US gymnastics rules rekindle nightmares of Nassar survivor – Orange County Register

Larry Nassar was one of the first people to whom 11-year-old Alexandra Bourque confided that she dreamed of one day becoming an Olympic gymnast.

He told me what to do, that I had to deal with the pain and the discomfort, Bourque recalled this week. To get through difficult practices, serious injuries and (treatment).

But at the age of 13, Bourque was physically and emotionally broken.

Suffering from both a broken hip and a cracked tailbone, and increasingly uncomfortable with the regular invasive treatment she was receiving from Nassar in her vaginal area, she decided to give up her Olympic dream and quit gymnastics.

Nassar convinced her to stay in the sport.

He said that if I resigned now, I would regret it for the rest of my life, said Bourque, referring to Nassar, the longtime physician of the American National and Women's Olympic Team and staff member Michigan state sports medicine. He said I had to keep working to reach the goal of becoming an Olympian.

Bourque continued in gymnastics until the age of 15; two more years in which she said that Nassars' sexual abuse under the guise of medical treatment had worsened.

Bourque, 29, is one of 517 people who were sexually assaulted by Nassar, former U.S. Olympic coach Don Peters and other coaches and gymnastics officials from the United States. USA Gymnastics is asking them to accept a $ 217 million proposal to settle complaints of sexual abuse against the organization.

Under the terms of the settlement proposed by USA Gymnastics, as first reported by the Southern California News Group last month, payments would be structured according to a four-tier formula defined by the organization. Olympians and members of the first level World Championship team would receive $ 1.25 million each, and survivors of the fourth level would receive $ 82,500. The proposed settlement would also free the United States Olympic and Paralympic Committee, former USA Gymnastics CEO Steve Penny, Peters, former national team directors Bela and Martha Karolyi, and other officials and coaches from USA Gymnastics and USOPC of all claims.

Bourque is one of the survivors who, by United States gymnastics standards, would fall into the fourth level.

Bourque was diagnosed with post-traumatic stress disorder and endometriosis, which doctors say are both linked to Nassar's sexual abuse.

She suffered from depression, periods of suicidal thoughts and weeks and months of sleepless nights.

The costs of medical treatment, therapy and medication, all linked to abuse, were well in the six digits long ago.

But am I only worth $ 82,000? Said Bourque. I am not worth as much as another person because I was not an Olympian? I was still mistreated by (Nassar). It hampered my dream. Now my dream is only worth $ 82,000? It's really hard to hear someone putting a figure on what your dream is worth.

But for Bourque, what is most infuriating about the proposed regulation is not what USA Gymnastics offers survivors, but what the organization withholds responses.

The settlement proposal described in a statement filed with the US Indiana bankruptcy court in the southern Indiana district last month, said Bourque, is an attempt by USA Gymnastics to divide the survivors.

Instead, Bourque said that she and other survivors remained united and firm in their demand that USA Gymnastics and the USOPC publish documents and other documents that provide an image complete and precise of the culture of violence which allowed the predatory behavior of Nassar, Peters and former American citizen. team coaches, Marvin Sharp and Doug Boger, and details of when USA Gymnastics and USOPC officials became aware of the sexual abuse of young athletes and the role these same officials played, if any to cover these abuses.

To me, it was insulting that they think they could divide us like that, said Bourque, referring to USA Gymnastics. They thought they could oppose us. But I was looking for answers, not just money. The money will help pay for treatment that will help us live a normal life.

But we also want to know what happened? Why did this happen? Who knew? They can throw numbers at us, but as long as there are no answers attached to those numbers, they are not interested.

For years, Bourque has had a recurring nightmare, seeing Nassars face in his sleep, the image shaking him awake frozen with fear.

I still have nightmares, she says.

Bourque was a promising young gymnast at the West Bloomfield Sports Club in the suburbs of Detroit when she started being treated by Nassar.

The treatments soon included what Nassar called pelvic adjustments where he placed his ungloved, non-lubricated hand in Bourques' vagina. She was 11 years old.

It was a technique that Nassar would perform on hundreds of survivors under the guise of legitimate medical treatment for conditions ranging from back and hip injuries to ankle and foot conditions.

