

the falciform process...
It runs... It's like the pelvic floor.

Okay, you won't understand this stuff...

So you're really coming in...

[Munford] And I didn't understand
all that, but it didn't matter,

because he still couldn't explain to me

how any of those

parts or injuries to them would require...

vaginal penetration...

to fix.

[Munford] Do you ever get aroused
during these exams?

Do I get aroused during the exams?

[Munford] Yeah, like,
do you ever get an erection?

Obviously you don't,
you know what I mean, so...

[Munford] Is there a reason
you would during an exam?

I shouldn't be getting an erection
during an exam...

[Munford] Right.

If there was arousal,
it's... it's... it's...

You know what I mean?

It would be because of... whatever.

I don't know, but I'm not trying to...

[Munford] What is "whatever"?
I don't know. I don't know.

When you're a guy,
sometimes you get an erection.

You know what I mean?
But I don't... It's... [sighs]

[Munford] You get an erection
when you're aroused.

[Munford] And so, like last time,
there will be an investigation.

- Right.
- [Munford] Okay?

Okay.

[Munford] I'm gonna go grab a card
so you can have my information.

- I'll be right back.
- Okay.

[Berta] As we started
looking into the Nassar case,

we talked to Nassar's lawyer.

First thing he said was...

"You know, this is a very important man,

and you're potentially
going to ruin his reputation here."

And so we were very aware of that
ourselves.

Rachael Denhollander
was just a completely credible source.

Mm-hmm.

And John Manly and Jamie Dantzscher
were preparing a lawsuit at that time.

That gave us more confidence.

[Evans] We backgrounded him.
We couldn't find any lawsuits.

We couldn't find
any malpractice allegations.

One of my jobs was to find out
if there was an acceptable procedure

where you would use
intravaginal penetration

to treat a young athlete,

and quickly found out that there was not.

My job was to contact Nassar
for an interview at his attorney's office.

He was a volunteer?
Is that his status with USA Gymnastics?

[attorney] Dr. Nassar was
a volunteer for how many years?

[Nassar] Twenty-nine.

[attorney] Twenty-nine years? with
USA Gymnastics. He wasn't paid a salary.

Uh, he resigned... Actually retired...

uh, in 2015...

because, uh, he went on to other matters

that had nothing to do
with allegations of sexual misconduct.

[Evans] What else would you like to say
about the allegations against him?

[attorney] He denies all the allegations.

He's never heard
these allegations before.

No one from law enforcement...

any other regulatory body,
USA Gymnastics...

any individuals, parents,
no one has ever...

uh, suggested that Dr. Nassar
has done anything

in any context,
with either this gymnast or any other,

that he's aware of.

[Evans] And it looks like
there's an allegation

that he manually penetrated
the gymnast here, her vagina?

Is that a procedure that he uses?

[attorney] No.

There's no circumstance that he ever

penetrated her vagina in any way
related to any procedure.

[Evans] Okay.

You know, when I left him there, Nassar
was nearly in tears, pleading with me,

"Please don't write a story about this.
Don't do this.

You're gonna ruin my reputation.
This is gonna harm my family.

I haven't done anything wrong."
And, you know, leaving...

I'm a human being, you know.
That affected me.

I was confident in the? information we had
and confident in our story,

but I also, you know,
see this... this man who's...

had no spot on his record,
as far as we knew at that time, prior,

begging us not to do that.

I had to keep reminding myself.
I was like, "Don't feel sorry for him.

Feel sorry for the victims,
the survivors." And...

Um, but... but he made a...
made a good play.

[man] The former team doctor
for USA Gymnastics for 20 years

is facing dozens of accusations
of sexual abuse,

including one from a former Olympian.

[woman] The team of reporters
from The Indianapolis Star

published accounts from gymnasts who
accused Nassar of sexually abusing them

during supposed medical procedures.

[Berta] In that interview
with Nassar's lawyers,

he said that he had never performed
an intravaginal procedure, which...

was really his downfall,

because, at that point,
every woman who he'd done this to,

and there were hundreds,

knew he was lying.

And the reaction was almost immediate.

All these women out there were thinking,
"What?

That's not what I experienced."

So we started getting phone calls
from victim/survivors.

[Berta] Twelve more victims
had come forward.

