美国国家公共电台 NPR Sexual Assault Survivor Speaks Out Against Former USA Gymnastics Doctor

 

KELLY MCEVERS, HOST:

When 33-year-old Rachael Denhollander was a young gymnast suffering from back pain, she went to see Larry Nassar. He was a doctor with Michigan State University and USA Gymnastics. Years later, she became the first person to file a criminal complaint against Nassar, and she's told her story to The Indianapolis Star.

MARY LOUISE KELLY, HOST:

Since then, more than 140 women have come forward, too, and now Nassar is being sentenced in Michigan for criminal sexual misconduct. That's on top of 60 years he'll spend in federal prison for child pornography. Nearly all of those women have been in the courtroom to look Nassar in the eye and give victim impact statements. Denhollander will give the last of those sometime next week. During a break in court today, I asked what it's been like to watch all this unfold.

RACHAEL DENHOLLANDER: You know, it is - it really is a very empowering thing. It is an incredibly difficult thing to face your abuser, but to see all of these survivors¹ able to stand up and to look Larry in the eye and to speak the truth about what he did and to put the shame and the blame and the guilt² exactly where it belongs on Larry and Larry alone is an incredible thing to witness.

KELLY: Now, I know that you were supposed to speak today. Your statement has now been pushed to early next week, I gather. How come?

DENHOLLANDER: Well, for the best and the worst reason - because there are more survivors calling in every night who are ready to stand up and face their abuser, which is an incredible thing and also a very sobering thing to continue seeing how much damage Larry Nassar was able to do in his 20 years at MSU and USAG.

KELLY: You were 15 when you went to see him. When did you first decide to tell somebody about it?

DENHOLLANDER: I first spoke³ up to an authority figure in 2004. I was coaching gymnastics at that point, and one of the young gymnasts that I coached was going to be sent to him for treatment for hip⁴ pain. She was only 7 or 8. And I thought I couldn't let that happen. So I did disclose parts of the abuse, not all of it but parts of the abuse and told the coach at the gym that he had sexually assaulted me under the guise⁵ of medical treatment and that no gymnast should be seeing him.

And the response to that was not malicious⁶ in any way, shape or form. I consider that coach a good friend still to this day. But she didn't know what to do with it. And so she did continue to send gymnasts to Larry up until the point that she stopped coaching at that gym.

KELLY: You know, we've heard so much these last few months as the behavior of powerful men has come to light and they've been confronted with things that they have done that was inappropriate or worse. Was Larry Nassar something of an open secret among young women competing for U.S. gymnastics?

DENHOLLANDER: Oh, absolutely. I mean many of the dancers, the gymnasts, the people who saw him would talk about the treatments. And you know, the conclusion was, well, this must be medical treatment because he'd never be allowed near us if it wasn't. And as a 15-year-old, that was my thought process. You know, as I lay on that exam table, the only conclusion that I could come to was that it had to be a legitimate⁷ medical treatment because surely the adults that heard the description of what he was doing would have done something if it wasn't and he would have never been near me. And that thought process caused me to lay still.

KELLY: You, we mentioned, were the very first to come forward to file a criminal complaint against Larry Nassar. That was in 2016. What happened?

DENHOLLANDER: Well, the floodgates opened. I found out that the statute⁸ of limitations had been lifted in Michigan and that I still had the option to file a police report. We packed up the family. We drove up to Michigan. We filed the police report. And two weeks after that, The Indy Star story came out, and the detective started receiving calls almost immediately from other women that had experienced the exact same thing.

KELLY: When you face him in the courtroom it sounds like next week, what are you going to say?

DENHOLLANDER: I have a lot of things that I think need to be communicated, some to Larry and some to everyone who's watching. This is the greatest sexual assault scandal in sports history. Larry is arguably the most prolific⁹ pedophile in history, and it is imperative¹⁰ that we learn some very serious lessons from what has happened here.

KELLY: Does this color your view of gymnastics now?

DENHOLLANDER: Yeah, yes. And my daughter actually is begging for gymnastics lessons. The sexual assault itself does not color my view of gymnastics. I think it is an incredible, beautiful sport, that there is so much good that can come from it. But the way USAG has created a culture in gymnastics absolutely has colored my view because the reality is that Larry is not the problem. Larry is a symptom of the problem. The reason Larry was able to have access to so many children for so long is because you had two major institutions who looked the other way, who had abhorrent¹¹ policies - USAG in particular when it came to reporting sexual assault. And that is something I cannot be a part of.

