Heavy Medals.
July 14, 2020 11:48 AM Subscribe
For almost 20 years, top U.S. women gymnasts would pack a bag, say goodbye to their parents and take a monthly trip that ended with a long drive down a dirt road to a remote compound in a Texas forest. “You drive through the woods for like 15 miles and then you see this green gate,” says 2012 Olympic gold medalist Jordyn Wieber. “That’s when I knew we were pulling up to the Ranch. I started getting this pit in my stomach.” ESPNW and 30 for 30 have collaborated on a podcast series exploring The Karolyi Effect. (cw: sexual assault)
ESPN podcast feed
Episode 1 (spotify) - Made in Romania. In the middle of the Cold War, Romanian gymnastics coaches Bela and Martha Karolyi turn Nadia Comaneci, a 14-year-old gymnast from a Communist country, into a global symbol of excellence at the 1976 Olympics when she scores the first perfect 10. But Romania becomes too small and too controlled for Bela’s ambitions, and the Karolyis set their sights on the freedom of the United States.
Episode 2 (spotify) - American Hustle. After defecting from Romania, the Karolyis begin to build their gymnastics empire in the U.S. But they need a champion. Enter Mary Lou Retton, the bubbly teenager whose perfect 10 at the 1984 Olympics will make her and her coach household names. Little girls across America want to be Mary Lou, and train with her famous coach. Bela has given the United States its first gold medal in women’s gymnastics. Now he needs to harness that success to advance his own cause.
Episode 3 (spotify) - The Bela Show. Growing his image as the most well-known coach in gymnastics, Bela builds his brand and aims for more gold medals with a new star athlete. But after his champion fails at the 1992 Olympic Games in Barcelona, Bela announces he’s stepping away from elite-level gymnastics and retreats to his Ranch in Texas. But even after stepping out of the spotlight, Bela remains in focus, as accusations of abuse grow against the coach.
Episode 4 (spotify) - Home Games. Pulled back onto the world gymnastics stage by the precocious talent of their newest protege, Dominique Moceanu, Bela and Martha are all in on winning gold at the Atlanta Games. But when Dominique falls on vault, everything rides on the shoulders of Bela’s long-overshadowed veteran, Kerri Strug, to bring home the gold.
Episode 5 (spotify) - The Karolyi Way. After the glory of winning gold in Atlanta, the U.S. National Team slips on the world stage, finishing last in the finals at the 1999 World Championships. With the next Olympics less than a year away, USA Gymnastics turns to the one person they think can save the team: Bela Karolyi. Bela finally has what he’s always wanted, control over a semi-centralized training system in the United States. But on such a tight schedule, will the, “You can do it!” motivator-in-chief be able to lead a team to victory?
Episode 6 (spotify) - The Rise of Martha. For years, Martha Karolyi avoided the spotlight — appearing only as the mysterious and subservient partner of her boisterous husband. But when she is tapped to take over the national team, Martha finally comes into full view. Martha aims to prove that she can turn the United States into a dominant force in gymnastics, building teams that win gold medal after gold medal. But under Martha’s regime, injured athletes are often discarded and a culture of silence prevails.
Episode 7 (spotify) - The Unraveling. Martha has turned the U.S. women’s gymnastics program into a world powerhouse. But as Martha is taking her final victory lap at the 2016 Olympics in Rio, the gymnastics community is rocked by a scandal that will shock the world. The Karolyis’ legacy is called into question as the gymnasts grapple with the cost of what it took to earn all that gold.
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Believed, from Michigan Public Radio:
We all think we’d be able to spot a predator like Larry Nassar, the disgraced Olympic gymnastics doctor who sexually abused patients for decades. Of course you would believe a girl or a young woman who came to you looking for help. Right? Believed is a story of survivors finding their power in a cultural moment when people are coming to understand how important that is. It’s an inside look at how a team of women — a detective, a prosecutor, and an army of survivors — won justice in one of the largest serial sexual abuse cases in U.S. history. It’s also an unnerving exploration of how even well-meaning adults can fail to believe.
Episode 1 - The Good Guy. It’s the 1996 Olympics. The U.S. Women’s Gymnastics team is on the verge of winning their first team gold medal. Kerri Strug is their last chance. She sprints toward the vault, launches into the air, and falls on the landing. Clearly injured, Strug limps back to the mat. Sprints, launches, and sticks the landing. Her score is announced: The team has won gold. But as cheers erupt from the crowd, Kerri Strug collapses. Crawls off the mat. A young trainer helps support her. “I got her, I got her,” he yells. That trainer? That’s Larry Nassar.
