Director: Bonni Cohen, John Shenk
Genre: Documentary
Runtime: 103 minutes
Year: 2020
Starring: Maggie Nichols, Gina Nichols, John Nichols, Steve Berta, Marisa Kwiatokowski, Mark Alesia, Rachael Denhollander, Jessica Howard, Jamie Dantzscher, John Manly, Tim Evans, Jennifer Sey
Description: Follow the Indianapolis Star reporters that broke the story about USA Gymnatics doctor Larry Nassar’s abuse and hear from gymnasts like Maggie Nichols.
Review: After the documentary series about the pedophile billionaire Jeffrey Epsten, “Filthy Rich”, Netflix returns with a revealing reconstruction of an equally large sex scandal involving young girls.
“Athlete A” examined the practices of sports doctor Larry Nassar, who, as an employee of the American gymnastics association, USA Gymnastics (USAG), abused young gymnasts, some of whom were only twelve years old. Because the association reacted rather lax, to say the least, Nassar, who is currently serving a 175-year sentence, could continue doing what he was doing.
Documentary makers Bonnie Cohen and Jon Shenk delved into the history of this abuse and, together with the journalists of the Indianapolis Star, found bewildering stories and gross negligence.
“Athlete A” is traditional and straightforward, but very effective. The film mainly contains interviews with former gymnasts and their parents, plus a reconstruction of the work by the local journalists who, after the first publications, are inundated with reactions from women who finally had the courage to testify against Dr. Nassar.
His reprehensible behavior took place mainly in the dressing rooms, where he massaged the gymnasts, treated them for injuries but also touched them vaginally and anally. For many girls this was their first sexual experience, which in many cases led to a trauma they could not talk about.
The individuals who did alarm the gymnastics association, their parents were lied to about internal investigations that never existed and no one ever informed the authorities. Scandalous is the performance of Steve Penny, the president of the gymnastics federation, who kept everything a secret and covered up what Nassar did. He did not want to make a statement during the hearing in the senate.
Many people within the organization did not want to believe that the lovable, respected and funny Nassar ever touched the girls inappropriately. They even falsely suggested that the FBI was looking into the matter.
It is striking that the abused girls do not want to be labeled as victims, but as survivors, just like their peers who had to deal with Epstein and Weinstein.
The most extensive explanations in the documentary are given by Maggie Nichols, already a very gifted athlete ad the age of ten, who never made it to the American Olympics team because she and her parents were the first to raise Nassar’s misconduct. As punishment she was kept out of the selection. In the meantime she proceeds her gymnastics as a lower level, but more importantly, she has rediscovered the joy in her sport.
Rating: 3 / 5
