Olympic athletes now have the Empowering Olympic, Paralympic and Amateur Athletes Act of 2020 on their side after President Trump signed the bill into law Oct. 30.

The bipartisan Act intends to provide an additional layer of protection for young athletes who may be vulnerable to abuse by U.S. Olympic and Paralympic employees, coaches or doctors, such as convicted sex abuser and former USA Gymnastics national team doctor Larry Nassar.

Sen. Jerry Moran (R-Kansas) and Sen. Richard Blumenthal (D-Connecticut) co-sponsored the bill that provides legislative means to dissolve the Board of Directors of the U.S. Olympic and Paralympic Committee (USOPC) and to decertify national governing bodies if Congress determines Olympic athletes have not been adequately protected from harm. The Act also establishes that the USOPC owes a duty of care to athletes that includes requiring the reporting of any allegation of child abuse to law enforcement authorities.

The Act ensures an annual amateur athlete survey is conducted that allows participants to remain anonymous and establishes an Athletes’ Advisory Council.

“We are pleased to announce that the president signed our sweeping Olympic reform legislation into law,” Moran and Blumenthal said in a released statement. “This law would not be possible were it not for the athletes and courageous survivors who traveled to Washington shared their stories and demanded change so that future generations of athletes can train, compete and succeed without fear of abuse. We are grateful to our colleagues, athlete advocates and the many survivors who helped create and advocate for this law to bring about change in the Olympic movement and allowed us to keep our promise to the survivors to get this bill across the finished line.”

Olympic Athletes Deserve Better

In 2017, a sex abuse scandal broke when USA Gymnastics and Michigan State University sports medicine doctor Larry Nassar was accused of sexual abuse over the course of decades.

More than 300 women accused Nassar of sexual assault and abuse. In 2018, Nassar pleaded guilty to charges of criminal sexual conduct and federal child pornography. He was sentenced to 60 years on the federal child pornography charges, and then he was sentenced to up to 175 years in prison on the criminal sexual conduct charges.

Not all, but many of Nassar’s victims were minors. Reportedly, some of the abuse occurred while parents were in the exam room with their child.

Alexis Moore testified in January that she was only 9 years old when Nassar began molesting her.

She said in court in January, “For years, Mr. Nassar convinced me that he was the only person who could help me recover from multiple serious injuries. To me, he was like a knight [in] shining armor. But alas, that shine blinded me from the abuse. He betrayed my trust, took advantage of my youth and sexually abused me hundreds of times.”

More than 300 people have filed civil lawsuits against Nassar, USA Gymnastics and Michigan State University. Some of the plaintiffs allege administration officials and coaches knew Nassar had been accused of sexual assault, but never did anything about the allegations.

Victims described Nassar as a smart doctor who was always supportive of their efforts. His kindness, always on display, gave cover for his abuse. Olympic athletes said they were actually told they should be grateful that Nassar was their doctor. He would give presents to the female athletes and bring them food when they were hungry at the Olympics.

Olympic gymnast Aly Raisman told Time magazine that she always felt as if Nassar was on her side and said, “He was always that person who would stick up for me and make me feel like he had my back. The more I think about it, the more I realize how twisted he was, how he manipulated me to make me think that he had my back when he didn’t.”

In addition to all of the female patients he abused, Nassar also allegedly abused one male athlete and a young girl who was the child of a family friend. The girl said she was abused for six years, starting when she was just 6 years old.

Investigators found nearly 37,000 images of child pornography in Nassar’s possession, which were discovered when his home was being searched with a warrant granted due to the allegations of child sexual abuse.

Nassar pleaded guilty to possession of child pornography in order to avoid being charged with more serious crimes that ESPN said included accusations that Nassar sexually abused children in his own home, in his swimming pool and while he was on “interstate/international travel.”

This article is not legal advice. It is presented
for informational purposes only.