Most of you know me as a happy, giggly and energetic girl,” champion gymnast Simone Biles begins her letter. “But lately… I’ve felt a bit broken and the more I try to shut off the voice in my head, the louder it screams.”
On Monday, in a statement posted to Twitter, 20-year-old Biles added her voice to the chorus of more than 140 gymnasts who have said they were sexually abused by former USA Gymnastics doctor Larry Nassar, The Washington Post reports.
“Please believe me when I say it was a lot harder to first speak those words out loud than it is now to put them on paper. There are many reasons that I have been reluctant to share my story, but I know now it is not my fault,” the four-time Olympic gold medal winner said.
Biles joins several top-tier gymnasts who have accused Nassar of abuse, including Gabby Douglas, Aly Raisman and McKayla Maroney – all members the ‘Fierce Five’ American gymnastic team, which included Biles, that dominated in the 2016 Rio Olympics.
“For too long I’ve asked myself, ‘was I too naive? Was it my fault?‘ I now know the answer to those questions,” Biles posted to Twitter, echoing the confusion and misplaced self-blame felt by countless other victims. Her caption to the statement is a simple “#MeToo“.
“No. No, it was not my fault. No, I will not and should not carry the guilt that belongs to Larry Nassar, USA Gymnastics, and others,” she said.
Top Comments
McKayla Moroney signed a non-disclosure agreement with USA Gymnastics, their attempt to get her to be quiet about what had happened to her. As part of this NDA, she was paid hush money of $100,000. I think that every woman who was abused by this monster should receive an equal amount of money from Gymnastics USA, if not more, and they should be allowed to tell their stories, in full, and be paid for doing so if they wish.
The organisation that employed disgusting worm of a man has so much to answer for. The women involved should collectively sue them for everything that they've got.
Those poor poor girls, I hope they get help to understand that this is in no way their fault & thankfully he'll be away for the rest of his life, never to hurt another young girl again.
Sadly, I would put money on the fact that some of these girls had reported it at the time - no one molests people for that long without it getting out so who ignored it? Who protected this monster?