One of Larry Nassar's accusers says he got away with abusing gymnasts because the culture of the sport allowed it.
After an independent investigation, a former federal prosecutor has advised USA Gymnastics to completely change its culture to protect young athletes.
The move comes as no surprise to Michigan State University gymnast Lindsey Lemke who says the sport is rampant with physical, emotional and sexual abuse.
Lindsey Lemke knew former doctor Larry Nassar as "Larry." He was
a friend to her family, and the famed USA Gymnastics doctor who took care of her when gymnastics wreaked havoc on her young body. Lemke said,
"It is sad to think that people can take advantage of you just because they know that you're not smart enough to stand up for yourself and say something."
Lemke says she never said anything to anyone, because when she was young, she didn't realize she was being abused. After all, she was seeing a doctor she trusted, also trusted by Olympic gymnasts. In a sport where competition is king, Lemke says athletes are subjected to regular physical and mental abuse.
She said coaches often criticize young athletes in a very personal way. "Our bodies are never complimented in this sport of gymnastics. We are always told that we need to be more fit, more in shape. We're too big, if we're injured, its because we're not in good enough shape." That criticism is often taken as constructive for gymnasts working to reach their highest potential. Lemke says, to the point where young girls can become desensitized to their own bodies. "I just think that growing up I never felt like I had, like I owned my body. It was like other people did because they were the ones making all the comments about it."
Lemke says results and recommendations in the independent investigation can only make a difference if USA Gymnastics takes them seriously and puts protections in place to constantly monitor what's going on. She says along with enacting new reporting protocols for sexual abuse, she hopes the organization will arm young gymnasts with the knowledge they own their bodies and they have a right to speak up. "I don't think that Larry obviously could have been able to treat people the way he wanted to if we had been taught that because then we would have known to say something."
Lemke is a junior on MSU's gymnastics team. She's one of the women named in the federal civil lawsuit against Larry Nassar and one of hundreds of gymnasts over the last 20 years to report abuse at the hands of coaches or other authority figures in the sport.
