Simone Biles got choked up a few times on Capital Hill as she provided testimony against her former Olympic team doctor Larry Nassar.
Simone said she is a survivor of sexual abuse and she feels that the organizations created by Congress to protect her as an athlete, USA Gymnastics, and the United States Olympic and Paralympic Committee failed to do their jobs.
As Simone goes on to talk about how she doesn’t want any other athletes to have to endure the horrors that she had to endure, before, during, and continuing to this day, in the wake of the Larry Nassar abuse, she began to get choked up and had to pause for awhile before continuing.
She said USA Gymnastics, and the United States Olympic and Paralympic Committee knew that she was abused by Nassar long before she was made aware that they knew.
In May 2015, Simone’s teammate and friend, Maggie Nichols, told the head of USA Gymnastics that she believed Simone was also a victim.
Simone said no one contacted her or her parents about the abuse while other cases were being investigated, she wasn’t contacted until after the 2016 Rio Olympics.
She wants the entities entrusted to keep their sport safe and Nassar’s enablers to be held accountable to prevent this from happening to anyone else.
Watch the video below:
Larry Nassar is a convicted sex offender who was the United States women’s national gymnastic team’s doctor for 18 years.
The USA Gymnastic sex abuse scandal that began in 2015, alleged that Nassar repeatedly sexually assaulted at least 265 young women and girls under the guise of medical treatment.
Shouts out to Simone Biles and her teammates for having the strength and courage to speak out.
Hopefully, those responsible for enabling these horrible acts will be brought to justice.
Sources: ABCNews and Wikipedia