Nassar continued to abuse Bourque until the age of 15, when she finally stepped away from gymnastics and into a world of uncertainty.

She had been schooled at home to be able to devote more time and energy to gymnastics. After quitting the sport, she struggled while trying to reintegrate into public schools. The anxiety brought on by the difficult transition was exacerbated by her growing unease about what she had endured with Nassar, leaving Bourque struggling to find his bearings.

It was overwhelming, she said. I couldn't really handle stress, I couldn't control it.

So she turned to what she could control her diet.

At 19, Bourque had developed a serious eating disorder, falling further into the dark place that Nassars' abuse had first led him to.

I have had a lot of depressive episodes, she says. I felt suicidal.

The suicidal thoughts were triggered not only by memories of her abuse, but by the reaction of some after she and other survivors came forward to tell their stories of Nassar's abuse.

These people thought I was doing something for money, said Bourque.

Last year, she was officially diagnosed with PTSD. She sees a therapist at least once a week and undergoes eye movement desensitization treatment (EMDP), psychotherapy designed to allow patients access and, possibly, reduce traumatic memories. The process is physically and emotionally draining and often leaves Bourque unable to work for a day or more.

Bourque also suffers from endometriosis, a disorder in which tissues similar to the tissues of the uterine lining develop outside of the uterus. Endometriosis is most commonly found on the ovaries, fallopian tubes and tissues lining the pelvis. Endometriosis, which she says is linked to Nassars treatments, is often intensely painful, can cause heavy periods and even infertility.

My period can be so painful and heavy that I can't work for three or four days, said Bourque.

The disorder can be treated with medication, hormone therapy, surgery, and fertility treatment for women who are trying to get pregnant.

I've spent more money on my medical bills than $ 82,000 and I'm going to have to keep doing it and that is what sucks, said Bourque.

In the United States, Gymnastics has proposed that women at multiple levels who have been sexually assaulted by Nassar at the Olympics, world championships, national team training camps or at other national team events would receive $ 1,250,757 each.

Non-elite gymnasts who are victims of sexual abuse at USA Gymnastics sanctioned events would each receive $ 508,670. Those abused in non-US gymnastics sites would receive $ 174,401 each and those with derivative claims $ 82,550 each.

Our intention in providing the breakdown of the proposed allowance was to help illustrate what the settlement could mean for individual survivors and to facilitate faster recovery for all claimants. USA Gymnastics said in a statement to SCNG.

The tier system is completely ridiculous, said Mick Grewal, a Michigan lawyer who represents Bourque and 135 other Nassar survivors. (United States) Gymnastics and the (American) Olympic Committee do not understand how these young girls were mistreated and to base (compensation) on what type of gymnast you were is simply ridiculous.

Has USA Gymnastics or USOPC ever asked Bourque for details or the frequency of his abuse by Nassar?

No, she says.

Has anyone from USA Gymnastics or USOPC ever contacted her?

No, she said again.

Bourque, like many of his fellow survivors, is exasperated that under the proposed regulations, the USOPC would pay nothing to the survivors. She quotes stories from Grewal, other lawyers and survivors that between June 2015 when Penny first learned of allegations against Nassar and September 2016 when the abuses against Nassars became public , the doctor sexually abused 75 to 100 new victims. Nassar was authorized to retire as a coach of the United States national team in September 2015 without either him or USA Gymnastics describing the reason for his departure. USOPC CEO Scott Blackmun and other high-level USOPC authorities were aware of the allegations against Nassar in the window from June 2015 to September 2016.

Blackmun and other senior leaders and board members of the USOPC also dismissed concerns raised by President of the USA Gymnastics Robert Colarossi as early as 1999, according to court documents.

USOPC said it remains committed to working with USA Gymnastics, its insurers, survivors and their lawyers to get justice for survivors on an expedited basis.

It is somewhat unreal that there is no responsibility (USA Gymnastics and USOPC) when the responsibility (to protect young athletes) is in their hands and that they could have notify and protect many girls and that they have done nothing, said Bourque.

It is difficult to see someone who had such a hand in the pain and suffering of my sisters and myself to leave without paying anything and without disruption of their lives when their (actions) disrupted my daily life.