The phone rings and when you answer the call, a person claiming to be with law enforcement tells you that he or she has discovered some naked pictures of you when you were a child on your trainer’s computer. Trinea Gonzcar recalls this exact event as the turning point in the way she saw one of her mentors.
“We can’t tell you if it’s you, but there were images of little girls in his bathtub,” said the official.1
Larry Nassar had been in Gonzcar’s life for over thirty-one years, and Gonzcar was a huge advocate of him and his treatment. She could not believe that the one person who she looked up to, who healed her from all of her injuries, and who was there to listen to her when she needed him, hurt her in an unimaginable way.2
The United States is known for having a culture that absolutely loves sports. From the World Series to March Madness and the Super Bowl, the United States has always made sports a huge spectacle. The Olympic Games are no different, as they are an opportunity for many athletes to represent their country in the sport they love the most. Among many other sports, competing in gymnastics is the dream of many little girls who want to showcase their skills on a stage this huge. Gonzcar, a little girl with colossal dreams, was among these special ladies seeking the opportunity. At the age of six she joined the gym Twistars and knew that gymnastics would be her new passion. In a family of five, Gonzcar was the most intense and competitive. Twistars soon became her second home as she spent most of her time training in the gym when she was not at school.3
Gonzcar proved to have strong potential at a young age and began to train with Larry Nassar at the age of nine, when she was selected to be on the team of John Geddert, the owner of Twistars gym. Gonzcar’s mother, Dawn Homer, recalled one of the coaches speaking out in a parent meeting about injuries, stating that, “One hundred percent of the girls would be injured but we have a trainer right here.” The coach was referring to Larry Nassar.4
Nassar was a graduate of the University of Michigan, and he began working for the USA Olympics in 1986 as an athletic trainer and later as a physician. Nassar was a well-known individual with medical degrees in kinesiology and osteopathic medicine. He worked his way up from being a high school trainer to a trainer at his alma mater before earning a spot in the big leagues as a national medical coordinator for United States of America Gymnastics (USAG). In other words, this man’s track record was squeaky clean and all those with whom he interacted loved him.5
Gonzcar was no different from anyone else. She loved spending time with Nassar because she knew that he was the best at what he did and would always heal her injuries quickly, which meant more training and a better opportunity for competition.
“We called it magic of Larry–he could fix you so you could compete. And I wanted to compete,” Gonzcar said.6
All of the girls that attended Twistars gym were truly scared of Geddert because of how cruel and strict his training could be. So Nassar became their escape. They completely and utterly trusted Nassar because he was encouraging and made sure that the girls knew their potential. In 1990, when Gonzcar was nine years old, she noticed that her hip began to pop out of its socket whenever she was on bars, an injury for which she would go to Nassar for treatment. Nassar decided that she was in need of more treatment than what he could provide her at the gym, so he asked to meet Gonzcar and her mother at his apartment. This was an honor for Gonzcar, who took a lot of pride in the invitation, and her relationship with Nassar began to grow.7
When she arrived at Nassar’s home, there was already an ice bath set up in his bathtub with a magazine and a 14-minute timer. After this bath, Gonzcar got dressed and followed him to his treatment table, where her mom was seated in a position where she was only able to see Gonzcar’s head and shoulders. Nassar made Gonzcar lay on her stomach and put one of her legs across her hip while having a conversation with her mother. Meanwhile, he penetrated Gonzcar with an ungloved hand. This same incident happened over 856 times, according to Gonzcar’s attorney.8
Sexual abuse can be defined as an individual forcing unwanted sexual contact or behavior onto another. There are many experts who believe that sexual abuse is the most under-reported type of child mistreatment, which usually occurs because children are most likely to be abused by those they trust or those who have some type of power over them.9 According to the NIS-1 data provided by the Children’s Bureau, 83% of sexual abuse victims are girls. In these same statistics, 32% are 15-17 years old, 28% range from 12-14 years old, and 21% are from 9-11 years old. Unfortunately, these types of situations are increasingly recognized as a cause, or moreover the trigger, for mental health problems.10
Unfortunately, Gonzcar was not the only one who experienced sexual abuse from Nassar. In the late 90’s another gymnast Gonzcar was acquainted with shared the same experience as her. The girl expressed that Nassar would penetrate her with his fingers, and Gonzcar began to realize that the same thing was happening to many of the other gymnasts. She was not alone, but she quickly expressed that Nassar’s treatment was normal, and that it was how they were going to get better. Nassar was Gonzcar’s hero and no one understood him like she did, so she would defend him until his name was cleared. If she could only talk to those girls who made those accusations, she could make them understand that it was not what they thought.11
Over the course of more than twenty years, there were multiple accusations against Nassar made to MSU and to other coaches at the Twistars gym, accusations that never made it to the police. No action was taken, as those who were in the position of confronting and possibly firing him believed that Nassar was a great man incapable of such morbid actions. Many reports were made, yet no voices were heard.
