Athlete A: The Documentary That Launched a Global Crisis in Gymnastics

Netflix released Athlete A on June 24, 2020, in the midst of a global pandemic. With COVID-19 restrictions leaving many stuck at home, the documentary was released to an audience eager to consume anything new on their streaming devices. But this is not the only reason for the film's astounding impact. The film came out after four years of reporting of sexual assault by the American gymnastics team doctor Larry Nassar, yet many still had unanswered questions about how the gymnastics' national governing body, United States of America Gymnastics (USAG), handled the case.

Athlete A tells the story of gymnasts reporting the abuse to USAG, USAG attempting to cover up the allegations, and investigative reporters at one small newspaper unravelling the whole saga. Throughout the film, key journalists and police tell how they propelled the case forward, appearing to re-enact key decisions about publishing the news and visiting important places in the police investigation. Maggie Nichols, member of the American team that won the 2015 world championships, serves as the film's protagonist. After her coach reported the abuse to USAG, she became known in their documentation as Athlete A. Not long after, former club gymnast Rachael Denhollander came forward to the Indianapolis Star with her evidence of Nasser's abuse. At the same time, 2000 Olympian Jamie Dantzscher approached the newspaper. Denhollander and Dantzscher serve as the supporting characters in Athlete A, giving interviews about their experience with Nassar, USAG, the gymnastics system, and the coaches within it. Moreover, they reflect on how these experiences have followed them their whole lives. As three of the first women to come forward, Nichols, Denhollander, and Dantzscher are integral to this story, and the film does an excellent job of centering their voices.

While the story is about the revelations of sexual abuse in American gymnastics, the film makes it clear that that story cannot exist without examining the broader context of American gymnastics. This is not a historical context but rather a consideration of the power that coaches and officials have over gymnasts and their careers. The most significant revelations are about the emotionally, psychologically, and physically abusive coaching the gymnasts received. While this is of no surprise to scholars of gymnastics, these are perhaps the most startling revelations of the film. Jennifer Sey—one of the first to publicize abuse in gymnastics in her 2008 book¹ to much backlash—does an excellent job of revealing this culture in her interviews interposed in the film. Gymnasts were starved, exhausted, and in no position to speak up about it without risking repercussions in the form of not being selected for international assignments. Moreover, Sey is adamant that this is not a Karolyi² problem, not a Nassar problem: this is a gymnastics problem that has been going on since she began the sport in the 1970s. However, that storyline could have been brought to the fore with a stronger grounding in history. As is stands, the film does not linger on this idea. But Sey rightly asks, if that's the price of gold, is it worth it? Does it really bring national prestige if we know the horrors it takes to get there? Perhaps not.

Sports historians will be disappointed to find there is very little historical context or reflection in Athlete A. Abuse in gymnastics cannot be understood without acknowledging the gendered nature of this violence alongside the gendered nature of the sport.³ Women's gymnastics was specifically designed as a sport in which women could demonstrate utmost femininity. As the sport became more acrobatic, gymnasts apologized for their transgressions into masculinity (in muscular bodies and dangerous somersaults) by performing youthfulness.⁴ The result of this development was a proliferation of child gymnasts, and the age difference between these children and their coaches and officials is essential to understanding the power imbalance that facilitated all kinds of abuse in the sport. However, any discussion...