JORDYN WIEBER
It can be tough to grow up under the best and most favorable circumstances. Very choppy seas are to be navigated. Nobody really emerges unscathed.
Basically, it’s about what you toss out there, what you get back and how you deal with it. Not unlike life in general, dealing with it, whatever it may be is key; the key to happiness, health (both mental and physical) and self-esteem. Self-respect. Self-worth. Self.
After all, without yourself you don’t have what you truly need.
Jordyn Wieber, a 2012 Olympic gold medalist, filed a lawsuit in California against Michigan State University, USA Gymnastics, the U.S. Olympic Committee and others in an effort to regain and retain her sense of self (and whatever else she may have lost courtesy of a widespread seemingly-everlasting horrific sexual abuse scandal).
Joining more than 260 others who have chosen this legal recourse, Wieber’s suit alleges that USAG “made a corporate decision to purge or otherwise destroy all medical records of victims of [Larry] Nassar, including those medical records of Jordyn Wieber, in order to further conceal the sexual abuse of Nassar.”
In case a recap is necessary, since September 2016 more than 260 women and girls have stated that former MSU doctor Larry Nassar sexually assaulted them during medical examinations.
In December of 2017 Nassar was sentenced to 60 years in the slammer on three federal child pornography charges.
In January 2018 he was sentenced to 40 to 175 years in prison on seven sexual assault charges in Ingham County (MI).
And in February he was sentenced for the third and final time to 40 to 125 years in jail for three sexual assault charges in Eaton County (MI).
Wieber has said that the lack of accountability from MSU and USAG has made her and other victims feel “shameful, confused, and disappointed.”
She added, “My teammates and I were subjected [to] Larry Nassar every single month at the national team training center in Texas. He was the only male allowed to be present in the athlete dorm rooms to do whatever he wanted. He was allowed to treat us in hotel rooms alone and without any supervision. Nobody was protecting us from being taken advantage of. Nobody was even concerned whether or not we were being sexually abused. I was not protected. My teammates were not protected. My parents trusted USA Gymnastics and Larry Nassar to take care of me and we were betrayed by both.”
Her lawsuit, one of several filed in California, alleges that Nassar’s MSU contract which stipulated that a portion of his time be devoted to public outreach such as his work with USAG, exposes and lays bare-naked the university to liability for his actions.
Also claimed is that neither MSU nor USAG nor the USOC did enough to protect the women and girls treated by Nassar.
Speaking of USA Gymnastics, where in God’s name were Bela and Marta Karolyi during all of this? Blameless they could not have been. By feigning ignorance and doing absolutely nothing, a compelling argument could be made that they were in fact complicit.
As owners of the Karolyi Ranch National Team Training Center — a 2,000-acre sprawling compound — located in the Sam Houston National Forest in Walker County about 70 miles north of Houston, and as demanding, exacting coaches who reveled in a culture of fear, it is hard to conceive that they were unaware of anything taking place on their grounds. Bela Karolyi helped build Karolyi Ranch with his own hands for heaven’s sake. It simply doesn’t add up.
“There is an eerie feeling as soon as you step foot onto the Karolyi Ranch. It is completely removed from all civilization,” commented former elite gymnast Mattie Larson. “In the case of an emergency, the closest hospital is so far away, you’d need to be helicoptered there. To get to the ranch, you must drive up a dirt road for what seems like an eternity…On top of that, there is no cell service. It’s completely isolated, and that’s no mistake. That is how the Karolyis wanted it.”
The Karolyis produced scores of Olympic, national and world champions; there is something to be said for their laser-focus, hard work and dedication, the elimination of distraction and sage teaching.
For decades they tirelessly molded elite and aspiring female gymnasts into superstars day after day, year after year. And they were very good at it, universally considered the industry gold standard if you will.
U.S. women won 79 world and Olympic medals between 2001 and 2012 under the couple’s tutelage. (Bela retired in 2001 and Marta assumed the reins [reign?] from 2001–2016).
But apart from the chain-gang/pound sand mentality and the methodical inculcation of a fierce, never-say-die work ethic, something was amiss.
As Larson noted retrospectively, “The complete detachment from the outside world, on top of careless and neglectful adults, made the ranch the perfect environment for abusers and molesters to thrive.”
And for secrets to be kept.
Nassar’s secrets and the Karolyis’ secrets.
“That’s awful,” Marta Karolyi said in the couple’s first interview since the Nassar allegations surfaced. Her husband described the abuse which has rocked the sport, sports and this country as having affected gymnastics “like an explosion.”
Marta extrapolated. “I heard during the testimonies that some of the parents were in [sic] therapy room with their own child, and Larry Nassar was performing this. And a parent couldn’t see. How could I see?”
Contributed Bela, “The whole thing is just like an explosion, like a bomb exploding, boom!”
Parents missed it too. Chalk it up to misplaced and misguided trust. Or life’s interminable distractions. Maybe to Nassar’s strategic body positioning when conducting an exam.
Anne Swinehart, who was allowed to directly address Nassar during proceedings heard before Judge Rosemarie Aquilina, and the mother of aspiring gymnast Jillian, lamented, “I willingly took my most precious gift in this world to you, and you hurt her. Physically, mentally and emotionally, and she was only 8…I cannot help but think, how did I miss the red flags? How is it that I misinterpreted your intent so wrongly? I wanted my daughter to get better, to achieve her dreams, to participate and succeed in a sport she loved.”
