When former gymnast Sarah Klein first learned that former Olympic Games coach John Geddert had been accused of human trafficking and sexual assault, she was relieved.
Klein, who trained with Geddert for more than a decade, says the trainer “abused me physically, verbally, emotionally and psychologically” around 1988, when she was eight. The announcement of the criminal charges on Thursday seemed like a “full circle moment,” she said.
But not long after, when Geddert killed himself, Klein felt destroyed.
“It is devastating. It is traumatizing, ”she said in an interview on Friday. “But there is no greater admission of guilt than John Geddert taking his own life. It was his last act of narcissistic control with which he lived and trained his gymnasts for decades. “
“John Geddert has always been above the law and the rules have never applied to him,” she added, saying she believes his final act “was intended to be an insult to his victims.”
Geddert, who lived in Michigan, faced 24 charges that could lead to life in prison if he had been convicted. He was due to appear in an Eaton County court near Lansing, but his body was found in a rest area along Interstate 96, according to authorities.
“This is a tragic end to a tragic story for everyone involved,” said Michigan Attorney General Dana Nessel on Thursday afternoon.
Geddert’s attorney’s office declined to comment on Friday.
The charges were the latest chapter in a sexual abuse scandal that rocked American gymnastics and revolves around Dr. Larry Nassar, the former Michigan State University sports doctor serving up to 175 years in prison.
Geddert was linked to Nassar, who served as a doctor on the Olympic team and treated injured gymnasts at the former club’s academy in the Lansing area.
Klein, 41, who says she was sexually abused by Nassar, said she had been waiting for Geddert to face justice “for a long time”. She said she believed that Nassar and Geddert had empowered each other for many years.
“There would be no Larry Nassar without John Geddert, and there would be no John Geddert without Larry Nassar,” said Klein, a Philadelphia lawyer who represents sexual abuse survivors.
Geddert denied any knowledge of Nasser’s abuse of athletes.
The news of Geddert’s suicide was harrowing, she said.
“I don’t feel any closure,” she said, comparing the experience with the feeling that her legs had been cut off.
In the absence of a criminal trial for Geddert, Klein said he expects USA Gymnastics, the national gymnastics regulator, and the United States Olympic and Paralympic Committee (USOPC), to both be “held accountable”.
“What else needs to happen to us to say, ‘Let’s be transparent. We will be responsible, and the responsibility for what happened to you under our supervision was ours and we failed you ‘, ”said Klein.
In a statement after Geddert’s death, USA Gymnastics said: “We hoped that the news of the criminal charges brought against John Geddert would bring them to justice through a legal process.
“With the news of his death by suicide, we share the feelings of shock, and our thoughts are with the gym community, which struggles with the complex emotions of this week’s events.”
In a separate statement, USOPC Chief Executive Sarah Hirshland said: “It is the voices of the survivors that matter most at this point. They continue to show bravery and strength in the most difficult circumstances – including today’s events. “
Geddert’s suicide also robbed investigators of a potential source of information about Nasser’s other facilitators, said Dmitriy Shakhnevich, a New York lawyer and professor of constitutional law at the John Jay College of Criminal Justice.
“In terms of its usefulness in this case, obviously his death is a great loss,” said Shakhnevich. “It seems clear that Nasser was the big fish here and that people like (Geddert) played minor roles. But you never know. He might be able to tell the investigators more. “
Shakhnevich said the gymnasts’ focus on becoming the best is what made them “perfect victims for the people who are in power in that world”.
“[The gymnasts] they are forced to balance their goals and dreams with doing the right thing, ”he said. “It is devastating.”
Klein described Geddert as “the worst human being I could imagine”.
“If I had a choice, I would choose 17 years of almost daily sexual abuse at the hands of Larry Nassar than spending another day with John Geddert.
“In my opinion, and I believe the opinion of many of Geddert’s gymnasts, what he did to us was much worse and much more traumatizing than having an adult male digitally penetrate you almost daily,” said Klein. “He broke us down psychologically. He hurt us physically. He embarrassed us. He terrified us and terrified us in a way that will affect us for a lifetime ”.
If you or someone you know is in crisis, call the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline at 800-273-8255, send the text message HOME to 741741 or visit SpeakingOfSuicide.com/resources for additional resources. The free 24-hour hotline for trafficking in human beings is 1-888-373-7888. The authorities recommend that those who suspect trafficking also contact the local police.