Monday, March 20, 2017, Dr. Oz takes you inside a scandal that's been kept quiet for decades, nearly 100 top-level gymnasts, many of them Olympians, have come forward alleging sexual abuse from a man they trusted more than anyone else, their doctor, Olympic legend, Dr. Larry Nassar; starting when they were as young as eight years old. Dr. Oz is joined in an Oz Exclusive by world-class gymnast’s Dominique Moceano, Jamie Dantzscher, Jeanette Antolin and Jessica Howard speaking out about the abuse they suffered in silence while following their dreams for Olympic gold. Dr. Oz is also joined by ESPN Investigative Reporter, John Bar who has been reporting on this case since the beginning and attorney on the case, John Manly.
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On whether Jamie had a sense of what was happening to her Jamie Dantzscher explains, “I still haven't made sense of it. I think what people don't realize is that we're all going through this right now. This has brought up so many memories and this is why it's so difficult because it wasn't back then. I trusted Dr. Nassar. I didn't think he was doing anything wrong back then. Me, personally, I didn't feel uncomfortable with what he was going because I trusted him that much. And I thought he was my friend and he was helping me. He was good to me. I wasn't uncomfortable with it because of how much I trusted him. I was uncomfortable with all the other abuse and the yelling and the control and I knew something was wrong with all of that. So to realize just last year in July that I was sexually abused, too, it's almost like just add it to the list.”
Dominque Moceanu on Steve Penny’s and USA Gymnastics’s dismissal of the mention of abuse going on in gymnastics culture in her book:“Well, U.S.A. Gymnastics, Steve Penny, the president, basically dismissed a lot of what I had mentioned in my book. Gave the Karolyi's a promotion and I was ostracized by the organization. It was really, you know, disappointing because I've been talking about this since 2008. There's abuse going on in our culture that needs to be addressed… I was one of the first to come out in my book and talk so seriously about the Karolyi’s mistreatment that occurred.”
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On her feelings about the allegations against Dr. Nassar, Jeanette Antolin says: “So the people that were in charge were the national team staff, our coaches. And so those are the people that were supposed to be protecting us when we went on these trips. So knowing that those people didn't do their jobs and didn't follow the policies and procedures that were put in place to protect us, it's really sad. And I know, for all of us, our parents are having a really hard time with it because then they just blame themselves.”
On why the Karolyi ranch is coming under fire, ESPN Investigative Reporter John Bar says: “Well, they're coming under fire because what's being revealed by these young women who've come forward in the national law suits is a culture of fear at that ranch. Not on the part of every gymnast you speak with, but a number of these young women have said that they've gone through physical, verbal abuse. They describe an atmosphere where they were denied food; they were body shamed, where they were forced to disrobe to their underwear in front of their teammates, weighed in front of their teammate’s, leaves really lasting psychological baggage on these young women.”
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Dr. Oz asks Attorney John Manly, the attorney on the case, what compelled him to take this case on? John Manly explains, With the Church you have an institution that has control of hundreds of thousands of kids on a daily basis. And what's very similar is they failed the children. This case isn't just about Larry Nassar or about the fifty some odd coaches who have been charged and arrested around the county or about the five or six national team coaches who have been, [it’s about the] hundreds of little girls abused, and you know, you don't say gymnastics without USA in front of it. These women, especially these national team and Olympians, deserve better treatment then they've gotten, which is why I took the case.
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