Then it was 30, then it was 60.

And it was going up every day.

There were more and more and more.

And as it grew...

we started to realize
how bad it really was out there.

[Alesia] But at the time, we also got
nasty phone calls, nasty letters

from Larry Nassar supporters.

I mean, you have to understand,

this was a beloved man.

[Dantzscher] Yeah, I went in
as a Jane Doe.

But, for sure,
in the gymnastics community...

everyone knew it was me, and...

that's kind of when

the shit really started hitting the fan
for me, because...

people were so...

mean.

[Manly] She wasn't lauded as,
"Oh, you know, she's heroic.

Good job, Jamie. Me too."

What she got was,
"You're a whore. You're a drunk."

Lawyers for USA Gymnastics

calling her ex-boyfriends, trying
to dig up dirt on her sexual history.

They let her
get the living shit kicked out of her.

On social media, in the press,

her and Rachael Denhollander.

[Denhollander] It was
an incredibly dark time period.

There were a lot of things said.

That I was a bitter, washed-up gymnast
who couldn't? hack it,

that I wanted fame,

that I enjoyed it.

I was too physically ill to eat
most of the time,

so I lost a lot of weight.

I lost every shred of privacy
and, I felt like, every shred of dignity

with what I had to disclose.

[Alesia] He was running for school board
at the time of our first story on him.

He got 22 percent of the votes.

More than 2,000.

After all that.

[Gina] I read in The IndyStar,

Larry Nassar was allowed
to retire from USA Gymnastics

because he wanted to focus
on running for school board

and his hometown practice.

And I thought to myself...

"What is going on here?"

I mean, I was so dumbfounded.

I'm like, "Why are they allowing him

to go and run... even run for school board

when he's been molesting my daughter
and others at the ranch?"

By that time,

we reported Maggie's child sexual abuse
over a year ago,

and we'd been continuously told
by Steve Penny...

we cannot talk about this

because it'll ruin their investigation
of Larry Nassar.

But nobody was helping me.

I wasn't getting any guidance.
I'd had enough.

So then, in The IndyStar,
I saw John Manly's name,

and it said he had been
working with victims.

And I immediately contacted him.

[Manly] Within a week
of The IndyStar story being published,

Gina Nichols e-mailed me.

Didn't know who she was.
I didn't know who Maggie was.

But she told me the story and told me that
her daughter had reported in June of 2015.

And then I knew...

exactly who I was dealing with.

I was dealing with an organization that
didn't give a rat's ass about children,

that cared only about itself,
and that was covering up rape.

So when Jamie, Rachael, and Jessica
reported Nassar's abuse

to The IndyStar in 2016...

that was the first time it was reported
to the public.

This wasn't the first time
USAG heard about Nassar's abuse.

They knew in June of 2015...

when Maggie Nichols tells her coach
that, "Larry Nassar's touching me funny,"

who then should have reported
to the police, but she didn't.

She reports it to Rhonda Faehn,

who should have reported it to the police,
but she didn't,

who then reports it to Steve Penny,

who should have reported it to the police,
but he didn't.

And their lawyers had them hire somebody

who investigates sexual harassment cases
at workplaces.

And she interviewed Maggie Nichols.

And then she interviewed
Olympians Aly Raisman...

and McKayla Maroney.

Aly Raisman reported that Dr. Nassar
had sexually abused McKayla

in their residence at the Olympic Village
in London in 2012.

It was five weeks
between the time Maggie reported to USAG

and when Mr. Penny finally told the FBI.

That's a direct violation
of Indiana and Texas law.

But then, for some reason,
the FBI took no action.

Nothing happened in October, in November,

in December, in January, February,
March, April, May.

All this time,
Nassar is working at Michigan State.

He's molesting girls,
uh, that entire time.

Thirteen months.

[Berta] When the Nassar story came out,

we were trying
to get on to the bigger story

of what's wrong at USA Gymnastics?

We wanted to establish
that it went far beyond Nassar.

We knew it did because of what we
were finding out about the culture.

Okay, so there are some issues

- with the timeline.
- I figured.

Both the laws in Texas and Indiana
require someone to report immediately.

And there's somehow that there's questions
about whether USA Gymnastics,

- uh... did that.
- [Kwiatkowski] Right.

