Over the last several months, former Olympic Gymnasts have used their courage to come forward with sexual abuse allegations against Larry Nassar, a former USA Gymnastics Doctor. Earlier this week, Simone Biles revealed that she was also sexually assaulted by Nassar.
As new allegations pile against Nassar, Aly Raisman, an Olympic gold medalist, used her victim statement to call out Nassar and all the other adults in the room (from USA Gymnastics to coaches and other professionals) who didn’t do enough or anything to stop him or support his victims.
CNN reports that Nassar is currently on trial for sexually abusing numerous former Olympic Gymnasts. Back in June 2017, investigators started reviewing the USA Gymnastics for its failure to report sexual abuse.
While this investigation has been underway for the last several months, some survivors were able to share their victim impact statements earlier today. Raisman used her victim impact statement not only to provide investigators with evidence of Nassar’s abuse, but to confront all his enablers.
Raisman reveals in her statement, “Over those 30 years when survivors came forward, adult after adult, many in positions of authority, protected you, telling each survivor it was ok, that you weren’t abusing them.” But Raisman wasn’t done laying into his facilitators just yet. “In fact, many adults had you convince the survivors that they were being dramatic or had been mistaken. This is like being violated all over again,” she continued.
If Raisman’s assertions are true, it’s sickening to hear that other adults convinced these women that what was happening to them wasn’t wrong. If true, this is a form of gaslighting and is subsequently a form of manipulative emotional abuse. Nevertheless, this isn’t the first time that Raisman talked about this abuse.
Raisman has previously told TODAY’s Megyn Kelly that she didn’t share her own #MeToo story because the job to share these traumatizing stories shouldn’t fall on the victims. In the same interview, she also revealed that she didn’t know what was happening to her was abuse—because Nassar had used his perceived “niceness” to groom her.
However, Raisman wasn’t alone in her statements. ESPN reports that Jordyn Wieber also disclosed her own victim impact statement. In her speech, Wieber confesses a chilling statement, “I thought that training for the Olympics would be the hardest thing that I would ever have to do. But in fact, the hardest thing I’ve ever had to do is process that I am a victim of Larry Nassar.” We’re glad that Wieber chose to share the most vulnerable time of her life to fight against her alleged abuser.
However, it’s clear that Wieber, Biles and Raisman are survivors—we just hope that this ongoing investigation uncovers the truth and gives these women the closure they deserve.