Gymnastics-Nassar judge says gymnastics still failing athletes despite reforms

MANCHESTER, England, Oct 19 : Gymnastics is still failing athletes in "almost every way" despite reforms introduced in the decade since the Larry Nassar abuse scandal, the judge who sentenced the former USA Gymnastics doctor has told Reuters.

Judge Rosemarie Aquilina said changes made by governing bodies around the world amounted largely to "window dressing" and that athletes remained fearful that speaking out could cost them their place in the sport.

"I think it's failing in almost every way," Aquilina said.

"I think that what they've done across the world is window dressing to say, 'Look at us, look what we've done so well', and they're still not being accountable for the things that they're not doing.

"Safety is a human right and yet these athletes still feel that they don't have it because the sport they love will go away if they complain about anything and so we haven't come far enough at all.

"I don't think we're going to see a change in my lifetime. I think it's going to take decades," she added.

World Gymnastics and USA Gymnastics were not immediately available to comment.

Aquilina was speaking at an event organised by Gymnasts for Change International in Rotterdam in conjunction with the world championships to assess progress made on athlete welfare since the judge sent Nassar to jail for up to 175 years for sexually abusing young female gymnasts who were entrusted to his care.

Nassar was sentenced following an extraordinary week-long hearing in which 160 of his victims, most of whom were minors at the time they were abused, unflinchingly told their stories.

MEASURABLE PROGRESS

Minky Worden of Human Rights Watch said there had been measurable progress in giving athletes a voice and providing ways for them to report abuse