In one hearing, the F.B.I.’s director, Christopher A. Wray, apologized for the agency’s mismanagement of the case. In heart-wrenching testimony in September, Biles, Maroney, Raisman and the former national team member Maggie Nichols described how the F.B.I. turned a blind eye to Nassar’s abuse while the investigation stalled and children suffered.
One legacy of the case will be how it empowered victims to speak about their sexual abuse and face their accusers. At Nassar’s sentencing hearings in early 2018, more than 100 girls and women he abused, including some of his patients at Michigan State University, stood in front of him and gave witness statements about how he had hurt them. Their statements were often defiant, and told of how they had persevered despite the abuse.
Because of the Nassar case, sports organizations became aware of their culpability when athletes were…
