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At The Heart Of Gold: Inside the USA Gymnastics Scandal


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On 6/24/2020 at 10:31 PM, Quilt Fairy said:

Just FYI all, there is a new Netflix documentary about this called Athlete A.

I just watched this last night.  It was very good. 

The film explained how it all started:  I remember when Nadia Comaneci won in 1976.  People went crazy over her, she had a perfect score, she was perfect.  I think the USA felt, "If we want winners we have to do what the Romanians do."  And then when Mary Lou Retton won in 1984, gymnastics went through the roof, and then came the sponsors.

I think USAG were more concerned about winning medals and money than they were about the athletes, win at any cost and all that.

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I watched the documentary Over the Limit on Starz last night, which follows Russian rhythmic gymnast Margarita Mamun in the run-up to to the 2016 Olympics. While it doesn't deal with sexual abuse, it is a very stark look at the emotional abuse coaches can heap on athletes.  It's well worth a watch (if you can stomach watching someone be verbally abused for 73 minutes).

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Much has happened since this documentary released.

-Twistars coach John Geddert committed suicide this past February. 

-Valerie O'Brien, the former MSU police captain who cleared Larry Nassar of Amanda Thomashow's report of him in 2014, was arrested for drunk driving and carrying a gun while intoxicated, also this past February. https://www.wilx.com/2021/06/07/former-msu-police-captain-set-appear-court/

- Maggie Nichols (who reported Nassar's abuse to USAG in 2015) and Kyla Ross, who was also abused by Nassar, are now student coaches. Good for them, I hope they'll be part of a much-needed positive change in the gymnastics world. https://www.espn.com/college-sports/story/_/id/31245249/maggie-nichols-kyla-ross-returning-ncaa-gymnastics-championships-coaching-roles

-People have been stealing from the MSU fund for the survivors. That is so fucking gross I can't even... https://www.macombdaily.com/local-news/macomb-county-couple-admits-stealing-cash-from-msu-fund-for-survivors-of-larry-nassar/article_bda4a0c4-c882-11eb-9c32-3f7b82d92d28.html

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