Why the $380 million settlement in gymnast sexual abuse suit is just a start

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• Judy Woodruff:

  Just before the Boy Scout settlement was announced, there was another major settlement today.

  After a five-year battle, USA Gymnastics, the U.S. Olympic and Paralympic Committee, and their insurance companies reached a settlement with the victims of former physician Larry Nassar.

  John Yang has the details on the settlement, totaling $380 million dollars, making it among the largest ever awarded in a sexual abuse case.

• John Yang:

  Judy, the money will go to hundreds of athletes, including Olympic gold medalist Simone Biles, Aly Raisman, and McKayla Maroney. They and others were abused by Nassar when he was the U.S. women's team doctor. The two sides have been negotiating since 2018, when Nassar was sentenced an effective life sentence and USA Gymnastics filed for bankruptcy protection.

  Christine Brennan is a columnist for USA Today who has long covered Olympic sports.

  Christine, thanks for joining us.

  This settlement has been a long time coming. What is the significance to you?

• Christine Brennan, USA Today:

  John, for me, it's the end of a terrible chapter. It's certainly not the end of the story.

  But it is a significant development. And as Rachael Denhollander, who was the first courageous gymnast to come forward to The Indianapolis Star and start this torrent of stories of abuse, as she said today, Rachael Denhollander — I think she's a perfect person to quote — that this is an important and important step. And she said, to get money, actual money to these survivors, many of them need it for mental health issues, for all of the depression and other trauma that they dealt with.

  I think something we don't often think of is actually that money going to the people who need it. And she said, it's time. The time has come to do that. And I think that is a huge — a big part of the story, as well as the fact that USA Gymnastics is now going to have a survivor on its board. And there will be many other inroads that are mandated to actually have survivors playing a role in the leadership of this national governing body for gymnastics.

  And I think, hopefully, that's a model for other organizations moving forward.

• John Yang:

  And, as you say, these years of struggles, years of abuse, years of trauma, years of the fallout of that trauma, and yet this team has been so successful.

  What does that say about the resilience of these young women?

• Christine Brennan:

  If we're looking for heroes, John, they're right there. They have been there all along, not only performing so beautifully on the field of play at the Olympic Games, winning gold medals, the national anthem, red, white and blue, the flag, winning, of course, for themselves as well, but also then in Senate and House hearing rooms, fighting the battle for themselves and also for so many other survivors and those who are our victims of sexual abuse.

  And this is such an issue, a scourge in our country. And you look at Simone Biles and Aly Raisman and so many others. They are the true heroes here. And the fact, frankly, that they have had to go through this over and over again to get to this point, it's just horrifying that they — the story had to be told over and over before everyone woke up and before the lawyers stopped fighting and everyone said, OK, here's the settlement.

  But they did it. And they kept doing it. And they are role models for the ages, no doubt about it.

• John Yang:

  You said this may be the end of a chapter. It's not the end of a story.

  Last week, another coach, Tom Forster, the high-performance coach for the team, resigned. And, after that, Simone Biles tweeted: "Wait until you all realize the problem with USAG" — USA Gymnastics — isn't Tom."

  Is enough done — is more going to have to be done, do you think?

• Christine Brennan:

  I think that the stipulations that were put in place of having survivors involved in the leadership of USA Gymnastics is a start.

  I don't think anyone is Pollyanna enough to think, John, that it's all over and the problems are solved. This is a huge problem throughout sports, throughout life, church, schools, you name it. But I think the fact that Simone Biles is so emboldened to speak out and has been the conscience of our sport while winning gold medals and world championships, I think that's the positive, that we can hope that this spotlight that has been shining on the organization from its athletes, from those survivors will eventually make some things.

  But, no, I think there are always questions. And I think those questions should exist. I think it's valuable to keep asking them even in the months and years and decades ahead.

• John Yang:

  Christine Brennan of USA Today, thank you very much.

• Christine Brennan:

  John, thank you.