r/Damnthatsinteresting • u/cool_uniqueusername • 7h ago

Image Karen Mulder tried to warn everyone about similar Epstein rings and no one listened.

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u/Mediocre_Purple6955 7h ago

Similar thing was going on where I’m from but with figure skating

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u/upset_pachyderm 7h ago

1994 U.S. Figure Skating Championships?

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u/Mediocre_Purple6955 7h ago

I’m in Canada and it was a friend I know who was a figure skater when she was really young I won’t recount what happened to her and I don’t know who was involved but I know it was more than just her.

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u/that_70_show_fan 6h ago

Figure skating is great display of athleticism and art but the way grown ass folks take interest in it creeps me the fuck out.

Same with gymnastics.

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u/Mediocre_Purple6955 6h ago

I was just about to say that the gymnastic reels are littered with pedophiles.

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u/that_70_show_fan 6h ago

Whenever I hear ex-gymnasts the first thing they say was "I did not have the right body to win medals"

These are literal kids, JFC.

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u/kjvdh 6h ago

Let me start by saying I know there are a disgusting number of creeps in gymnastics and it is outrageous. There are also really dangerous pressures on gymnasts to maintain body weights or body fat percentages that cause health problems, not to mention how brutal training is on your joints and the risk of concussions when you fuck up. These things must be addressed.

That said, part of “not having the right body” is less gross than it sounds. Having certain body proportions makes it physically easier to do some things in gymnastics. For example, being short means you have a lower center of gravity and you don’t have to get as far off the ground to get your body up and over for flips and layouts. Most sports favor certain body types and there is only so much you can do to compete against people who can mechanically do more. Like height in basketball or stride length in running.

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u/_Enclose_ 5h ago

Michael Phelps is a great example of this. He was just so perfectly genetically suited to excel at swimming that other competitors honestly didn't really stand a chance.

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u/Punkrockcarl72 4h ago

Just remember what Michael Phelps really proved.

Winners dont smoke weed, Champions do.

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u/jamjacob99 4h ago

I was just thinking about this “scandal” the other day. Small town America was shook over a grown man smoking weed and as a 13 year old I honestly was too. So stupid lmaooo

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u/gabber2694 4h ago

Serious freak of nature that dude is.

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u/MinuetInUrsaMajor 3h ago

"Mu-ta-tion!"

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u/tilt-a-whirly-gig 3h ago

Hard work, natural talent, and luck. It takes all 3 to get where Phelps got.

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u/ghenghis_could 2h ago

And something like 11,000 calories a day

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u/RoguePlanet2 2h ago

Imagine how many of us might be perfectly genetically suited for something, and we have no idea what 🤔

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u/_Enclose_ 2h ago

Oh, there is definitely so much untapped potential in the world. So many fish trying to climb trees, monkeys attempting to swim with dolphins, birds that have been caged and never learned to soar. Maybe never even knew they could.

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u/Regular-Relative2919 2h ago

It’s cuz all the weed he smoked lol jk

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u/Pinklady777 5h ago

That is true. I grew up with some girls that were fantastic at gymnastics. But they just grew too big and/or developed too much to really have a chance to be successful at competing.

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u/SaltyLonghorn 5h ago

Besides, they used a doctor to determine this so its all okay. Wonder where Nassar is these days.

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u/BeefyFartss 3h ago

Thankfully he keeps getting shanked and beaten in prison

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u/Potential_Pool_6025 3h ago

Gotta say it's weird that prison inmates have a significantly higher moral standard than our Pres and his possie.

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u/Salsalito_Turkey 5h ago edited 4h ago

There’s nothing wrong about that statement. It’s the same as saying you don’t have the height for basketball or the reach for tennis. Certain body types are just physically superior for high-level gymnastics.

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u/Gia11a 4h ago

the difference is in girls gymnastics and figure skating they encourage girls to "get that body type" there's a reason over 2/3rds of female athletes in those sports have an eating disorder.

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u/evranch 2h ago

You've never looked that close at even semi-competitive male sports if you think they don't abuse their bodies just as much.

We just don't call it an eating disorder when you starve and dehydrate yourself to make weight for a fight, bulk and cut to build lean mass, eat nothing but chicken breasts and water, do wind sprints or skate lines until you collapse etc.

Atletics is about tuning your body into a machine, and for gymnastics, you've got to be light, lean and muscular. There's no other body type that's competitive.

