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Nassar is serving a life sentence after nearly
200 victims testified that he sexually abused them over decades,
a scandal that shook the gymnastics world and prompted a series
of civil investigations into the sport and the U.S. Olympic
Committee.
Martha and Bela Karolyi, under whose coaching U.S. gymnasts have
consistently medaled since the 1990s, told NBC they were shocked
by the revelations that Nassar abused young women at the
couple's Huntsville, Texas, facility, which had been the Olympic
training site for the USA Gymnastics National Team.
"The whole thing is just like an explosion, a bomb exploding,"
Bela Karolyi said in the NBC interview, a portion of which was
shown Friday on the "Today" program.
Martha Karolyi said she had no way of knowing Nassar had been
sexually abusing athletes.
"I heard during the testimonies that some of the parents were in
the therapy room with their own child and Larry Nassar was
performing this — and the parent couldn't see," she said. "How
could I see?"
She expressed sympathy for the women, including some gold
medalists who were teenagers at the time, who said Nassar abused
them under the guise of medical treatment.
"Any child who was violated by Nassar, it’s a crime and it’s so
sad," she said.
The Karolyis opened their complex in the mid 1980s and it is
credited with playing a vital role in making the U.S. women's
team a dominant force in global competitions.
The entire board of directors at USA Gymnastics, the sport’s
governing body in the United States, resigned as a result of the
revelations, as did the president and athletic director at
Michigan State University, where Nassar also worked.
(Reporting by Peter Szekely; Editing by David Gregorio)
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