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Former U.S. gymnast alleges sexual, emotional abuse in lawsuit

 
Coaches Bela and Marta Karolyi, shown here in 1996,  were aware of the abuse by a former team doctor yet did nothing to stop it, according to the lawsuit filed by a former U.S. gymnast. [Associated Press]
Coaches Bela and Marta Karolyi, shown here in 1996, were aware of the abuse by a former team doctor yet did nothing to stop it, according to the lawsuit filed by a former U.S. gymnast. [Associated Press]
Published Oct. 27, 2016

Washington Post

An unidentified former member of the U.S. gymnastics team has filed a lawsuit alleging that the former team doctor for USA Gymnastics sexually assaulted her during medical exams and that Bela and Marta Karolyi, the coaches who have transformed the American gymnastics team into an Olympic powerhouse, were aware of the abuse yet did nothing to stop it.

The lawsuit also claims the Karolyis engaged in their own pattern of physical and emotional abuse, according to ESPN's John Barr.

The lawsuit, filed in California by a 24-year-old woman who was a member of the U.S. gymnastics team from 2004 to 2010 when she was ages 12 to 18, claims that Larry Nassar, the team doctor, penetrated her vagina with his fingers in the guise of adjusting her bones.

In September, another former U.S. gymnast, a medalist at the 2000 Sydney Olympics, filed a lawsuit that made similar claims against Nassar.

Previous: USA Gymnastics routinely ignored warnings of sexual abuse, report alleges

The more recent lawsuit contends that the sexual abuse occurred at the Texas ranch owned by the Karolyis, which has served as the training facility for the U.S. gymnastics team since 2001. According to the lawsuit, Bela and Marta Karolyi "turned a blind-eye to Nassar's sexual abuse of children at the ranch" and "instituted a regime of intimidation and fear" by striking and scratching the gymnasts, depriving them of food and water, and humiliating them by telling them they were fat and making them strip to their underwear so they could be judged in front of their teammates.

Nassar and the Karolyis are named as defendants in the lawsuit, along with USA Gymnastics, current President Steve Penny, past president Robert Colarossi, and Galina Marinova and Artur Akopyan, the gymnast's private coaches.

Marta Karolyi declined to comment when reached by Barr.

USA gymnastics fired Nassar as its team doctor in the summer of 2015 after receiving complaints about sexual misconduct during medical exams. He also is under investigation in Michigan, where ESPN has found more than 30 complaints of criminal sexual misconduct lodged against him.