Episode 2 - How He Got Away. It’s late on a fall evening. Dark. September 16th, 2004. A 17-year old girl walks towards the bright lights of a hospital in Lansing, Michigan. She’s with her mom and a police officer. Brianne Randall-Gay has just come from the police station, where she reported what Dr. Larry Nassar did to her during an appointment earlier that day.
Episode 3 - The Basement. Kyle Stephens lives in Chicago and works at a high-powered job with a lot of responsibility. She’s got a boyfriend and a full life. “I love the little things,” she says. “I like to cook, I love to decorate. I like doing art, you know? And then just spending time with the people that I, that I like and love.” But Kyle also has an incredibly disturbing story from her childhood. One that — as hard as it is to read — will help you understand who Larry Nassar really is.
Episode 4 - Gaslighting. When Amanda Thomashow was a graduate student at Michigan State University in 2014, an old cheerleading injury started to flare up. Amanda’s mom Suzanne is a pediatrician, so she recommended a doctor she’s known since medical school: Dr. Larry Nassar. Amanda frantically called her mom after the appointment to tell her what happened.
Episode 5 - How He Got Caught. For Larry Nassar, the beginning of the end comes in the summer of 2016, thanks to three things: a tough police detective, a dedicated team of journalists in Indiana, and a homeschooling mom from Kentucky.
Episode 6 - The Parents. After Rachael’s story came out in September 2016, police started getting more complaints about Larry. Within two weeks, another 16 women and girls had come forward. By November, Larry was charged with sexually abusing a child under the age of 13. Even then, many wondered: how could the parents of these girls have been in the room while Larry abused their child – and not know it was happening? For their part, the parents are asking themselves the same question.
Episode 7 - What Have You Done? On the morning of September 20, 2016, ten police officers show up at Larry Nassar’s home with a search warrant. An officer notices that a brown trash bin at the end of Larry’s driveway is still full. By sheer chance, the garbage truck was running late that day. The officer dumps Larry’s trash in the back of a police pickup truck. When they get it back to the station, officers comb through Larry’s garbage, where they find a little plastic grocery bag that’s filled with what looks like bathroom trash — q-tips, face wipes, Kleenex…and three external hard drives. Two of the drives have “Larry Nassar” written right on them.
Episode 8 - The Reckoning. The first day of Larry Nassar’s sentencing hearing. The first day survivors get to face him, in person. The place is packed. It’s jarring to see how young some of the faces in the courtroom are. It’s one thing to know that Larry’s victims are young. It’s another to actually see 15-year-olds sitting with their moms.
Episode 9 - Epilogue. It might feel like after Larry Nassar’s sentencing, the story was over. The bad guy went to jail. Survivors were believed. All was well in the world. But real life is so much messier than that. There are no pretty bows to tie up this story. For the women you’ve met throughout this podcast, their lives have drastically changed.
ESPN podcast feed
Episode 1 (spotify) - Made in Romania. In the middle of the Cold War, Romanian gymnastics coaches Bela and Martha Karolyi turn Nadia Comaneci, a 14-year-old gymnast from a Communist country, into a global symbol of excellence at the 1976 Olympics when she scores the first perfect 10. But Romania becomes too small and too controlled for Bela’s ambitions, and the Karolyis set their sights on the freedom of the United States.
Episode 2 (spotify) - American Hustle. After defecting from Romania, the Karolyis begin to build their gymnastics empire in the U.S. But they need a champion. Enter Mary Lou Retton, the bubbly teenager whose perfect 10 at the 1984 Olympics will make her and her coach household names. Little girls across America want to be Mary Lou, and train with her famous coach. Bela has given the United States its first gold medal in women’s gymnastics. Now he needs to harness that success to advance his own cause.
Episode 3 (spotify) - The Bela Show. Growing his image as the most well-known coach in gymnastics, Bela builds his brand and aims for more gold medals with a new star athlete. But after his champion fails at the 1992 Olympic Games in Barcelona, Bela announces he’s stepping away from elite-level gymnastics and retreats to his Ranch in Texas. But even after stepping out of the spotlight, Bela remains in focus, as accusations of abuse grow against the coach.
Episode 4 (spotify) - Home Games. Pulled back onto the world gymnastics stage by the precocious talent of their newest protege, Dominique Moceanu, Bela and Martha are all in on winning gold at the Atlanta Games. But when Dominique falls on vault, everything rides on the shoulders of Bela’s long-overshadowed veteran, Kerri Strug, to bring home the gold.