Judge Aquilina of the Ingham County Circuit Court characterized the women and teenagers as “survivors” and “superheroes.” She opined in a gesture of commiseration with the parents, “The red flags may have been there, but they were designed to be hidden…I know how hard-core sports mom are.”
In depositions obtained by CNN, the Karolyis maintain that they had little to do with the day-to-day operation of the ranch. (Their depositions, given in May of 2017 were part of Larson’s civil lawsuit which claimed that the Karolyis “turned a blind-eye to the perpetrator Nassar’s sexual abuse of children at the ranch.”).
Marta contended that Nassar seldom came to the ranch and when he did he reported to a USAG official who was usually present. [Usually?].
He was not under her supervision she said; in fact, when asked if she knew whether or not Nassar had a medical license valid in the state of Texas, she remarked that she didn’t know.
She had no part in his selection as the team doctor, but assumed he had the appropriate license.
Jordyn Wieber took particular exception. Wieber’s position is that this kind of balderdash, poppycock or hocum — bunk, claptrap or malarkey — simply doesn’t fly. Far from it.
It is untrue pure and simple.
And she bristles at the fustian smoke screen of fantasy. “Marta was the national team coordinator but the way I saw it, she sort of had control over anything and everything that went on at the ranch. She knew what was going on every second in the gym. She knew how many routines that we did. She knew what we were eating. She knew our treatments. So it was just, when you go there, you know that Marta is watching. Everything you’re doing, she’s watching.”
Not surprisingly, Marta Karolyi lays the blame for Nassar’s actions directly at the feet of USAG.
In her three-and-a-half hour sworn deposition she distances herself from the disgraced doctor.
“Well, he was hired by USA Gymnastics,” she noted before adding, “…he definitely wasn’t hired by me or reported to me.”
Perhaps technically true but Wieber and Larson have stated clearly that they often observed Nassar and Marta communicating one-on-one as he was updating her on his findings pertinent to the athletes’ respective physical conditions.
Said Larson, “They definitely had a relationship.”
Likening Marta to a prison warden she continued, “She had no problem in showing that she picked favorites, so whenever her athletes were injured or had a problem, she’d be talking to Larry about it.”
Bela Karolyi supported his wife during his own deposition.
“USAG had the guidelines and rules and policies and that was reinforced by Kathy Kelly, the representative of USA Gymnastics,” he testified when asked what if any rules were firmly in place at the training camp.
Kelly, a prominent figure in women’s gymnastics dating back to the 1990s, was often present at the monthly week-long training sessions.
Though she was the vice-president of USAG, gymnasts and trainers alike agreed that it appeared Kelly reported to Marta Karolyi.
Melanie Seaman who worked for USAG until 2006 reinforced this belief when she remarked that, “USA Gymnastics pretty much gave (Marta Karolyi) free rein [sic] because they wanted to win. Marta ran the show.”
Seaman supported the young gymnasts and lamented that she often felt like a party of one, conspicuous by her stance. “Not one adult has come forward, not one coach, to back up what these girls were saying.”
Shameful. A tragedy.
USA Gymnastics severed ties with the ranch in January 2018. The ranch’s closing [shuttering] shortly thereafter was posted in a single statement on the camp’s website.
“After nearly four decades of spiriting young gymnasts towards greatness in sport, our yearly tradition of the Karolyi’s Gymnastics Camp has come to an end. Bela, Marta, and the rest of the camp staff wish to sincerely thank all participants, USA Gymnastics, and everyone who has been a part of our extended family for 35 years of unforgettable memories.”
The Texas Rangers have launched a formal investigation into the ranch. Enlisted by Governor Greg Abbott, the investigation is focused on anyone who may have known about or enabled Nassar’s crimes in any way.
Resolute in his desire to clean up this very hot mess Abbott stated that “those athletes, as well as all Texans, deserve to know that no stone is left unturned to ensure that the allegations are thoroughly vetted and the perpetrators and enablers of any such misconduct are brought to justice.”
Jordyn Wieber was 14 when Larry Nassar began sexually abusing her, but she had been visiting the man she knew “as the best gymnastics doctor in the world…a miracle worker [who could] fix about anything,” from the time she was eight years old. She was treated by Nassar for any and all injuries between the ages of 8 and 18 and there were many including a torn hamstring and a debilitating shin stress fracture.
Recalls Wieber, “It was extremely painful to tumble and land using my legs but I fought through the pain because it was my Olympics and I knew it probably [would] be my only shot. Our bodies were all hanging by a thread when we were in London.
Who was the doctor USAG sent to keep us healthy and help get us through? The doctor that was our abuser, the doctor that is a child molester…Because of my shin I couldn’t train without being in extreme pain and it [sic] effected the number of routines I could do to prepare for the competition and ultimately it made me feel less prepared than I should have been. I didn’t qualify for the all-around competition and I went through a dark time before we won the team gold.”
“Now I question everything about that injury and the medical treatment I received. Was Larry even doing anything to help my pain? Was I getting the proper medical care? Or was he only focused on which one of us he was going to prey on next? What was he thinking about when he massaged my sore muscles every day?”
“Now I question everything.”
Jordyn Wieber, among an unforgivable number of others.
And the crime of it, apart from the crime itself?
It didn’t have to happen.
[Editor’s Note: This piece was written by Mr. Kaplan in April 2018.]
