Athlete A Netflix

I've not seen it (no Netflix), but FWIW, there's a really excellent Michigan Radio/NPR podcast series about Larry Nassar, the doctor who abused these many young women, with a really useful focus on how he managed to get away with it for so long.

Info about it, for anyone interested, is here: http://michiganradio.org/believed

Many people tend to assume there was a more-or-less intentional large-scale cover-up, or an environment of complete callous disregard, that led to him being permitted to do such awful things for so long. While there may be a kernal of truth to that (especially with repect to a small number of other people), the overall situation was much more complicated.

People thinking "if I were that young woman's parent, I would've realized and done something" can learn from this, learn how a predator manipulates and deludes well-meaning people, people who believe they are paying attention and taking the right precautions. He was very, very skilled at manipulating parents, athletes, coaches, ingratiating himself and creating a reputation as a top-notch doctor, good friend, helpful community member, and all-round good guy. Predators can be skilled and subtle, unfortunately. The signs are not as obvious as many seem to think.

I say this from the perspective of someone who was close to one of the teams (women's rowing) for whom he was the doctor at Michigan State (I even met Nassar casually on at least one occasion), and who knows some athletes whom he treated (though I've only spoken in detail with some he treated but did not abuse, because that was part of his M.O., chosing victims, but not victimizing everyone).

I get that this sort of thing is hard to learn about, but especially for parents who want to protect their children and be clear-eyed and fact-based about it, this is quite a piece of education, IMO.

Btw when the Tonya Harding story came out and people were shocked and appalled I didn't understand. I've seen similar if not worse. Like anything when you know too much nothing shocks you.

There's a really dark world out there in sports that's kept hidden. Some people want it so badly and don't know any better.

Agree, very good to see what's going on behind the scenes. I've followed gymnastics for a very long time and it's good to see things finally are seen as ex gymnasts spoke out before of the abuse (Moceanu). It was a sick culture. Medals over children...sad.