Episode 5 (spotify) - The Karolyi Way. After the glory of winning gold in Atlanta, the U.S. National Team slips on the world stage, finishing last in the finals at the 1999 World Championships. With the next Olympics less than a year away, USA Gymnastics turns to the one person they think can save the team: Bela Karolyi. Bela finally has what he’s always wanted, control over a semi-centralized training system in the United States. But on such a tight schedule, will the, “You can do it!” motivator-in-chief be able to lead a team to victory?
Episode 6 (spotify) - The Rise of Martha. For years, Martha Karolyi avoided the spotlight — appearing only as the mysterious and subservient partner of her boisterous husband. But when she is tapped to take over the national team, Martha finally comes into full view. Martha aims to prove that she can turn the United States into a dominant force in gymnastics, building teams that win gold medal after gold medal. But under Martha’s regime, injured athletes are often discarded and a culture of silence prevails.
Episode 7 (spotify) - The Unraveling. Martha has turned the U.S. women’s gymnastics program into a world powerhouse. But as Martha is taking her final victory lap at the 2016 Olympics in Rio, the gymnastics community is rocked by a scandal that will shock the world. The Karolyis’ legacy is called into question as the gymnasts grapple with the cost of what it took to earn all that gold.
---
Believed, from Michigan Public Radio:
We all think we’d be able to spot a predator like Larry Nassar, the disgraced Olympic gymnastics doctor who sexually abused patients for decades. Of course you would believe a girl or a young woman who came to you looking for help. Right? Believed is a story of survivors finding their power in a cultural moment when people are coming to understand how important that is. It’s an inside look at how a team of women — a detective, a prosecutor, and an army of survivors — won justice in one of the largest serial sexual abuse cases in U.S. history. It’s also an unnerving exploration of how even well-meaning adults can fail to believe.
Episode 1 - The Good Guy. It’s the 1996 Olympics. The U.S. Women’s Gymnastics team is on the verge of winning their first team gold medal. Kerri Strug is their last chance. She sprints toward the vault, launches into the air, and falls on the landing. Clearly injured, Strug limps back to the mat. Sprints, launches, and sticks the landing. Her score is announced: The team has won gold. But as cheers erupt from the crowd, Kerri Strug collapses. Crawls off the mat. A young trainer helps support her. “I got her, I got her,” he yells. That trainer? That’s Larry Nassar.
Episode 2 - How He Got Away. It’s late on a fall evening. Dark. September 16th, 2004. A 17-year old girl walks towards the bright lights of a hospital in Lansing, Michigan. She’s with her mom and a police officer. Brianne Randall-Gay has just come from the police station, where she reported what Dr. Larry Nassar did to her during an appointment earlier that day.
Episode 3 - The Basement. Kyle Stephens lives in Chicago and works at a high-powered job with a lot of responsibility. She’s got a boyfriend and a full life. “I love the little things,” she says. “I like to cook, I love to decorate. I like doing art, you know? And then just spending time with the people that I, that I like and love.” But Kyle also has an incredibly disturbing story from her childhood. One that — as hard as it is to read — will help you understand who Larry Nassar really is.
Episode 4 - Gaslighting. When Amanda Thomashow was a graduate student at Michigan State University in 2014, an old cheerleading injury started to flare up. Amanda’s mom Suzanne is a pediatrician, so she recommended a doctor she’s known since medical school: Dr. Larry Nassar. Amanda frantically called her mom after the appointment to tell her what happened.
Episode 5 - How He Got Caught. For Larry Nassar, the beginning of the end comes in the summer of 2016, thanks to three things: a tough police detective, a dedicated team of journalists in Indiana, and a homeschooling mom from Kentucky.
Episode 6 - The Parents. After Rachael’s story came out in September 2016, police started getting more complaints about Larry. Within two weeks, another 16 women and girls had come forward. By November, Larry was charged with sexually abusing a child under the age of 13. Even then, many wondered: how could the parents of these girls have been in the room while Larry abused their child – and not know it was happening? For their part, the parents are asking themselves the same question.
Episode 7 - What Have You Done? On the morning of September 20, 2016, ten police officers show up at Larry Nassar’s home with a search warrant. An officer notices that a brown trash bin at the end of Larry’s driveway is still full. By sheer chance, the garbage truck was running late that day. The officer dumps Larry’s trash in the back of a police pickup truck. When they get it back to the station, officers comb through Larry’s garbage, where they find a little plastic grocery bag that’s filled with what looks like bathroom trash — q-tips, face wipes, Kleenex…and three external hard drives. Two of the drives have “Larry Nassar” written right on them.