But what I'm hoping you guys can do

is sort of go in there and actually
just write it like that, to say

there's evidence that they were trying
to keep things quiet from the start

and then...
then start showing that evidence.

USA Gymnastics has said
that they did take action.

They felt that they took action
by launching this internal investigation,

hiring somebody
to look into these allegations.

In doing so, interviewing people
over a five-week period

before they reported to the FBI.

[man] What do you think?

I think that the law, as it relates
to mandatory reporting, is pretty clear

that you should err
on the side of the child

and report allegations
to authorities immediately.

That's what the law says.

[Evans] As we looked deeper
into Maggie Nichols' story,

we got a large dump of documents from one
of our colleagues in Lansing, Michigan.

And there were hundreds of pages,
including a half dozen or so e-mails.

This is a July 22, 2015 e-mail.

So this was after Maggie had reported
to USA Gymnastics.

Records that we reviewed

showed that one e-mail
was sent to USA Gymnastics' attorney.

Nassar had shared links
to some graphic videos

of him performing
what he deemed were medical procedures

to defend himself
from allegations of abuse.

Once you find the tender point,
you can stay on it.

[Evans] I think anybody that saw that
and was a reasonable person

and cared about kids
would have taken some action immediately.

And there were other e-mails
between Nassar

and a couple of USA Gymnastics officials.

Pretty soon, we're fishing those out

and looking at this timeline
we've created

of, you know, these lies
they were telling to cover for him.

And it says, "We explained on the call,
USA Gymnastics has been made aware

of concerns regarding
some of your therapy techniques

and that athletes aren't comfortable
with certain areas of their body

that are being treated."

[Kwiatkowski] "In addition, we suggest,
prior to the championships,

that Ron Galimore will once again
advise the medical staff,

the athlete care coordinator, that you
cannot attend for personal reasons,

unless you prefer a different approach
that we are prepared to discuss."

All right. All right, thank you. Bye.

So tell me what the...
What's the headline? What's the lede?

USA Gymnastics, in negotiating, basically,
with Larry,

agreed to lie to people
and say that he was sick,

and that's why he couldn't go
to a particular competition.

- [Berta] Mm-hmm.
- So that... I mean, that shows a cover-up.

It's a pretty good story.

How many co... were copied on the e-mail?

Three. It was Larry, Rybacki, and Karolyi.

[Berta laughs]

[woman] Since the initial allegations
became public this month,

the Michigan State University police

have received two dozen complaints
of sexual abuse against Nassar.

As the complaints came in this month,
Nassar was fired from MSU,

but he has not been charged with a crime.

[Denhollander] The two biggest fears
I had coming forward was

the investigator that I would get
and the prosecutor,

because both of them are capable
of completely derailing the process

if they don't take it seriously,
don't investigate it well,

and if they choose not to file charges.

[woman] John Manly
filed the civil lawsuits

against Michigan State and USAG, USOC.

And he represented those victims
in their civil litigation.

I played the role of the lead prosecutor
in the criminal case

of the People of the State of Michigan
v. Larry Nassar

and, um, worked with and represented, um,
those victims in court as the prosecutor.

[Denhollander] Andrea and Angela
worked very closely together.

And Angela looked at the files,
and she said...

"I will take them all,
and I will fight for every one of them."

And she did.

This is a neighborhood in Holt, Michigan.

It's not far from MSU's campus, um,

where he lived.

And we had gotten information
from some victims

that reported
he was doing medical treatments

in the basement of his home.

And, during that time,
he was sexually abusing them.

Um, there was also another victim
who was not a medical patient

that he had sexually abused
in the basement.

And based on that information,

we were able to get search warrants
for his house.

We executed the search warrant
on September 20th, 2016.

One of our crime scene investigators
came in midday

and said,
"The trash hasn't been picked up yet.

It's still out by the curb,
and all the trash is still in it."

So we did what's called a trash pull.

Inside the trash,
there were several hard drives...

with his name and phone number
written on them in Sharpie.

That's where the first images
of child sexually abusive material...

commonly referred to as child porn,
were found.

Thirty-seven thousand images.

[woman] Michigan State University
and Team USA Gymnastics doctor,

Larry Nassar, has been arrested.

