Video After The Jump
WASHINGTON (AP) — Olympic gold medalist Simone Biles told Congress through tears Wednesday that the FBI & gymnastics officials turned a “blind eye” to USA Gymnastics team doctor Larry Nassar’s sexual abuse of her & hundreds of other women.
Biles told the Senate Judiciary Committee that “enough is enough” as she & three other U.S. gymnasts spoke in stark emotional terms about the lasting toll Nassar’s crimes have taken on their lives.
“I blame Larry Nassar & I also blame an entire system that enabled & perpetrated his abuse,” Biles said. She said USA Gymnastics & the United States Olympic and Paralympic Committee “knew that I was abused by their official team doctor long before I was ever made aware of their knowledge.”
Biles said a message needs to be sent: “If you allow a predator to harm children, the consequences will be swift and severe. Enough is enough.”
The hearing is part of a congressional effort to hold the FBI accountable after multiple missteps in investigating the case, including the delays that allowed the now-imprisoned Nassar to abuse other young gymnasts. An internal investigation by the Justice Department released in July said that the FBI made fundamental errors in the probe & did not treat the case with the “utmost seriousness” after USA Gymnastics first reported the allegations to the FBI’s field office in Indianapolis in 2015. The FBI has acknowledged its own conduct was inexcusable. At least 40 girls & women said they were molested after the FBI had been made aware of the problem.
McKayla Maroney, another gold medal winning gymnast, told senators that one night when she was 15 years old, she found the doctor on top of her while she was naked — one of many times she was abused.
“I think for so long all of us questioned, just because someone else wasn’t fully validating us, that we doubted what happened to us,” Maroney said. “And I think that makes the healing process take longer.”
Biles & Maroney were joined by Aly Raisman, another Olympic gold medalist & gymnast Maggie Nichols. Raisman said it “disgusts me” that they are still looking for answers six years after the original allegations against Nassar were reported.
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