Episode 8 - The Reckoning. The first day of Larry Nassar’s sentencing hearing. The first day survivors get to face him, in person. The place is packed. It’s jarring to see how young some of the faces in the courtroom are. It’s one thing to know that Larry’s victims are young. It’s another to actually see 15-year-olds sitting with their moms.
Episode 9 - Epilogue. It might feel like after Larry Nassar’s sentencing, the story was over. The bad guy went to jail. Survivors were believed. All was well in the world. But real life is so much messier than that. There are no pretty bows to tie up this story. For the women you’ve met throughout this podcast, their lives have drastically changed.
Not defending him in any way but "there's the bad guy!" focus on Nassar, like most of these types, overlooks and gives a pass to the whole retinue of enablers and apologists that surrounded him.
He couldn't have done what he did, to as many as he did, for as long as he did, without them.
posted by lon_star at 1:22 PM on July 14, 2020 [21 favorites]
He couldn't have done what he did, to as many as he did, for as long as he did, without them.
posted by lon_star at 1:22 PM on July 14, 2020 [21 favorites]
From what I've listened to and read so far, that gets covered, lon_star.
posted by JanetLand at 1:27 PM on July 14, 2020 [4 favorites]
posted by JanetLand at 1:27 PM on July 14, 2020 [4 favorites]
It's still happening. Just the other day, a coach and gym owner was arrested here in MA for molesting a gymnast. USGA has lists of banned and restricted persons online, but the reasons are typically not explicit.
posted by Kirth Gerson at 2:00 PM on July 14, 2020
posted by Kirth Gerson at 2:00 PM on July 14, 2020
Thank God, if there's one entity we can trust to tell this story with honesty and integrity, it's the Walt Disney Corporation.
posted by 7segment at 2:50 PM on July 14, 2020 [1 favorite]
posted by 7segment at 2:50 PM on July 14, 2020 [1 favorite]
ESPN does great long-form journalism and investigative reporting, and they’ve been doing it for years.
posted by mr_roboto at 3:17 PM on July 14, 2020 [12 favorites]
posted by mr_roboto at 3:17 PM on July 14, 2020 [12 favorites]
Next up, ballet schools.
I have heard horrific things from friends of mine about 3 different ballet schools in widely separated parts of the US.
posted by jamjam at 3:29 PM on July 14, 2020 [9 favorites]
I have heard horrific things from friends of mine about 3 different ballet schools in widely separated parts of the US.
posted by jamjam at 3:29 PM on July 14, 2020 [9 favorites]
Most of those years were before they canned Bill Simmons for not toeing the company line, but, you're right, they have been.
posted by 7segment at 3:34 PM on July 14, 2020 [1 favorite]
posted by 7segment at 3:34 PM on July 14, 2020 [1 favorite]
Netflix has "Athlete A," which tells this horrible story and gives (strong) voices to the many victims [sorry, "not victims, survivors"] of Larry Nassar and USA Gymnastics
posted by chavenet at 3:56 PM on July 14, 2020 [6 favorites]
posted by chavenet at 3:56 PM on July 14, 2020 [6 favorites]
Oh durr. I just posted about Athlete A on Fanfare, because I finally had a chance to watch it today. I didn't think to look on the blue for this related thing that I hadn't realized had come out yet. I hope it's not overkill. The rest of those bastards deserve to burn as bad as Nassar.
posted by kitten kaboodle at 10:50 PM on July 14, 2020
posted by kitten kaboodle at 10:50 PM on July 14, 2020
I finished Heavy Medals. The horrifying thing is that the Karolyi system of abuse....worked. Abusing and starving children created winning champions. And a guy with his own secrets of course is a great guy to have as your doctor who will let you ignore any injuries.
The Nassar series is particularly gross and horrifying. I won't spell out the gory details that he got away with in front of parents, or with parental acceptance (in some cases) and how many years it went...good god.
posted by jenfullmoon at 9:35 PM on July 20, 2020 [1 favorite]
The Nassar series is particularly gross and horrifying. I won't spell out the gory details that he got away with in front of parents, or with parental acceptance (in some cases) and how many years it went...good god.
posted by jenfullmoon at 9:35 PM on July 20, 2020 [1 favorite]
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but this is such essential reporting,
and bearing witness,
and I am deeply glad to know these voices are finally being heard.
Thank you for posting this, ChuraChura.
posted by kristi at 12:28 PM on July 14, 2020 [25 favorites]