Nassar will be charged with three counts
of first-degree criminal sexual conduct

with someone younger than 13.
Attorney General Bill Schuette is...

[Povilaitis] We were looking toward trial,
um, and preparing for that.

And... and we really looked at what could
get the highest sentence for him.

In Michigan, we have a statute
that, if you have a victim under 13

and she's penetrated,
it's a 25-year mandatory minimum.

And then we identified those cases
that we thought were strongest

and brought those in February of 2017.

Those victims knew to report
because of Rachael's disclosure.

She, you know, at that point,
was the only public face.

[man] Do you swear or affirm that the...

[Munford] When a victim comes to report
a sexual assault, it's a scary thing

because they're giving up so much control
by telling someone what happened to them.

But each of the survivors
were very determined...

to make it very clear to everybody...

what really went on.

[Manly] What ended up happening
is he made a plea deal...

where he agreed to plead guilty
to the possession of child pornography,

to willfully destroying evidence...

and a couple of other charges,
in exchange for the dismissal

of traveling with intent
to commit a sexual assault overseas,

which is a violation of federal law.

[Povilaitis] Good morning, Your Honor.
Angela Povilaitis.

On behalf of the people

and the Michigan Department
of Attorney General,

I will let the other attorneys...

We were able to lay out the terms
of the sentencing range.

But we also wanted victim buy-in.
Like, we wanted them,

all 125, if possible,
to be okay with this plea.

So essential to any plea agreement

was that he had to agree to allow
all of the victims,

if they chose,
to give an impact statement.

So that was something, quite frankly,
I am really proud about.

If I may, our first survivor
to speak today, Your Honor,

is a former, um, national team member,
and I'm very happy that she's here.

Her name is Jamie Dantzscher.

[judge] Thank you.
What would you like us to know?

[Dantzscher clears throat]

Larry, you saw all the physical, mental,
and emotional abuse

from our coaches and USAG national staff.

You pretended to be on my side,
calling all of them the monsters.

But instead of protecting children
and reporting the abuse you saw...

you used your position of power
to manipulate and abuse as well.

You knew I was powerless.

Mmm.

I'm here today with all these other women,
not victims, but survivors...

to tell you face-to-face
that your days of manipulation are over.

We have a voice now.

We have the power now.

As an Olympic gymnast...

being able to say...

"You have no power over me anymore..."

I can finally say
I am proud to be an Olympian.

It's been so hard to be...

proud of anything.

So to even say that, for me,
is like, "Okay.

I think I'm getting a little better.
I feel proud of something."

[Povilaitis] Judge, the first victim
will be publicly identified,

and her name is Ms. Kyle Stephens.

She has asked for two support persons.

I will be standing in support of her.

The next survivor you will hear from
is Amanda Thomashow.

She has authorized
to be publicly identified.

Your Honor, the next survivor
you will hear from is Larissa Boyce.

She is going to be publicly identified.

I told Michigan State University
back in 1997.

Instead of being protected...

I was humiliated, I was in trouble,

and brainwashed into believing
that I was the problem.

Every time Angela stood up and said,
"Survivor XYZ is coming forward,

and she has decided to speak publicly..."

that was just an incredibly
powerful statement every single time.

Because it meant that they felt
safe enough.

And it meant that they were able
to put the shame not on themselves,

but on their abuser.

[woman] Olympic gold medalist Simone Biles
is going public today,

saying she was among the athletes
who were sexually abused by Larry Nassar.

[man] Several Olympic champions
have also come forward,

including Aly Raisman, McKayla Maroney
and Gabby Douglas.

Maggie Nichols first came forward
more than two years ago,

but her identity has not been
publicly known until now.

[Gina] Maggie did not want
to be here today.

She is a full-time student,

and she's training as a full-time athlete
still for the University of Oklahoma.

So this is... It's too painful.

So I'm gonna read, um, the statement
from... that she put out to the public.

"USA Gymnastics
and the United States Olympic Committee

did not provide a safe environment

for me and my teammates and friends
to train.

We were subjected to Dr. Larry Nassar
at every national team training camp,

which occurred monthly
at the Karolyi Ranch.

Up until now,
I was identified as Athlete A

by USA Gymnastics,
the United States Olympic Committee,

and Michigan State University.

