This week, an abuse scandal that has engulfed USA Gymnastics took another step when sports doctor Larry Nassar was charged with molesting seven girls pleaded guilty to sexual assault and now faces a lengthy period behind bars.
Tonight, we were joined by Bryan Armen Graham, editor of The Guardian's US Sports section to discuss the scandal and the potentially far-reaching consequences it could have.
"He'd worked with the team for a long period of time, over three decades," Graham said of Nassar.
"He was the primary physician at four Olympics Games and this is really a period where US gymnastics was very much an afterthought on the international scene for many years. But over the time Nassar was with the team, they really emerged as this sort of international force, the dominant power in the new world order of gymnastics and he's really been an integral part of that. I mean, he was on the floor, he was in the red, white and blue uniform, he was front and centre and very much a part of this so he was as visible a figure as it gets."
Dr. Larry Nassar, 54, appears in court for a plea hearing in Lansing, Mich., Wednesday, Nov. 22, 2017. Nasser, a sports doctor accused of molesting girls while working for USA Gymnastics and Michigan State University, pleaded guilty to multiple charges of sexual assault and will face at least 25 years in prison. (AP Photo/Paul Sancya)
The first accusations first came to light in 1997 at Michigan State according to court documents and followed by other allegations, with the abuse taking the form of "digital penetration" and "under the guise of treatment", Graham explained.
"Very often, these were pre-teen or teenage gymnasts and it's all finally coming to light," he added.
One future effect of the scandal could be how allegations are handled.
"Up until now, there hasn't been mandatory reporting of suspicions of sexual abuse. I know one of the main overhauls, they had an independent review overseen by a former federal prosecutor and one of the new reforms is going to be this mandatory reporting. I think she recommended 70 different reforms. This is the big top line headline," said Graham.
"But the fact that wasn't in place beforehand is shameful."
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