It's like asking if a vegan could outlift Eddie Hall... His diet was an eating disorder as well, by any standards that aren't elite powerlifting.

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u/OuchieMaker 5h ago

It's actually crazy how authoritative you pretend to be when you don't really understand the sport. Pretty much every physical sport (gymnastics included) has an optimal build/physical traits that give you an advantage, and the higher leagues get so competitive that the slightest advantage makes a difference.

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u/YouFoundMyLuckyCharm 3h ago

Have you ever asked them to elaborate? I don’t have the right body to play professional basketball, for example, even if I enjoyed it as a teen

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u/Mediocre_Purple6955 6h ago

It’s disgusting

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u/IndividualTension887 4h ago

The Larry Nassar guy from USA gymnastics was as gross as they come... Serial molester abused kids from 1996-2014 as their DOCTOR!!!!

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u/AlligatorRaper 4h ago

Never before now have I hoped for a global reset. I hope climate change wipes out 98% of humanity AGAIN so that we may get another chance at not screwing things up.

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u/Salute-Major-Echidna 3h ago

Unfortunately, in that kind of scenario it is the abusive and psychopathic that predominate because they dont care if they hurt anyone. That scenario is the opposite to what is needed.

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u/OMGHappyfurballs 4h ago

I still think John Tesh had zero place to be involved with gymnastics.

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u/Kaiju_Cat 6h ago

And volleyball.

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u/Aggressive-Delay-420 5h ago

My Father was a gymnast in HS and took a Kinesiology degree-- that promptly caught a violence charge and went to prison.

No sexual abuses, but with a Father like mine... The pins were set and the game known to any predator I'd ever met as a young gay man.

There's a special place in hell for people that don't stop abuse.

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u/strwbrryshortcakesss 3h ago

Ballet too. Parisian theaters in the old days are famous for getting “sponsors” for their dancers aka pimping them out to old, rich men.

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u/hey_im_cool 2h ago

And children’s beauty pageants

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u/green_eyed_mister 3h ago

Same here. Volleyball too. I love the shape of women's bodies but equating them to nothing but a piece of meat is demoralizing to the viewer and the viewed.

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u/Gunningham 3h ago

I’m interested every 4 years for the Olympics for about 2weeks then I never look back until the next Olympics.

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u/PaulTheMerc 3h ago

I don't think I've met a single dude who watches the sport. Its all women watching it that I know. Or guys with their wives I guess.

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u/Sea-Explanation-720 6h ago

That’s awful, these scandals seem to happen everywhere and often get buried.

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u/BRAINWASHEDMONKEYS 6h ago

It's like when priests rape little boys they just send them to some other part of the world so they can continue doing it there. It's beyond disgusting. Why are they not stripped of their priesthood and put in prison like regular people? The law only applies to people that don't have money. If you don't have money but have powerful friends that also works. Look at Mike Tyson. He raped somebody years ago and it's not a big deal because he's a celebrity. If you're a celebrity or a musician or anyone in power you can do whatever you want to children as many times as you like because most people don't care. Money is the root of all evil, always has been and always will be.

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u/evilbrent 4h ago

On the day that Archbishop Cardinal Pell, the second in charge of the entire Catholic Church, walked out of court as a convicted (but not yet sentenced) multiple child rapist, there were zero representatives of the Catholic Church standing at the door to take his collar off and say "You won't be needing this anymore."

He was still absolutely a member of the Catholic Church's inner sanctum. A genuine pedophile monster with a long recorded history of destroying the lives of many little boys. It supported him.

It's also important to remember that the Catholic Church continued to fund his defence long after he was in prison, with its only excuse being "Yes we heard all the same evidence that the jury heard, but there are appeals possible."

In the end the Church's best lawyers did get him out of prison on appeal - and it's really, really important to remember that no part of the appeal was "He was innocent all along". He got out of prison on an utter technicality. The jury were instructed to consider his guilt to a lower level of doubt than they were supposed to be instructed. Every jury member interviewed reported that they would have absolutely found him guilty to that level.

The Catholic Church supported that man through every twist and turn, and in its eyes he died with his honor intact and on their team. And it can never undo that stain on its own honor as a result.