And I want everyone to know
that he did not do this to Athlete A.

He did it to Maggie Nichols."

Thank you so much for being here.

[Munford] Watching them...

support each other...

and... and just that momentum
of empowerment...

was incredible.

I'm not gonna look at her.
She's gonna make me cry.

[Povilaitis] I am so honored...

to let you know that the next person
you will hear from

is Rachael Denhollander.

[cameras clicking]

[Denhollander]
There are two major purposes

in our criminal justice system,
Your Honor.

The pursuit of justice
and the protection of the innocent.

Neither of these purposes can be met

if anything less
than the maximum available sentence

under the plea agreement
is imposed upon Larry for his crimes.

So I ask...
how much priority should be placed

on communicating
that the fullest weight of the law

will be used to protect
another innocent child

from the soul-shattering devastation
that sexual assault brings?

I submit to you
that these children are worth everything.

Worth every protection the law can offer.

Worth the maximum sentence.

[judge] Thank you.

[applause]

[no audible dialogue]

[Manly] It's the most incredible thing
I've ever seen as a lawyer.

It's the most incredible thing
I've ever seen in my life.

He received two 60-year sentences

and, uh, you know,
the tongue-lashing of the century.

Now, what people don't realize is that...

for almost every one of these girls,
this is their first sexual experience.

And when you take the ability to love
and express love from somebody

and take it away or damage it...

it profoundly affects their psyche.

And, at... at the end of the day...

that's really what he did.

[stammers] He stole that part of them.

And they're all struggling to get it back.

And most of them
should never have met Larry Nassar,

had the people in charge of him
just done the right thing.

And the piece that's missing...

is the accountability
for those who knew better

and... the adults who were suppose
to protect these athletes

and these women and these girls.

And, um, we don't have that yet.

Clearly, USA Gymnastics
was not anxious to have this in public.

They succeeded for a year
in keeping an absolute lid on it.

And what I found out is McKayla Maroney

was forced to sign
a nondisclosure agreement.

And I believe they required other athletes
who were victims of Dr. Nassar

to sign NDAs.

This was a full-court press
by USA Gymnastics to keep this quiet

and to minimize the damage.

[man] We began this process in January
following the disgusting revelations

that former USA Gymnastics
team doctor Larry Nassar...

sexually abused hundreds of athletes
over the span of two decades,

even well after numerous survivors
alerted authorities about his actions.

As we now know,
many of our American Olympians,

who stood tall in representing our nation
in the international stage,

were suffering behind the scenes.

[Berta] We're right in the middle
of, uh, finishing up a story

that's based on e-mails
that were going back and forth

between USA Gymnastics and Larry Nassar,
in which they basically...

After all those women...

gave their testimony in that courtroom
at his sentencing,

we kept our nose to the grindstone.

I mean, we were just like...

going full bore.

Nassar wasn't our target.
Our target was USA Gymnastics.

[woman] USAG struggles to restructure
and reinvent itself amid allegations

it turned a blind eye and even covered up
rampant sexual abuse

by former team doctor Larry Nassar.

[man] Um, I'll begin with the questions.

And I'm gonna begin
with you, uh, Mr. Penny.

Former gymnastics doctor Larry Nassar

was convicted of criminal sexual conduct
with gymnasts,

including members
of the USA national team.

My understanding is that you were
first informed about this abuse

on June 17, 2015.

Is that correct?

Uh, Mr. Chairman, um, with respect to you
and your question and the committee...

uh, I have been instructed by my attorney

to assert my rights under
the Fifth Amendment to the Constitution.

For that reason, I must respectfully
decline to answer your question.

[Kwiatkowski]
As we started doing more reporting

on Steve Penny's handling
of the allegations against Larry Nassar,

we started looking more closely
at his relationships with law enforcement.

At the same time
the FBI was investigating Nassar,

Penny was talking to him about a job.

This is not the only instance in which
the relationship between USA Gymnastics

and law enforcement agencies
in Indianapolis was called into question.

- [Berta] Yeah.
- Okay.

[reporter] Penny sought to cultivate
a close relationship

with federal investigators
to protect the image of USA Gymnastics,

going so far as to offer a job
to one of the FBI agents.

