Meet The Journalist Who Exposed One Of The 'Biggest Scandals' In Sports History

In 2018, the entire sports community was hit by one of the “biggest scandals” in sports history. More than 150 female athletes from the United States testified against doctor Larry Nassar and accused him of sexual abuse.

A lot has been said and discussed about the terrifying encounters faced by some of the greatest sportspeople of this generation. But in the middle of all the chaos, people forgot how the journalists from IndyStar exposed the systemic abuse that the athletes went through over the years.

In an interview conducted recently, media outlet WTHI-TV10 spoke with journalist Mark Alesia who exposed Nassar and all the horrific things he did to the young female athletes. Alesia, who worked for the Indianapolis Star newspaper when the story came out, opened up about his role in catching the sexual abuser and the impact he made on the USA Gymnastics.

Alesia revealed that when he and his team got to know about the case, they immediately began to understand the magnitude of the whole controversy. The journalist also decided to do everything to get to the bottom of the case.

“We are on to something beyond [explicit] up and we have to do whatever it takes to report the truth about what is going on. How many more (athletes) could there be?” Alesia said.

Citing Alesia, the media outlet reported that the newspaper was pressured by the USA Gymnastics to not run the story because they were muckraking a “great man’s” name. However, the journalist decided to go forward with his investigation and took motivation from the courage shown by the survivors.

“It was really stressful and we were just so determined that we were not going to make any mistake that would allow somebody to disparage all of the important work,” Alesia said.

Nassar was sentenced to 125 years in prison for sexual assault.

Netflix has come up with a documentary on the particular case. Entitled “Athlete A,” the documentary follows the story of all the athletes who were sexually abused by Nassar. The title, “Athlete A,” refers to Maggie Nichols who became the first woman to tell her terrifying ordeal. Apart from Nichols, athletes like Jeanette Antolin, Simone Biles, Rachael Denhollander, Gabby Douglas, Aly Raisman, and more also came forward with their respective stories.

Alesia concluded by saying that the story of the upcoming documentary will highlight the true heroes.

“The greatest part of the story is the way survivors are documented. Rachael’s heroism, the bond these women had, and the utter determination they had to make sure that this guy (Nassar) went to jail and not just that, but other people would feel better about coming forward about their own sexual abuse,” Alesia said.