A Gymnast’s Death Was Supposed to Be a Wake-Up Call. What Took So Long?

After Henrich’s death, many in the news media seemed to blame her for succumbing to her disease. They attributed her eating disorder to the judge’s comment alone or to a lack of common sense on her part: “Irrational Obsession Consumed Her Talent, Her Life,” read a 1994 Associated Press headline. The Los Angeles Times said that she “gave in” to anorexia and that “no one could save Henrich” because she “could not save herself.”

Experts say that Henrich could have survived if she was stronger.

“She hated it as much as everyone else did,” said Moreno, her fiancé. “She didn’t want to be like this, and that was the hardest part and most tragic part about watching it.”

Henrich told a reporter from her hometown newspaper, The Examiner, in 1993 that she had experienced the illness as a malevolent force, which was different from who she was and what she wanted to be.

“It feels like there’s a beast inside of me, like a monster,” she said. “It feels evil.”

A transformation delayed

In the shock that followed Henrich’s death, many broadcasters stopped listing gymnasts’ weights in television chyrons, and the United States Gymnastics Federation — the sport’s governing body, now known as U.S.A. Gymnastics — hired Thies Marshall to create an athlete wellness program.

It was created with experts and ex-gymnasts. It included a referral system for eating disorder treatment, a curriculum for coaches covering nutrition, biomechanics and sports psychology, and a mentoring system that pairs national team members with former teammates who can serve as confidantes.

U.S.A. Gymnastics cut the program’s funding around 2000, and the system regressed. Martha Karolyi — the wife of Bela Karolyi, who, in the journalist Joan Ryan’s 1995 book, “Little Girls in Pretty Boxes,” had been publicly accused of abusive training methods — was installed as coordinator of the women’s national team. Centralized training camps were established at the Karolyis’ ranch, where the team doctor, Larry Nassar, would molest athletes for years. Many gymnasts claim that the Karolyis made it difficult for them to train with serious injuries and that they created an environment where gymnasts were afraid of eating large amounts. The Karolyis have said they were unaware of Nassar’s behavior, and their attorney has denied the abuse allegations against them.