Confronting the devil

Armed with pieces of paper etched with their memories of sexual abuse, they stepped forward, one by one – nearly 100 of them, with more to come.

For four full days this week, in a fluorescent-lighted courtroom in Lansing, Michigan, women and girls – some of them the best gymnasts in the United States, others with dreams prematurely crushed, they said, by a man who now sat in handcuffs 10 feet away – leaned into a microphone to address him, sometimes through sobs, sometimes with screams, but always with determination.

Aly Raisman, 23, who won gold medals at the past two Summer Olympics, told of late-night knocks on her hotel door while she was competing overseas, as the man, Lawrence G Nassar, then the team doctor, arrived to abuse her.

A teammate at the 2012 London Games, Jordyn Wieber, who until Friday had not identified herself as a victim of Nassars, recalled the torment of the Games, where she was a part of the US team that won a gold medal but, she said, had to submit to his care under the auspices of the sports governing body, USA Gymnastics.

“Our bodies were all hanging by a thread in London,” …read more