Gymnast Names Baby After MSU Detective Who Built Nassar Case

Rachael Denhollander, the first former gymnast to publicly accuse Larry Nassar in what became the biggest sexual abuse scandal in sports history, has named her newborn daughter after a Michigan State University detective who doggedly pursued the case. Denhollander's accusation two years ago opened the floodgates for hundreds of girls and women to tell their own stories of abuse at the hands Nassar, the once prominent team physician for USA Gymnastics and a sports doctor for MSU who admitted to sexually assaulting gymnasts under the guise of medically necessary treatment.

Denhollander, 33, said in a tweet Friday that she had named her daughter Elora Renee Joy in a tribute to the MSU detective, Lt. Andrea Renee Mumford, “who fought for us and made redeeming so much evil possible.”

“Just need a few more babies so we can have namesakes for others who fought for us, too,” wrote Denhollander after the birth of her fourth child.

In 2016, Denhollander told the Indianapolis Star that Nassar penetrated her vaginally and anally and also fondled her breasts when she went to him in 2000 for treatment of back pain. She was 15 at the time.

“I was terrified. I was ashamed. I was very embarrassed,” Denhollander told IndyStar. “And I was very confused, trying to reconcile what was happening with the person he was supposed to be. He’s this famous doctor. He’s trusted by my friends. He’s trusted by these other gymnasts. How could he reach this position in the medical profession, how could he reach this kind of prominence and stature if this is who he is?”

Denhollander told the Lansing State Journal in April that she wasn’t optimistic when she reported Nassar’s abuse to MSU police and suspected that other athletes had brought up the issue and had been dismissed. But after meeting with Munford, she said she was “cautiously optimistic that she was at least going to try, that it had at least been taken seriously and that she appeared to be someone who was trustworthy.”

She tweeted that Munford and Michigan Attorney General Angela Povilaitis, who led the prosecution against Nassar, “display love, courage and sacrifice more than anyone will ever know,” and said they were “heroes long before the media attention, fighting for those with no voice and little strength left.”

In a tweet, Povilaitis congratulated Denhollander and her husband, Jacob, and their family.

“THIS little girl is going to be President one day,” she tweeted. “Or the Canadian Prime Minister. She has courage, bravery & determination in her DNA. Congratulations Rachael, Jacob & family!

After the investigation into the gymnasts’ stories, criminal sexual assault charges were filed against in 10 of the cases, resulting in two extraordinary sentencing hearings earlier this year in which the presiding judges allowed a parade of more than 150 women and girls to testify against Nassar.

Nassar, 54, is serving what amounts of a life sentence in a federal penitentiary in Tucson, Arizona.

In 2017, a federal judge sentenced Nassar to 60 years in prison after he pleaded guilty to child pornography charges. In January, a Michigan Circuit Court judge sentenced him to 40 to 175 years on state charges, and in February, another judge sentenced him to another 40 to 125 years in prison.

In all, Nassar has been accused by more than 250 women and girls and one male gymnast. The survivors of Nassar’s abuse received the Arthur Ashe Courage Award last week at the 2018 ESPY awards.

The sweeping sexual abuse scandal has rocked both the United States Olympic Committee and USA Gymnastics, the sports governing body, prompting lawsuits and organizational upheaval.

Photo: Rachael Denhollander, who was sexually abused by Larry Nassar beginning when she was 15, speaks to the press after Nassar's sentencing hearing in Eaton County Circuit Court on Feb. 5, 2018, in Charlotte, Michigan. (Photo by Scott Olson/Getty Images)