A new Netflix documentary examining the case of Larry Nassar, the long-serving medical doctor for USA Gymnastics, who was finally brought to justice in 2017 after abusing hundreds of young female gymnasts over a twenty-year period. Skin-crawling stuff seeing this creep in the police interview room, stumbling over his words while trying to justify a medical reason for why he would have the need to digitally penetrate (both vaginally and anally) so many of the girls entrusted to his care. If the testimony of his brave survivors didn't sink Nassar, the thousands of child porn images found on hard drives that he tried to dispose of would have.
ATHLETE A also highlights the sickening cover-ups attempted by the higher powers at USA Gymnastics, for whom image protection, Olympic gold medals and multi-million-dollar sponsorship deals were more important than the physical and mental wellbeing of their young stars. It's also interesting to see how the demographic of female gymnasts changed from featuring teams of mature women to a focus towards teens and pre-teens with tiny bodies, a shift that started after Romanian Nadia Comăneci made such an enormous impact as a fourteen-year-old at the 1976 Montreal Olympics.
A disturbing watch for sure, but an important one and good to see so many of Nassar's survivors standing up in court to have their say to him. Thankfully, he has at least 50 years behind bars in front of him.