Mr. Penny, I respect your right
to invoke your Fifth Amendment privilege.

You have that right.

But you also have a responsibility.

You were part of an organization...

that, in effect,
prioritized medals and money over...

the young women and girls
who were sexually abused by...

Mr. Nassar.

Don't you feel you have a responsibility
to the athletes who are here today

and to others around the country

to be more forthcoming?

Respectfully, senator,
I would like to answer your question.

However, I've been instructed
by my attorney

to assert my rights under
the Fifth Amendment to the Constitution...

Mr. Penny, may I assume that it is
your intent to invoke that privilege,

uh, in further questioning?

[Penny] Yes.

[Moran] Let the record reflect
that you have availed yourself

of the privileges afforded
under the Fifth Amendment

to the United States Constitution

not to give testimony
that might incriminate you.

Mr. Penny, you're excused.

[woman] Shame!

What would you like to say to the women
that were abused while you were silent?

You have anything to say to the survivors?

Okay. Go ahead and write that up.
I'm gonna ask Curly

- about, uh, this photo that we've got.
- Of what?

It's of him being arrested.

- We got a photo of him?
- Yeah.

See, there's the picture. It's...

I'm worried that New York Times
is coming out with it.

[woman] Could we go tonight?
I mean, do we have enough?

[reporter] A major new arrest
in the USA Gymnastics scandal tonight.

The organization's former president

was arrested at a cabin
in Tennessee overnight,

more than a year after he resigned.

[woman] The US Marshals Service arresting
a former leader of USA Gymnastics

after hunting him down
at a cabin in Tennessee.

Authorities accusing him
of tampering with evidence

in the case against disgraced
former gymnastics doctor, Larry Nassar.

[mellow piano music playing]

[crowd cheering]

[woman] So far so good for Maggie Nichols.

[man] Maggie was second in the world...

in the all-around in? 2015.

And yet mysteriously left off
the 2016 Olympic team,

did not even earn an alternate spot.

So she has all the capabilities
of every one of those young ladies

who came home from Rio
with an Olympic gold medal.

[Maggie] After the 2016 Olympic trials,
I decided to retire from elite gymnastics

and move on to NCAA gymnastics,

where I had the opportunity to compete
for the University of Oklahoma.

In 2017,

I was the last person to go.

And so I did probably the best vault
that I did the whole season.

[crowd cheering]

I've never experienced
anything like that before,

and that was probably
one of the best moments of my life.

I think that it was
a huge awakening for her,

because, all of a sudden, she gets there,
they're nice to her.

Gymnastics is fun.
The coaches are super good.

Oh, the healthcare providers
are really, really good.

It's not like it was
when she was on the elite team.

[cheering]

[John] Maggie took all the negatives
and aimed them? into a positive and...

went to Oklahoma...

and gave it her all.

She beat them all on every event

at every meet for the entire year.

[cheering]

[screaming]

[Maggie] When they brought
the trophy over,

so I think that's kind of the moment
that was just...

indescribable. It was amazing. [laughs]

[indistinct chattering]

[girls] Maggie!
Come on, Maggie! Go, Maggie!

[cheering]

[boy] Yeah!

[applause]

[Maggie] Elite gymnastics just kind of...

beat me down,

but I've grown as a person and as a woman.

I found a love for the sport again.

[Manly] Were you ever advised
by any USAG official,

in or around June of 2015,

that they had received a complaint
that Dr. Nassar

had molested a national team gymnast
at the ranch?

Yes, I did.

[Manly] And who reported that
to you, ma'am?

Mr. Penny.

[Manly] Okay.

Mrs. Karolyi knew, in June of 2015,

that Larry Nassar had abused little girls.

The law in Texas required her
to immediately call the police

or call Child Protective Services
and report.

And she didn't.

Nor did Rhonda Faehn, the head
of the women's program, nor did Mr. Penny.

That deserves an investigation.

Other questions?

USA Gymnastics once wrote to a gymnast

saying that, if she continued to complain
about her coach...

she would be off the team,

regardless of her performance.

- And that system is still in place today.
- [Kwiatkowski] Right.

[Berta] They're clinging to a process

that has been used in the past
to silence dissent.

That's what that says.

[ethereal music playing]