KELLY: May I ask? I know you have three young kids. How are you talking to your kids about this?

DENHOLLANDER: You know, my kids are 6, 3 and 2, so right now they really do not understand what is going on. I do intend to talk to them about this when they get old enough to handle it. And my hope is that my son will grow into a man who becomes a protector and a defender¹² and that my daughters will grow into warriors¹³.

KELLY: Rachael, thank you very much for talking with us.

DENHOLLANDER: Thank you.

KELLY: That's former gymnast Rachel Denhollander talking about the sentencing of Larry Nassar. He was a doctor for USA Gymnastics and Michigan State University. Today the school's board asked the state attorney general to investigate its conduct, saying this can never happen again.

1 survivors   

幸存者，残存者，生还者( survivor的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• The survivors were adrift in a lifeboat for six days. 幸存者在救生艇上漂流了六天。
• survivors clinging to a raft 紧紧抓住救生筏的幸存者

2 guilt   

n.犯罪；内疚；过失，罪责

参考例句：

• She tried to cover up her guilt by lying.她企图用谎言掩饰自己的罪行。
• Don't lay a guilt trip on your child about schoolwork.别因为功课责备孩子而使他觉得很内疚。

3 spoke   

n.（车轮的）辐条；轮辐；破坏某人的计划；阻挠某人的行动 v.讲，谈（speak的过去式）；说；演说；从某种观点来说

参考例句：

• They sourced the spoke nuts from our company.他们的轮辐螺帽是从我们公司获得的。
• The spokes of a wheel are the bars that connect the outer ring to the centre.辐条是轮子上连接外圈与中心的条棒。

4 hip   

n.臀部，髋；屋脊

参考例句：

• The thigh bone is connected to the hip bone.股骨连着髋骨。
• The new coats blouse gracefully above the hip line.新外套在臀围线上优美地打着褶皱。

5 guise   

n.外表，伪装的姿态

参考例句：

• They got into the school in the guise of inspectors.他们假装成视察员进了学校。
• The thief came into the house under the guise of a repairman.那小偷扮成个修理匠进了屋子。

6 malicious   

adj.有恶意的，心怀恶意的

参考例句：

• You ought to kick back at such malicious slander. 你应当反击这种恶毒的污蔑。
• Their talk was slightly malicious.他们的谈话有点儿心怀不轨。

7 legitimate   

adj.合法的，合理的，合乎逻辑的；v.使合法

参考例句：

• Sickness is a legitimate reason for asking for leave.生病是请假的一个正当的理由。
• That's a perfectly legitimate fear.怀有这种恐惧完全在情理之中。

8 statute   

n.成文法，法令，法规；章程，规则，条例

参考例句：

• Protection for the consumer is laid down by statute.保障消费者利益已在法令里作了规定。
• The next section will consider this environmental statute in detail.下一部分将详细论述环境法令的问题。

9 prolific   

adj.丰富的，大量的；多产的，富有创造力的

参考例句：

• She is a prolific writer of novels and short stories.她是一位多产的作家，写了很多小说和短篇故事。
• The last few pages of the document are prolific of mistakes.这个文件的最后几页错误很多。

10 imperative   

n.命令，需要；规则；祈使语气；adj.强制的；紧急的

参考例句：

• He always speaks in an imperative tone of voice.他老是用命令的口吻讲话。
• The events of the past few days make it imperative for her to act.过去这几天发生的事迫使她不得不立即行动。

11 abhorrent   

adj.可恶的，可恨的，讨厌的

参考例句：

• He is so abhorrent,saying such bullshit to confuse people.他这样乱说，妖言惑众，真是太可恶了。
• The idea of killing animals for food is abhorrent to many people.许多人想到杀生取食就感到憎恶。

12 defender   

n.保卫者，拥护者，辩护人

参考例句：

• He shouldered off a defender and shot at goal.他用肩膀挡开防守队员，然后射门。
• The defender argued down the prosecutor at the court.辩护人在法庭上驳倒了起诉人。

13 warriors   

武士，勇士，战士( warrior的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• I like reading the stories ofancient warriors. 我喜欢读有关古代武士的故事。
• The warriors speared the man to death. 武士们把那个男子戳死了。