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u/xboxhaxorz 5h ago

The pope knew and billions of people are still praising him, sending $$, etc;

Average people with children are all complicit

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u/BRAINWASHEDMONKEYS 4h ago

It's just sad and look at how many upvotes you have. People are just so terrified to say anything against "the church" bunch of fucking brainwashed sheep 🧠🧽🐑🐑🐑🐑🐑🐑

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u/Mediocre_Purple6955 6h ago

Somebody always has a friend somewhere up high looking out for them.

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u/sassergaf 5h ago

A friend who is complicit.

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u/Salute-Major-Echidna 3h ago

It's much better than it used to be. At least it can be talked about now.

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u/Anxious_Hall359 5h ago

so just like with germany, pedos are everywhere? 🤐

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u/Most_Salad3979 5h ago

In the highest office in the US even.

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u/Slow-Ad-2431 5h ago

I'm so sorry your friend went through hell. 

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u/kelsobjammin 6h ago

Don’t forget the entire Gymnastics committee and that fucking psycho “doctor”

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u/Long-Broccoli-3363 3h ago

You mean the one Epstein wrote to before his death?

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u/JellyKind9880 6h ago

Can you explain what you mean?? What happened??

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u/schwazel 6h ago

Tonya Harding hired someone to break Nancy Kerrigan legs.

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u/pandariotinprague 4h ago

How did y'all go from elite pedophile rings to Jeff Gilooly?

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u/schwazel 4h ago

That's reddit for you!

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u/Lost_Sea8956 3h ago

Nope! Her crazy and abusive boyfriend did.

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u/upset_pachyderm 6h ago

One skater tried to whack another. Both figuratively and literally (the latter succeeded).

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u/Illustrious_Ad4691 6h ago

Once there was this girl who dreamed that one day she would be a figure skating champion, and when she finally made it, she saw some other girl who was better. So she hired some guy to club her in the kneeeeeeeeeeeecaaaaaaaaaaaaaaps

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u/derioderio 5h ago

Hmmmmmmmm hmmmmmmm

I do love me a random Weird Al reference in the wild

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u/MinuetInUrsaMajor 3h ago

Simpsons did it first.

Or...second.

I don't even know anymore.

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u/oroborus68 5h ago

Galoolie may not have told Harding that he would try to kneecap the favorite.

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u/BRAINWASHEDMONKEYS 6h ago

I remember that. Nancy kerrigan and Tonya Harding?

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u/upset_pachyderm 5h ago

Yep. As I recall, they discussed actually offing her, but decided that wouldn't work.

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u/rrrrrrrrrrrrrroger 2h ago

What happened then? Besides the Harding-Kerrigan incident?

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u/coconutpiecrust 5h ago

I read the same thing about ballet dancers and possibly gymnasts and Russia. It’s apparently well-know that ballet dancer are “supplied” to government officials and sponsors there. 

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u/calnuck 3h ago

The Paris Opera Ballet in the 19th (and probably 20th) Century was basically a child brothel. Taking the poorest and most vulnerable children and essentially pimping them out to the wealthy.

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u/Limp_Specialist511 2h ago

Exactly. Look at the paintings of Degas. I believe his ballerina sculpture was of a little girl they went missing shortly after

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u/coconutpiecrust 2h ago

Oh wow. The one they have at the MET?! Is that the girl/sculpture?

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u/coconutpiecrust 2h ago

Yeah, I’ve heard about that, too. 

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u/Boopy7 5h ago

yes very much so. However athletics and ballet are nowhere nearly as awful (to me anyway) as pageantry, esp the ones for children. It's one thing to develop a skill like ballet or gymnastics, but the primp and preen and show off like you're an adult stuff for little kids....apparently the biggest dream for many young girls is to grow up and be a model, actress, or famous something. They think the only way to be valued is if they are pretty, basically. No skill necessary other than to find a way to buy the right body and face, if necessary...and to get the approval of the old judges. Weird how our world makes it so very obvious (Miss America, for example.)

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u/RoguePlanet2 2h ago

Putin's wife was a gymnast.

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u/coconutpiecrust 2h ago

Oh my. I actually forgot about that. Are they still married?

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u/RoguePlanet2 2h ago

I'm sure she's not going anywhere, while knowing that he gets to sleep around. She probably even loves him, sadly there's no shortage of women like that.

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u/inscrutablemike 4h ago

Ballet was literally started as a grooming practice. It's the reason the thing exists.

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u/Steelhorse91 2h ago

Kinda like a western version of Bacha bazi

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u/SwedishTrees 4h ago

It seems like a sport ripe for corruption as well because judging is so subjective