Larry Nassar, the former USA Gymnastics and Michigan State University doctor, has been sentenced to 40 to 175 years in prison for sexually assaulting athletes under his care.

The sentence, handed down by Judge Rosemarie Aquilina, capped a remarkable seven-day hearing in which more than 150 women and girls offered statements about being abused by Nassar, a physician who was renowned for treating athletes at the sport’s highest levels.

“It is my honor and privilege to sentence you. You do not deserve to walk outside a prison ever again. You have done nothing to control those urges and anywhere you walk, destruction will occur to those most vulnerable,” Aquilina said.

Nassar’s actions were “precise, calculated, manipulative, devious, despicable,” she said.

When the hearing ended, the courtroom broke into applause. Victims and prosecutors embraced at the conclusion of the gruelling 16-month case.

The 54-year-old before serving the Michigan sentence must first serve a 60-year federal sentence for child pornography crimes. With credit for good behaviour, he could complete that sentence in about 55 years. By then, he would be more than 100 years old if still alive.

He is also scheduled to be sentenced next week on more assault convictions in Eaton County, Michigan.

The US Olympic Committee in response said it will hold an independent investigation into the scandal that has rocked USA gymnastics.

In an open letter released as disgraced USA team doctor Larry Nassar was sentenced to up to 175 years in prison, USOC chief executive Scott Blackmun said the third party probe would seek to establish “who knew what and when”.