Scandal and justice: #MeToo reached the sports world in 2018

NEW YORK (AP):

One by one they came forward, more than 150 in all. Fearful, yet defiant. Vulnerable, but resolute, buoyed by the hope of catharsis and the promise of justice.

Standing in a Michigan courtroom last January, women and girls sexually abused by Larry Nassar confronted the former Michigan State University and USA Gymnastics doctor and, over seven draining days, detailed the devastating effect the molestation had on their lives.

The #MeToo movement reached the sports world in 2018 with a scandal that reverberated not just in locker rooms and gyms but in courthouses, in boardrooms and at kitchen tables. The sight of women being not just heard but believed - combined with other breakthroughs for female athletes in the fight for fair treatment - created a sense of real momentum in sports over the past year.

Female athletes "are taking control, and that's what it's all about", tennis star Serena Williams said. "Taking control of who you are."

While 2017 brought the downfall of TV personalities Matt Lauer and Charlie Rose and Hollywood mogul Harvey Weinstein, a scandal in the sports world that had been brewing for a few years blew up in 2018 into shocking front-page news.

Nassar was sentenced to 40 to 175 years in prison in a case that has had widespread and devastating fallout. Michigan State agreed to settle victims' lawsuits for US$500 million. The university president lost her job and was charged with lying to police. Others at the school or at gymnastics' national governing body, USA Gymnastics, also face charges. And the future of the organisation is in limbo.

DIFFICULT MEMORIES

Jordyn Wieber, a member of the gold-medal 2012 Olympic gymnastics team, planned to detail her allegations against Nassar quietly in a lawsuit. Yet, as she watched other victims share the most difficult memories of their lives in open court, with their tormentor 20 feet away and a TV camera broadcasting it to the world, Wieber decided to testify, too.

"I saw this effect and this power we as Olympians had by using our voice," the 23-year-old Wieber told The Associated Press. "I felt really responsible to do that. If I could do one small thing in the world of gymnastics, the world of sports, this was it. I knew it wasn't going to be easy, but I felt like it was worth it."

The young women also played a role in trying to hold USA Gymnastics and other organisations accountable for the way Nassar's abuse went unchecked for decades.

When USA Gymnastics continued to use the Karolyi Ranch training centre in Texas even after victims told of how they were abused by Nassar there, reigning Olympic champion and Nassar victim Simone Biles went on Twitter to ask why. The organisation announced almost immediately that it was leaving the facility.

Biles took then-USA Gymnastics president Kerry Perry to task in August for not speaking up to outline a way forward for the embattled organisation. Perry resigned less than a month later.

"The fact Simone is able to effect the amount of change she's been able to is a testament that athletes are starting to have a little bit of power," said former gymnast Rachael Denhollander, who filed a criminal complaint against Nassar in 2016.

The year 2018 also saw the swift downfall of former Carolina Panthers owner Jerry Richardson - who sold the team and was fined US$2.75 million by the NFL after he was accused of sexual harassment - and the continued pursuit of equal treatment of women in sports like tennis and football.

The French Open angered some in May when it declined to seed three-time winner Williams following a 14-month break from tennis in which she gave birth to a daughter. Last week, the women's tennis tour announced that starting in 2019, players coming off maternity leave or major injury may use a special ranking for up to three years upon their return.

"Serena is mainly responsible for bringing that issue to the forefront: Should you be treated the same for pregnancy as you are if you miss time with an injury?" tennis Hall of Famer Chris Evert said. The new rule "obviously was an advancement in the women's game".