Athlete A: What Maggie Nichols & The Other Gymnasts Are Doing Now

Netflix documentary Athlete A examines the USA Gymnastics sex scandal, in which sports doctor Larry Nassar was found to have used his position to sexually abuse more than 500 women and girls over the course of his three-decade career. The film’s title refers to gymnast Maggie Nichols, who lodged a complaint against Nassar in 2015 and was initially referred to as “Athlete A” in the legal proceedings.

In what Nichols’ parents believe was a retaliatory move, the young athlete was not included on the USA Olympic gymnastic team in 2016. Nichols placed sixth in the Team USA trials while still recovering from knee surgery, but was not one of the five team members or three alternates selected. For more than a year after reporting Nassar to USA Gymnastics, Nichols and her family were warned not to go public with her story. Nassar continued to work for USAG, molesting other young athletes, for fifteen months, until The Indianapolis Star published an exposé featuring an interview with another survivor of Nassar’s abuse, Rachael Denhollander.

Nassar is now in prison serving what is effectively a life sentence, and Athlete A concludes with a hopeful outlook for Nichols, who retired from elite gymnastics after not making the 2016 Olympic team. Here’s what Nichols and the other gymnasts featured in Athlete A are doing now.

Maggie Nichols Is A Leading NCAA Gymnast

After leaving USA Gymnastics, Nichols joined the University of Oklahoma’s Sooners gymnastics team and began competing in National Collegiate Athletics Association events. In Athlete A, she explains that leaving behind the Karolyis’ cruel training methods and the pressure of an Olympic track career has enabled her to rediscover her love for gymnastics. There’s more to her NCAA career than just fun, though; in her first year with the Sooners, she helped the team secure their first ever undefeated season as they defended their national championship. They achieved this again in the 2018-2019 season. In March 2020 Nicholas was named a First Team All-American in all four events, and in the all-around.

The 2019-2020 season, Nichols’ final season with the Sooners, was unfortunately cut short due to the COVID-19 pandemic. In an Instagram post she lamented the circumstances, saying she was “completely heartbroken and devastated” at not being able to finish the season. However, she also wrote that it was “a dream” to represent the Sooners and that despite all the sacrifices and struggles of her gymnastics career, “I would not change it for the WORLD, and would do it all again if I could.”

What The Other Gymnasts In Athlete A Are Doing Now

Though Nichols and Denhollander were among the first survivors to came forward and expose Nassar’s history of abuse, the case eventually inspired more than 500 current and former gymnasts to tell their own stories and seek justice. Among the most high-profile Olympic gymnasts who alleged that Nassar had abused them were four-time Olympic gold medallist Simone Biles, and two-time Olympian Aly Raisman.

The Tokyo 2020 Olympics have been postponed until summer 2021 due to the coronavirus pandemic. Biles has said that she intends to retire from elite gymnastics after the next Olympic Games, so her retirement has been postponed along with the event. Raisman announced her own retirement in January 2020, saying that she would not be competing in the upcoming Olympic Games. In an emotional letter on Instagram, Raisman alluded to her experiences with Nassar, wondering if she would be able to tell her 8 year-old self that “there are people in the sport who would fail to protect her and her teammates.” She signed off by declaring her intention to “do everything I can to make [gymnastics] safer for the many wonderful people in the sport.“

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Hannah Shaw-Williams
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Hannah has been with Screen Rant since 2013, covering news, features, movie premieres, Comic-Con and more! You can follow her on Twitter @HSW3K

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