Mike Coppola / Getty Images
Olympic gymnast McKayla Maroney said disgraced gymnastics coach Larry Nassar abused her "hundreds" of times — and made her question if her gymnastics career was "really even worth it," in her first public comments since his January court hearing.
Nassar was found guilty on multiple counts of sexual abuse and sentenced to 40 to 175 years in prison in January, and an additional 40 to 125 years in February.
Maroney also said Nassar told her that his abusive treatment was part of her "sacrifice" to get to the Olympics, and to keep it secret as others wouldn't understand.
And she blamed gymnastics authorities for their support of the coach.
Jeff Kowalsky / AFP / Getty Images
"My team won gold medals in spite of USA Gymnastics, MSU [Michigan State University], and the USOC [United States Olympics Committee]. They don’t build champions, they break them. But we’re changing that," said Maroney, at the Prevention of Cruelty to Children luncheon in New York on Tuesday.
"Within the gymnastics world, there’s no question we need to rebuild from the ground up so this never happens again," said Maroney, 22.
Maroney won a gold medal at the 2012 Olympics as part of the "Fierce Five" team, and an individual silver medal for vault. She also won gold at the World Championships three times.
Ronald Martinez / Getty Images
"I at times question if my gymnastics career was really even worth it because of the stuff I’m dealing with now, because sometimes you’re just left in the dust," Maroney told the charity luncheon. "You have to pick up the pieces of your life. That has been the hardest part for me, but it’s always three steps forward, two steps back."
At Nassar's trial in January, 133 women and girls — including Maroney — gave victim-impact statements about the abuse they'd suffered.
Maroney also spoke to NBC's Savannah Guthrie as part of a Dateline special on Larry Nassar and the abuse scandal, airing Sunday night.
In excerpts of the interview that aired Wednesday morning, Maroney said she was abused by Nassar every time she saw him, from their very first meeting on.
The gymnast also explained how he encouraged her to keep the abuse secret as others wouldn't "understand" what's involved in a gymnast's career.
Maroney: "He said that nobody would understand this, and the sacrifice it takes to get to the Olympics. You can't tell people this. And he didn't say it in a way that was, like, mean or anything like that. I actually was like, that makes sense. I don't want to tell anybody about this. And I didn't believe that they would understand."
Savannah Guthrie: "Did you think he was letting you in on some Olympic secret?
McKayla: Yes. That's what it felt like.
One of Maroney's fellow 2012 gold medal teammembers, Jordyn Wieber, announced Tuesday that she was filing a lawsuit against MSU, USA Gymnastics, the USOC over the abuse by Nassar, joining more than 260 others suing the organizations they say failed to stop Nassar.
"My teammates and I were subjected to Larry Nassar every single month at the national team training center in Texas," said Weiber.
"He was the only male allowed to be present in the athlete dorm rooms to do whatever he wanted. He was allowed to treat us in hotel rooms alone and without any supervision," she added.
"Nobody was protecting us from being taken advantage of. Nobody was even concerned whether or not we were being sexually abused. I was not protected. My teammates were not protected. My parents trusted USA Gymnastics and Larry Nassar to take care of me and we were betrayed by both," said Weiber on Tuesday, while announcing the lawsuit.
USA Gymnastics National Team Coordinators Bela and Martha Karolyi, who owned and ran the "Karolyi Ranch" in Texas, the National Team Training Center where many of the gymnasts said they were regularly abused, will also speak out publicly for the first time in the Dateline special.
from BuzzFeed - USNews https://ift.tt/2HKuCRM
No comments:
Post a Comment