Netflix has a large library of movies and series that you can barely fully discover. However, there are topics that manage to captivate the interest of millions of people, as is the case with the film that managed to enter the top of the streaming platform.
The movie on Netflix that won over millions. What topic attracted attention
For a long time, especially before the revolution of 1989, the United States of America was seen as the country where anything was possible.
However, beyond the “American dream” there are also less conventional aspects. Netflix recently released the documentary “Scandal in USA Gymnastics,” a film that takes an in-depth look at doctor Larry Nassar’s abuse of the US Olympic gymnastics team.
This moving documentary focuses on the story of Maggie Nichols, but also on how journalists from the Indianapolis Star exposed the atrocities experienced by girls and women.
It was Maggie Nichols, a member of the US Olympic team and 2015 World Team Champion, who denounced Dr. Larry Nassar for his abuse. Along with his harrowing testimony, the documentary also features the stories of Jamie Dantzscher, who was also part of the US Olympic team in the 2000s, and Rachael Denhollander, who had the courage to share her childhood abuse with journalists from Indianapolis Star, from whose articles the world learned about these tragedies.
Gymnastics. Photo source: Chelsdo | Dreamstime.com
A true story from USA Gymnastics
In 2021, the international press revealed the horrors that happened at the farm owned by the Romanians Bela and Marta Karolyi, when the abusive doctor was sentenced to prison.
The Dallas News has covered in detail the biggest sex scandal in sports history, which took place at Bela Karolyi’s ranch in the US, where the US national gymnastics team trained for decades.
Although they wanted to discover a new Nadia Comăneci, the reality was completely different. The Karolyis’ harsh, Soviet-inspired training, along with the farm’s isolation, created a culture of fear and intimidation that allowed Dr. Larry Nassar, the national gymnastics team doctor, to sexually abuse young gymnasts for nearly two decades .
One of the lawsuits filed in California by Jeanette Antolin alleges that the harmful environment at the Karolyi farm facilitated these abuses. “It created a toxic environment perfect for Nassar to systematically abuse minor children, including the plaintiff, who were held captive at the farm,” the lawsuit states.
However, later the young gymnast came to loathe traveling there.
“It was like going to prison. You were going to jail. That’s how it felt. Nassar’s method of manipulation was as simple as it was dark. At the Karolyi Farm, where the coaches pushed the athletes beyond exhaustion, Nassar appeared as the girls’ only friend, with full access to the children and the trust of the adults,” Antolin said.
The Netflix documentary reveals a dark side of American gymnastics.
The Netflix documentary “Scandal in American Gymnastics” brings to the fore all that is performance gymnastics, detailing how the Karolyis monopolized the US Olympic team on their farm in Texas. However, the most shocking aspect is how the American federation covered Larry Nassar for a long time, for fear of losing the huge income he had.
“Our target was not Larry Nasar, but USA Gymnastics. We don’t want to minimize the atrocities he committed, but we wanted to paint the whole picture of what happened. Let’s show how an organization operated without scruples and exposed girls to a sexual predator,” says one of the journalists from the Indianapolis Star in the film.
Larry Nassar was dismissed from the US team in 2015 after several complaints were filed against him. Nassar, found guilty of sexual abuse against young gymnasts under the pretext of medical care, was sentenced by a court in the US state of Michigan to 175 years in prison.
Victims of sexual abuse committed by Larry Nassar, the doctor of the American national team, reached a settlement of 139 million dollars with the FBI. This settlement comes after allegations made by gymnasts of several generations, who stated that the investigation against the culprit was not properly handled by this organization.
