美国国家公共电台 NPR 'It's Up To All Of Us': Parents Of Young Gymnasts Respond To Nassar Abuse Scandal

 

SCOTT SIMON, HOST:

The fallout continues over the Larry Nassar sex abuse scandal¹. USA Gymnastics said on Friday that its entire board of directors will resign. More than 150 women have testified² that Nassar, former doctor of the U.S. gymnastics team, sexually⁴ abused them while he was supposed to be treating their injuries. We wondered how families of younger gymnasts may feel about this story, and we sent WAMU's Selena Simmons-Duffin to a training center in Silver Spring, Md.

SELENA SIMMONS-DUFFIN, BYLINE⁵: It's a busy weeknight at Silver Stars. Inside the huge gymnasium, toddlers tumble⁶, and the serious older kids run drills.

The walls of the lobby⁷ are lined with sparkly⁸ new leotards. Parents and babysitters chat or work and fend⁹ off requests for popsicles. There's a cooler cruelly placed right outside the gym.

UNIDENTIFIED CHILD: Ice cream. Can you buy one of those?

UNIDENTIFIED WOMAN: It's going to melt all over.

SIMMONS-DUFFIN: Most parents here are willing to talk - even about Nassar and this difficult moment for USA Gymnastics. Sari Weiner has been bringing her 6-year-old daughter here on and off for about three years.

SARI WEINER: I've always thought that the competitive¹⁰ nature of the sport is extremely messed up. I think it is just like unconscionable how long it went on and how nobody spoke¹¹ up about it. But if my daughter is, like, compulsively doing cartwheels all over the house, I'm going to put her in gymnastics for as long as she's having fun.

SIMMONS-DUFFIN: Many of the parents here are enthusiastic about gymnastics. Their kids get to work off energy, gain confidence.

CARA ALTIMUS: I still really love it for my daughter.

SIMMONS-DUFFIN: Cara Altimus brings her 3-year-old here to get stronger and have fun. She's been following the Nassar story but says it doesn't really feel connected to her experience at Silver Stars. But there was actually an issue here over the summer. A father put a small spy camera in the bathroom.

ALTIMUS: I thought the studio handled it very well. So there was a lot of communication, and their staff has re-upped their training on community safety of children.

SIMMONS-DUFFIN: Most parents I find in the waiting area are like Altimus. Their kids are little and here to play. Parents of the competitive gymnasts who are here multiple times a week mostly just drop them off and come back when practice is over. But there are a few who stay.

VALENTINO IORDACHE: My name is Valentino Iordache. It's Romanian - so gymnastics, Romania (laughter).

SIMMONS-DUFFIN: His daughter made the team USA Gymnastics level 1, where they learn the skills they'll need to compete. To him, the sexual³ abuse scandal isn't about gymnastics, and that's what he told his daughter.

IORDACHE: I told her that there are crazy people in this world, and she needs to know about it. Gymnastics has nothing to do with a bad incident here or there.

SIMMONS-DUFFIN: Lowrey Redmond's 8-year-old daughter is on the same team. For her family, the Nassar story has been a big deal.

LOWREY REDMOND: My oldest daughter, Adele, gymnastics is her life. She's kind of a mature 8-year-old, so I knew that she could handle talking about some of this. I didn't tell her the details. She knows that a lot of girls and women stood up for what's right and they're gymnasts just like her. And her first reaction was - Mom, that's really cool.

SIMMONS-DUFFIN: Her 5-year-old daughter Mabel does gymnastics at Silver Stars, too. So they're here a lot.

REDMOND: I thought maybe I would be worried about this being systemic and, you know, our girls are never going to be in a safe place. But it's up to all of us to keep coming into the gym and making the adults in charge - hold them accountable.

Hi.

SIMMONS-DUFFIN: Mabel walks up to Redmond as we talk. She's ready to go home while her sister stays to practice for another hour. They bundle up and head out into the cold evening.

REDMOND: Does Adele love gymnastics?

MABEL: Yes.

REDMOND: What about you?

MABEL: Yes.

REDMOND: Yes.

SIMMONS-DUFFIN: They're a gymnastics family, and she won't let Larry Nassar take that away from them.

For NPR News, I'm Selena Simmons-Duffin in Silver Spring, Md.

1 scandal   

n.丑事，丑闻，流言蜚语，反感，愤慨

参考例句：

• Scandal and gossip are meat and drink to him.各种丑闻和流言蜚语是他最感兴趣的事。
• His theft from the shop caused scandal in the village.他因偷商店的东西引起全村的公愤。

2 testified   

作证，证明( testify的过去式和过去分词 )； 证明，证实； 炳炳凿凿

参考例句：

• His look testified his guilt. 他的神态表明他有罪。
• Her red face testified to her guilt. 她脸红证明她内心有愧。

3 sexual   

adj.性的，两性的，性别的

参考例句：

• He was a person of gross sexual appetites.他是个性欲旺盛的人。
• It is socially irresponsible to refuse young people advice on sexual matters.拒绝向年轻人提供性方面的建议是对社会不负责任。

4 sexually   

adv.性别上地；按性别地；性欲地；两性之间地

参考例句：

• to be sexually promiscuous 性生活淫乱
• I was depressed,withdrawn and sexually frigid. 我郁郁寡欢，离群索居，没有什么性要求。 来自《简明英汉词典》

5 byline   

n.署名；v.署名

参考例句：

• His byline was absent as well.他的署名也不见了。
• We wish to thank the author of this article which carries no byline.我们要感谢这篇文章的那位没有署名的作者。

6 tumble   

vi.跌倒，摔下，翻滚，暴跌；n.跌(摔)倒

参考例句：

• Children tumble over each other in play.孩子们玩耍时相互连身翻滚。
• He took a tumble down the stairs.他摔下了楼梯。

7 lobby   

n.前厅，（剧院的）门廊

参考例句：

• As he walked through the lobby,he skirted a group of ladies.他穿过门厅时，绕过了一群女士。
• The delegates entered the assembly hall by way of the lobby.代表们通过大厅进入会场。

8 sparkly   

闪耀的

参考例句：

• Gardens and fields, sparkly green, decorated the desert landscape like bright emerald necklaces. 一片挨着一片绿得发亮的花园和田园，活像晶亮的绿宝石项链点缀着这荒凉的背景。 来自教父部分
• Description of Moongate: Blue oval sparkly vortex as tall as a player and about as wide. 月门的描述：能容纳一个玩家高宽的椭圆形，里面是有火花的蓝色漩涡。 来自互联网

9 fend   

v.照料（自己），（自己）谋生，挡开，避开

参考例句：

• I've had to fend for myself since I was 14.我从十四岁时起就不得不照料自己。
• He raised his arm up to fend branches from his eyes.他举手将树枝从他眼前挡开。

10 competitive   

adj.竞争的，比赛的，好竞争的，有竞争力的

参考例句：

• Some kinds of business are competitive.有些商业是要竞争的。
• These businessmen are both competitive and honourable.这些商人既有竞争性又很诚实。

11 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。