MSU sports medicine physician Larry Nassar, here advising MSU women’s gymnastics team member Megan Bergland, will be in Beijing next month serving as team physician for the U.S. Olympic women’s gymnastics team. Photo by G.L. Kohuth

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EAST LANSING, Mich. — Michigan State University sports medicine physician Larry Nassar will be on the sidelines as team physician for the U.S. men’s and women’s gymnastics teams at the Olympics in Beijing this summer when this year’s teams are on the floor.

Providing care for Olympic gymnasts for more than 20 years, Nassar easily drops the names of star gymnasts Kerri Strug, Shannon Miller and Dominique Dawes into the conversation.

But despite the gymnastic star power that has been a part of his life for so many years, he never takes his eye off the bottom line.

“You never think of them as a star or any such thing,” he said. “It’s about them as individuals, as people, and not about their agents or any media stuff. It’s all about taking care of them as athletes.”

A 1993 graduate of MSU’s College of Osteopathic Medicine and a faculty member in MSU’s Division of Sports Medicine, Nassar will travel to Beijing at the end of July to take part in his third Olympic Games. He was in Atlanta in 1996 and Australia in 2000, but missed the 2004 games due to the birth of his daughter.

“That year,” he said, “I took care of the team up until the time they left for Athens.”

Nassar is the national medical director for USA Gymnastics, the governing body that oversees gymnastics, and also is team physician for trampoline and tae kwon do.

“My goal is to help the athletes achieve their dreams and to do it safely,” Nassar said. “If an athlete is injured, it’s important that we not bow to outside pressures. We give them treatment options and they are included in the decision to compete or not. We need to remember that it is not just a physical injury, there is a mental side to it also.”

And, it’s important to make sure the team has continuity in its medical staff.

“We’ve taken care of many of these kids since they first put on an elite leotard,” he said. “And when it comes to the most important event of their lives, it’s important they have a medical staff they trust and know.”

Part of Nassar’s value to the Olympic team is his flexibility. Before earning his medical degree he worked as an athletic trainer.

“I still do all the athletic-training things, like taping ankles,” he said. “There are times I’m the doctor and the trainer. They get a two for one.”

When working with the likes of stars such as Miller or, from this year’s team, Shawn Johnson or Nastia Liukin, does Nassar ever feel any pressure?

“It can be kind of scary,” he said. “In the past there have been gymnasts who were invited to trials based on my recommendation of their injury. You don’t want to be wrong.”

Originally from Farmington Hills, Nassar also has a bachelor’s degree from the University of Michigan. In addition to serving as physician for the MSU women’s gymnastics and women’s crew teams, he is the team physician for Holt High School and Geddert’s Twistars Gymnastics Club, and is the medical consultant for MSU’s Wharton Center for Performing Arts.

He teaches sports medicine and physical exam skills to first- and second-year students in MSU’s College of Osteopathic Medicine.

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