Gymnastics: Abuse victims face disgraced doctor in court

LANSING, United States: Victims of disgraced former USA Gymnastics team doctor Larry Nassar confronted him at a sentencing hearing on Tuesday with gut-wrenching emotional accounts of the trauma and scars stemming from his sexual abuse.

Nassar, 54, has pleaded guilty to a total of 10 counts of criminal sexual conduct in two countries in Michigan, and could face life in prison. His best-known victims of sexual abuse under the guise of medical treatment were members of the Olympic gold-medal winning gymnastics team including stars such as Simone Biles, Aly Raisman, McKayla Maroney and Gabby Douglas. But Tuesday’s hearing revealed the extent of his crimes: more than 100 victims have come forward, including his onetime family babysitter and athletes in several women’s sports programs at Michigan State University, where he worked. “You used my body for six years for your own sexual gratification,” Kyle Stephens, Nassar’s former babysitter, told a hushed Lansing, Michigan, courtroom. “That is unforgivable.”

Addressing the slight, bespectacled Nassar directly, Stephens said: “Little girls don’t stay little forever. Dressed in blue prison garb, Nassar spent most of the time looking down as the women and girls spoke, occasionally holding his head in his handcuffed hands or wiping away tears. Some victims chose to be identified and testify publicly while others spoke anonymously. Another former gymnast, Jade Capua, said the abuse by Nassar was a “life-changing experience that stole my innocence far too young.”