The Survivor
Time|July 29, 2019

Olympic gymnastics doctor Larry Nassar molested hundreds of athletes throughout his career. Now the woman who may have been his first victim reveals how a domineering coach created a climate of fear that enabled sexual abuse

Abigail Pesta
The Survivor

Sara Teristi saw the making of a monster.

She watched a man transform from doctor to predator, starting decades ago when he gained access to a gym full of little girls. She was one of those girls. She may have been his very first target.

She first met Larry Nassar—the most prolific known sex criminal in American sports history—at a gym in Michigan in late 1988. She was a young gymnast in a vulnerable state, she says, having been emotionally trampled by her hard- driving coach, John Geddert, a man who made her feel worthless. Nassar, who was volunteering as team doctor, zoomed in on her right away.

Now in her 40s, Sara tells me her story in a quiet courtyard of an art museum near her home in Raleigh, N.C. She is sharing her experience publicly for the first time, much of it recently pieced together after repressing the memories for decades, and she does not want to tell this tale in her house, around her two young sons. She remembers how Geddert created a culture of fear at the gym— shoving her, berating her, mocking her body— and how she lost her sense of self. She recalls that he watched while Nassar sexually abused her.

Today, she wears a metal knee brace from old gymnastics injuries. Physical pain is a part of her everyday life. Then there are the psychological scars. “People don’t understand how many broken girls it takes to produce an elite athlete,” she says, delivering the haunting words with the perfect posture of a gymnast. “A coach can easily go through 300 girls, or more.”

Bu hikaye Time dergisinin July 29, 2019 sayısından alınmıştır.

Start your 7-day Magzter GOLD free trial to access thousands of curated premium stories, and 8,500+ magazines and newspapers.

Bu hikaye Time dergisinin July 29, 2019 sayısından alınmıştır.

Start your 7-day Magzter GOLD free trial to access thousands of curated premium stories, and 8,500+ magazines and newspapers.

TIME DERGISINDEN DAHA FAZLA HIKAYETümünü görüntüle
The 100 Most Influential People in the World - Pioneers
Time

The 100 Most Influential People in the World - Pioneers

America Ferrera Kennedy Odede Ophelia Dahl Sharon Lavigne Sam Tsemberis Lesley Lokko Stuart Orkin Asma Khan Priyamvada Natarajan Yoshua Bengio + more

time-read
10 dak  |
April 29, 2024
The 100 Most Influential People in the World - Icons
Time

The 100 Most Influential People in the World - Icons

Taraji P. Henson Jenni Hermoso Michael J. Fox Sofia Coppola Burna Boy Thelma Golden Elliot Page Mark Cuban Kylie Minogue Hayao Miyazaki + more

time-read
10+ dak  |
April 29, 2024
The 100 Most Influential People in the World - Innovators
Time

The 100 Most Influential People in the World - Innovators

Jensen Huang Rachel Hardeman Akiko Iwasaki Shawn Fain Maya Rudolph Dominique Crenn Marina Tabassum Dave Ricks Tory Burch Siya Kolisi + more

time-read
10+ dak  |
April 29, 2024
The 100 Most Influential People in the World - Leaders
Time

The 100 Most Influential People in the World - Leaders

Yulia Navalnaya Ajay Banga William Ruto Rena Lee Andriy Yermak Donald Tusk William Lai William Burns Narges Mohammadi Marina Silva + more

time-read
10+ dak  |
April 29, 2024
The 100 Most Influential People in the World -Titans
Time

The 100 Most Influential People in the World -Titans

Patrick Mahomes A'ja Wilson Kelly Ripa Donna Langley Satya Nadella Beth Ford Jack Antonoff Kelley Robinson Larry Ellison Max Verstappen + more

time-read
10+ dak  |
April 29, 2024
The 100 Most Influential People in the World - Artists
Time

The 100 Most Influential People in the World - Artists

Dua Lipa James McBride Da'Vine Joy Randolph Alex Edelman Dev Patel Lauren Groff Alia Bhatt Jeffrey Wright 21 Savage Jenny Holzer + more

time-read
10 dak  |
April 29, 2024
William McRaven The retired admiral who took down Osama bin Laden on why U.S. leadership matters, the AI race, and what he's going to do with $50 million
Time

William McRaven The retired admiral who took down Osama bin Laden on why U.S. leadership matters, the AI race, and what he's going to do with $50 million

You recently received the Bezos Courage and Civility Award, with $50 million to give to charities of your choice. How are you planning to use it? Almost all of this is going to be focused on veterans and their families the children who've lost fathers and mothers in combat. And the other area is mental health for servicemen. What don't the VA and the military health care system cover?

time-read
2 dak  |
April 08, 2024
The real Carmichael show
Time

The real Carmichael show

JERROD CARMICHAEL HAD BEEN a famous comedian for almost a decade when he dropped his average-dude persona and started being real. In his 2022 special, Rothaniel, he came out as gay, speaking with rueful humor about internalized homophobia and his fractured relationship with his devoutly Christian mother. It was a creative turning point as well as a personal one.

time-read
1 min  |
April 08, 2024
A jumbled parable with a glowing core
Time

A jumbled parable with a glowing core

EVEN WHEN A MOVIE IS FAR FROM PERFECT, YOU CAN tell when a director has poured his soul into it. Dev Patel's directorial debut Monkey Man-he's also the movie's star-is trying too hard, and for too much. It wants to be a political allegory, a somber study of a man haunted by childhood trauma, a clarion blast of inspiration for downtrodden humans seeking to summon strength, and last but hardly least, a brutally exhilarating action entertainment.

time-read
3 dak  |
April 08, 2024
The pacifist gospel of Civil War
Time

The pacifist gospel of Civil War

OUTSIDE OF ATLANTA, A CREAKY WHITE VAN WEAVED down a highway lined with abandoned cars. A helicopter sat in the parking lot of a charred JCPenney. Armed guards in military fatigues patrolled checkpoints. A death squad dumped corpses into a mass grave. Artillery boomed in the offing.

time-read
5 dak  |
April 08, 2024