Athletes vow to keep fighting in doctor sex-abuse scandal
CHARLOTTE, Mich. — The worst sex-abuse case in sports history ended Monday with a third long prison sentence for Larry Nassar, and his victims vowed to keep fighting for accountability in the scandal that upended the gymnastics world and raised alarms about the sport’s ask-no-questions culture.
Long after the disgraced doctor is locked up in a federal prison, investigations into his misconduct will go on, perhaps for years.
“We have taken care of one perpetrator. We have not taken care of the systems that allowed him to flourish,” said Rachael Denhollander, who filed a police report in 2016 about how Nassar had molested her 16 years earlier, when she was 15, with her mother in the room.
The latest sentence of 40 to 125 years was for molesting young athletes at Twistars, an elite Michigan gymnastics club. The sentence is largely symbolic because Nassar, who pleaded guilty, is already assured of spending the rest of his life behind bars. Before serving his two state terms, the 54-year-old must first serve 60 years in federal prison for child pornography crimes.