It was not until 2014, when gymnast Amanda Thomashow accused Nassar of assaulting her when she went in for a hip injury at MSU, that a problem was raised. Although the directors at MSU cleared Nassar of any possible wrongdoing, the incident got the attention of many other young girls who were experiencing the same thing. Similarly, it was a hip injury that landed Gonzcar in Larry’s arms over twenty years prior. Gonzcar’s opinion on Nassar did not reach its ultimate potential until she received that particular phone call about the investigation. Moreover, Nassar did plead guilty to sexual abuse of some of the girls in 2017.12 It all began to make sense, how even when Gonzcar went in for treatment for her wrists and ankles, she was somehow still getting her back and hip treatment–but she had always believed that he was fixing her and never suspected otherwise.13
Finally, after a rigorous investigation conducted by Detective Lieutenant Andrea Muford, Nassar was arrested. On May 12, 2017, he had to face about 200 of his victims in trial while each of them told their story in court. Among the many testimonies was that of Gonzcar, who referred to him directly when speaking.14 The pain in her voice grabbed the attention of everyone in the room. She was facing the man that, until a couple of months before, she had admired so dearly and defended. Now she felt offended that he betrayed her and her family and that he had committed such repulsive crimes over the course of three decades to hundreds of women.15
Nassar lost absolutely everything when he was sentenced to life in prison. Nassar’s wife divorced him, his medical license was revoked, and his name was tarnished. The squeaky clean reputation that he had maintained and that had kept him out of trouble for so long was no longer around. The USA Olympics and Michigan State University both issued statements apologizing to the girls who were mistreated by Nassar, and both parties are dealing with some lawsuits of their own. At the end of the day, justice was served and although the trauma that the girls have had to deal with will still be around for years to come, at least their abuser can no longer do any harm to them or any more innocent girls.
- Kerry Howley, “Everyone Believed Larry Nassar,” New York Magazine 51, no. 23 (2018): 24. ↵
- Kerry Howley, “Everyone Believed Larry Nassar,” New York Magazine 51, no. 23 (2018): 23. ↵
- Kerry Howley, “Everyone Believed Larry Nassar,” New York Magazine 51, no. 23 (2018): 23. ↵
- Kerry Howley, “Everyone Believed Larry Nassar,” New York Magazine 51, no. 23 (2018): 23. ↵
- Matt Mencarini, “Inside the investigation and prosecution of Larry Nassar,” Lansing State Journal (2018). ↵
- “Day 4 of Larry Nassar Sentencing,” YouTube video, 8:43, posted by ” Alexandra Ilitch,” January 20, 2018, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=63gVf1oUd4Q. ↵
- Kerry Howley, “Everyone Believed Larry Nassar,” New York Magazine 51, no. 23 (2018): 25. ↵
- Kerry Howley, “Everyone Believed Larry Nassar,” New York Magazine 51, no. 23 (2018): 26. ↵
- Kristen Key and Rebecca J. Frey, “Sexual Abuse,” The Gale Encyclopedia of Mental Health, 3rded. (Detroit, M.I.: Gale, 2012), 1391. ↵
- Heather Cecil, “Childhood Sexual Abuse,” in Encyclopedia of Sociology, 2nded. (New York, NY.: Macmilan Reference USA, 2001), 289. ↵
- Kerry Howley, “Everyone Believed Larry Nassar,” New YorkMagazine 51, no. 23 (2018): 27. ↵
- Matt Mencarini, “Inside the investigation and prosecution of Larry Nassar,” Lansing State Journal (2018). ↵
- “Day 4 of Larry Nassar Sentencing,” YouTube video, 8:43, posted by ” Alexandra Ilitch,” January 20, 2018, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=63gVf1oUd4Q ↵
- Matt Mencarini, “Inside the investigation and prosecution of Larry Nassar,” Lansing State Journal (2018). ↵
- “Day 4 of Larry Nassar Sentencing,” YouTube video, 14:50, posted by ” Alexandra Ilitch,” January 20, 2018, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=63gVf1oUd4Q ↵
100 comments
Rosa Robledo Martinez
You never what a man is capable of doing to people. The fact that the girls trusted him, so that they can feel better and get ready to compete, so that he can simple betray their trust and sexually abuse them is disgusting.I’m glad that the girls came up and told their story, it takes a lot of courage to speak of a traumatic experience. Also I’m happy that justice has been served and this man will be behind bars the rest of his life. I just can’t believe that a doctor that is supppose to help you and look out for your well being can create such a traumatic experience to girls life. I don’t think that the girls will ever want to get aid from any type of doctors after what they experienced.
