Larry Nassar Code Of Ethics

Athlete A
Sophia Condilenios; March 10th 2023
Summary
Athlete A is a documentary based on Team USA’s women’s gymnastics team, and how hundreds of young female athletes went through trauma and abuse from the coaching staff. Unfortunately, it isn’t uncommon to hear that young athletes undergo many forms of abuse such as sexual, verbal, and physical. Often times on the team USA gymnastics team coaches use their power and authority to manipulate and control their athletes. This abuse clearly impacted the mental and physical health of these young female athletes. Larry Nassar, team USA’s gymnastics doctor was believed to be a very lovely and generous man and the nicest member of the coaching staff. However, this man sexually assaulted hundreds of

Larry would work on these athletes sometimes multiple times per day, and the females reported they were more often assaulted than not. The athletes were brainwashed into thinking being touched by Larry without consent was okay, because it’s what has been happening to them since such a young age. His actions were a violation of trust and authority amongst many young female athletes. Larry Nassar did not do this alone. Steve Penny, Larry’s boss hid all allegations of sexual assault brought to his attention. Steve was the president of the USA gymnastics team and contributed to this investigation because he would formally hide many different cases from authorities because he was scared of ruining team USA’s reputation. Steve wanted to ensure the protection of Larry Nassar, and the name of USA gymnastics. When athlete Meggie Nichols reported Larry to her coach for inappropriately touching her it was sent to Steve who told Meggie's parents they were not allowed to contact the police because it would disrupt a current investigation against Larry and other victims. Steve formally lied to Maggie’s parents about the investigation so Larry would not receive any spotlight on his actions. The toxic culture of USA gymnastics protected the brand, not the

The documentary talked about how these young females only believe these forms of deviance are okay because at the age of ten, they are training thirty hours per week and in this continuous flow of perfection. Since these young girls got so brainwashed it is truly devastating to see how even when they thought it was wrong they were scared of being shamed by the other girls or losing their spot on the team for speaking up. Meggie Nichols, one of the best gymnasts in the 2012 Olympics finished 6th in the Olympic qualifiers, yet did not get selected into the top eight for Team USA. Was it because she was not good enough? Or was it because she spoke up about Larry Nassar? I think this film could have included more in-depth detail about Simone Biles, she is one of the main athletes that were on the team the entire time, yet never really talked about. She did come out and say she was one of the athletes affected by Larry Nassar, yet in this documentary, she was never interviewed or really