In a series of blistering tweets, Olympic gold medalist Aly Raisman accused USA Gymnastics of being “100% responsible” for former team doctor Larry Nasser’s years of sexual abuse that was perpetrated on the youthful members of the Olympic Women’s Gymnastics Team.
On Monday, the two-time Olympian tweeted at USA Gymnastics accusing team leadership of victim-shaming.
.@USAGym STOP VICTIM SHAMING. Your statements are hurtful. If you did not believe that I & others were abused than why pressure & manipulate us? WE WERE MOLESTED BY A MONSTER U ENABLED 2 THRIVE FOR DECADES. You are 100% responsible. It was mandatory to get "treatment" by Nassar.
— Alexandra Raisman (@Aly_Raisman) January 10, 2018
As CrimeOnline previously reported, former doctor Larry Nasser, 54, pleaded guilty to multiple charges of sexual assault while working a team doctor for USA Gymnastics. Among the Olympic gymnasts who publicly said they were victims were Aly Raisman, McKayla Maroney and Gabby Douglas.
In December 2017, Nasser was sentenced to 60 years in prison after pleading guilty to child pornography charges. He is expected to see additional time behind bars after pleading guilty to first-degree criminal sexual conduct charges.
Raisman’s series of tweets comes a day after Maggie Nichols, a former USA Gymnastics star, said she was also a victim of Nasser’s sexual malfeasance in 2015. The sports organization claimed it had hired an investigator to look into Nichols’s claim and then turned over its findings to the FBI. USA Gymnastics admitted it waited over five weeks to alert law enforcement and neglected to tell Michigan State University, where Nasser had his practice.
The tweets appear to be a response to a statement from USA Gymnastics released on Tuesday claiming that it “never attempted to hide Nassar’s misconduct.”
The statement also said that Nichols’s early reports of the abuse “did not provide reasonable suspicion that sexual abuse had occurred.”
At the 2012 Summer Olympics in London, Raisman was captain of the USA women’s gymnastics’ team which known as “The Fierce Five.” She was also captain of the 2016 RIO Olympics team.
As captain, Raisman brought home team gold medals in both Olympic games.
If athlete safety is the number 1 priority for @TeamUSA & @USAGym , why don’t they want to know all the factors that contributed to the worst case of sexual abuse in the history of sports? #INVESTIGATE #WeNeedAnswers
— Alexandra Raisman (@Aly_Raisman) January 10, 2018
“The system has to change so that athletes are safe,” she wrote in a follow-up tweet.
“Enablers need to be held accountable.”
[Feature Photo: Aly Raisman via AP/Evan Agostini/Invision]