Michael Thompson
This is going to go down in history, as Nassar going down as the worst serial rapist in history. The amount of not only women, but underage girls, was astonishing. There will be no one who will ever get close to that gross amount, even though in this case, even one time is one too many. And not only is that because that number is so large, it almost seems impossible that the man did that so many times, but because his actions, awareness was raised and victims are able to speak out easier and bring those who hurt them to justice.
Mia Correa
I remember reading about this a while back. These girls confided in and trusted Nassar, only for him to mistreat them and abuse them. Everyone trusted Nassar. The girls, the parents, the audience. Everyone. And the fact that these girls felt like they couldn’t speak up sooner just because Nassar was seen as a higher authority just shows how deformed our societal rules and expectations are. Women should feel comfortable standing up for themselves, especially when it comes to something this serious.
Trinity Casillas
I followed this story when it was first brought into the limelight in the media. When I was younger I remember watching the 2012 and 2016 Olympic games (at 11 and 15 years old respectively). I admired the girls’ gymnastics team so much because they were all such talented and strong young women. When I first heard the news my heart broke for these young ladies who I heavily admired. I felt betrayed, scared, and angry for them despite not being anywhere near their shoes. Reading this article and learning about the large number of girls he abused and hurt makes my stomach sink again. The way he did it paired with my outside perspective and knowledge about what happened makes it’s so easy to blame the victims and their caregivers. I automatically think about how the situation, going to his home for treatment, should have been a red flag for many but I know this is a harmful point of view. This causes me to not blame the abuser when he should be the one with the most blame. One thing that does lift my spirits about this story is the end results. Hopefully, the future for victims of sexual assault is to not face a similar situation again and for their abusers to receive their rightful punishment.
Shea Slusser
The amount of confusion and terror Gonzcar and to go through was probably so unreal, and I feel so much for all of the victims of Nassar. As athletes, we should trust our trainers to only want the best for our bodies but unfortunately this just goes to prove there are many slimy people in this society and will hide and do anything to continue their bad habits. The bathtub scenario is truly scary and eye opening what lengths people are willing to go to in order to follow through with such disgusting behaviors. I was very intrigued with this article and is a good read.
Kelsey Sanchez
This article is surprising due to the fact of how Nassar was hiding his intentions and how he made not only the girls trust him, but as well as the parents. As the girls were innocent, they are now in shock and traumatized from their experience of being abused. This article was very important because it expresses how someone needs to speak up because if it has anything to do with abuse, it should be the first thing out there for people to know what necessarily is going on. I’m glad that this article was posted and that it shared this information with the whole society. It sets an example of how you can make a difference without having to fear ever being abused again. No one should ever feel unsafe where ever they go or should stop doing activities/ events they would like to do in the future.
Kristina Tijerina
Nassar really built up all his credentials and preyed on young girls who didn’t know any better over the course of many years to ensure that he wouldn’t get caught. So many innocent children were affected by his actions, and nobody really spoke up about it. Only some people found it strange enough to question, but no-one took action. How upsetting that Gonzcar, and many other girls, trusted in Nassar so much that she defended his terrible actions, even after multiple accusations from different girls, because she really thought he was helping them get better. Nassar portrayed himself as an honest and good man, someone everybody could trust. He deserves his life in prison, and he deserved having to face many of his victims in the court room. This article was a very informative piece.
Priscilla Poorbaugh
Given Nassar’s credentials, of course all of these girls trusted him. It’s so sad to see that these girls took the abuse for years, all because he was a person of authority. I remember learning about this type of abuse in psychology and this is a prime example. I am so proud that Amanda took initiative and spoke up. It only takes one person to spark a movement, and because of her courage, more people spoke up and justice was served.
Victoria Davis
Larry Nassar’s career of graduating form the University of Michigan, worked for the the USA Olympics in 1986 as an athletic trainer, and later as a physician. This important piece of information stated in the article gives good background information on Larry and the trustworthiness you had in a man like him. Reading about Gonzcar and her point of view helps you understand why nothing was thought of by the young ladies he was treating. It was good to get justice for this incident that went on for so long. Overall this article gave the right information without being so long and ongoing.
Carlos Tami
This was an excellent article. It covered all the necessary points to share with the world that people is positions of power need to be more closely looked at when accused. The fact that so many girls were abused and none of them were heard is heartbreaking. What makes me sick to my stomach is that he was able to do such heinous acts while inviting the young girls parents to his apartment as well, their family is trusting him to heal their kid and he chose to betray all of their trust. The detail of “young girls” in his bathtub is also sickening because when he invited them over for an “ice bath” he must’ve hidden a camera or something, absolutely a disgusting human being who got what he deserved.