About a month after former Team USA and Michigan State Gymnastics trainer Larry Nassar was sentenced to 60 years in prison after being caught in possession of tens of thousands of child pornography images, USA Gymnastics legend Simone Biles tweeted that she was also assaulted by Nassar.
Nassar’s allegations gained national attention when Aly Raisman first came out against Nassar in November 2017. Initially, Raisman received public support from all of her Olympic teammates, except for apparently Gabby Douglas. Douglas posted a tweet that in essence said that if women don’t want to be viewed as sexual objects, then they shouldn’t present themselves as such and should be conscious of the fashion choices they make. After immediate backlash, Douglas took back her comments and said that she used the wrong choice of words. A couple of days later, she admitted that she too had been assaulted by Nassar before.
FBI agents found over 37,000 images of illegal pornography in a trash bin outside of his home during a search in 2016. An attorney said the collection included images of children who were “very young to teens, children being raped, sexually molested, digitally penetrated.”
Biles revealed why she took so long to come out about her traumatic experience as well.
“For too long I ‘ve asked myself, ‘was I too naive? Was it my fault?’ No,” Biles posted. “No, it was not my fault. No, I will not and should carry the guilt that belongs to Larry Nassar, USAG, and others.”
Biles has become arguably the greatest gymnast of all time after her performance at the summer games in Rio back in 2016. When she returned to the states as a new A-Lister, she told her story of how she was a foster child who worked hard to get to the point where she is today in her autobiography, Courage to Soar: A Body in Motion, A Life in Balance.
See Biles’ full statement and her teammate Aly Raisman’s reaction here:
Feelings… 💭 #MeToo pic.twitter.com/ICiu0FCa0n
— Simone Biles (@Simone_Biles) January 15, 2018
💪🏻❤ pic.twitter.com/aKf6rApVlb
— Alexandra Raisman (@Aly_Raisman) January 16, 2018
I am so proud of you. You are incredible Simone. I stand with you. I am shaking reading your post. I know we will all get through this together. https://t.co/Ziec5Fkhwv
— Alexandra Raisman (@Aly_Raisman) January 15, 2018
.@susanWBrooks 2 tweet support to @usagym the day before his sentencing makes me sick. U obviously have not done ur research & taken the time to understand that @USAG enabled a pedophile for decades, the worst in the history of all sports. I ask you to stand with the survivors.
— Alexandra Raisman (@Aly_Raisman) January 15, 2018
An investigation must be done on @USAGym I am sick over this. We must get to the bottom of how this disaster happened.
— Alexandra Raisman (@Aly_Raisman) January 15, 2018
