Simone Biles’ tragedy and the sex scandal that shook the sports world

Larry Nassar abused hundreds of women, including gymnastics star Simone Biles. Unable to overcome her psychological trauma, she withdrew from the Tokyo Olympics.

At the Heart of Gold: Inside the USA Gymnastics Scandal is a documentary about the biggest scandal in the history of American sports, according to Reuters .

The 90-minute film is about the efforts to expose the true face behind the virtuous facade of Larry Narras and many officials of the USA Gymnastics industry. Behind the titles of doctors and federation leaders are serious sex scandals, hurting hundreds of young girls, including Simone Biles – the pride of USA Gymnastics.

At the Heart of Gold: Inside the USA Gymnastics Scandal is a documentary about the biggest sex scandal in the history of American sports.
Sex scandal shakes US sports industry
“We were like wounded animals,” a former athlete describes the psychology of young girls who were victims of Larry Nassar in the documentary At the Heart of Gold: Inside the USA Gymnastics Scandal. Erin Lee Carr’s work closely followed the investigation to expose the true face of the sick doctor.

Larry Nassar was the USA Gymnastics team doctor who sexually abused at least 265 women and girls during his tenure at USA Gymnastics.

“You can’t show weakness, you can’t let people know you’re injured,” the film quotes one victim as saying. If an athlete reveals that he or she is injured, he or she could lose the chance to compete. “And Nassar exploited that mindset to sexually abuse hundreds of girls over decades,” the New York Times wrote.

In the film, through conversations with many victims, it can be seen that Larry Nassar often abused young girls, even minors, because they did not necessarily realize that the problem was happening to them. Nassar worked in the gymnastics industry for so long that the ages of the victims ranged from adults to teenagers, many of the victims had known Nassar for many years and even considered him a friend.

Larry Nassar sexually abused at least 265 female athletes.
The 90-minute film is not enough to tell all of Larry Nassar’s crimes that lasted nearly two decades, nor can it list all the efforts to protect him by connecting with the FBI, “going through the back door” with investigators or ignoring the athletes’ cries for help… by the leaders of the USA Gymnastics Federation.

But at least At the Heart of Gold: Inside the USA Gymnastics Scandal shows audiences how athletes were abused and how deeply they suffered.

Nassar used the trust built by his “doctor” label and his gentle, kind appearance to deceive athletes and their families. According to the film, Nassar would put his hands into girls’ private parts and abuse them even when family members were present.

He used his perspective and body to cover up his depraved acts, or used carpets and curtains to prevent family members from seeing the truth happening on the examination table.

“People just assume that doctors do their jobs, there must be no mistakes, that every checkup has a reason. And it’s a chilling reminder that real-life predators rarely look and act like the monsters we see in movies,” the New York Times commented.

“I only know how to sleep, because sleep is closest to death”
Simone Biles was one of the victims featured in At the Heart of Gold: Inside the USA Gymnastics Scandal. The 24-year-old didn’t speak up and didn’t get much screen time, but her fame brought the case to public attention. It could be said that Biles speaking up was the key to bringing the scandal to its climax and ending.

World gymnastics champion Simone Biles was also a victim of Nassar.
Biles, a four-time world champion and considered the brightest star in American gymnastics history, was pushed into the “wolves’ den” by former USA Gymnastics president Steve Penny, who knew about and repeatedly covered up Nassar’s sexual abuse, according to an article in The Washington Post . In 2015, Penny handed Biles over to Nassar without warning her or her parents about his behavior.

The gymnastics star suffered from depression after being abused and harassed. “I’m not ready to expose the truth to the world. People will see me as ‘Simone the sexually abused’ instead of ‘Simone the gymnast’,” she shared in 2019.

She also revealed that the only way for her to fight negative emotions is to sleep. “I sleep all day, just sleep. Because sleep is the closest thing to death,” Simone Biles confided.

Two years later, Simone Biles struggled to overcome her pain and fear to return to the Olympic arena, with a heavy responsibility placed on her shoulders. “If there is no one left in the sport, they will leave gymnastics,” she shared.

But Biles’ determination could not overcome the mental illness that had haunted her for years after being sexually abused. On July 27, the great star of the American team decided to withdraw from the individual all-around final, a decision that caused the team to lose to Russia after decades of dominating the sport.

The 24-year-old star suffered from depression after being sexually abused.
Biles’s reason was “unstable mental health.” Or as The Washington Post commented: “Simone Biles was abandoned by US Olympic officials, and the pain is not over yet.”

“Imagine, you’re hanging 10 feet in the air, upside down, spinning at the speed of a mechanical propeller. You have to be at 100, even 120 percent, and you have to be paying attention, because the slightest mistake can cause injury. But she said the day before (the day she decided to withdraw): ‘I don’t want to go out there and do something stupid, make a mistake, get injured, it’s not worth it. I don’t want to leave the arena on a stretcher or anything like that,'” wrote The Washington Post .

What made Biles nervous and lose focus, even making serious mistakes on the July 26 competition day, was the psychological obsession that never stopped inside her. In fact, July 27 was the 5th anniversary since Penny pushed her into Larry Nassar’s “wolf den”.

Larry Nassar was sentenced to 175 years in prison, but the sentence was not enough to soothe the soul of Simone Biles in particular and hundreds of victims in general. As Rachael Denhollander – a former athlete and one of the victims – exclaimed in the documentary At the Heart of Gold: Inside the USA Gymnastics Scandal : “Is the law going to do its utmost to protect innocent children from the devastation that sexual assault causes?”.

Former athlete Rachael Denhollander testifies at Larry Nassar’s trial in 2018.