"My name is Simone Biles, and I am a survivor of sexual abuse."

On Wednesday September 15, American gymnasts Simone Biles, McKayla Maroney, Maggie Nichols and Aly Raisman violently denounced the inaction of the federal police and the American gymnastics federation in the face of sexual abuse committed by the former team doctor. American female Larry Nassar on young athletes for two decades.

"We have been let down and we owe an explanation," voice broken with emotion, Simone Biles, 24, said before a Senate committee tasked with looking into the FBI's "breaches of duty" in the conduct of the investigation.

"My name is Simone Biles (...) and I am also a survivor of sexual abuse".

The emotion of Biles in front of Congress, with her tears when she has to pronounce the name of the pedophile Larry Nassar.

She accuses USA Gymnastics of having closed her eyes and protected Nassar.

#SimoneBiles pic.twitter.com/YQ8lkOdbv6

- Philippe Berry (@ptiberry) September 15, 2021

Larry Nassar, 58, is serving a life sentence after being heavily convicted in 2017 and 2018 for sexually assaulting more than 250 gymnasts, mostly minors, committed within the Gymnastics Federation at the University of 'State of Michigan and in a gymnastics club.

An inspection report from the Department of Justice, an independent body, was very harsh on the local FBI office in Indianapolis, where the boss of the gymnastics federation first reported the charges against the osteopath in July 2015. The agents "made many fundamental mistakes in [investigating these charges] and violated several FBI rules," according to the report.

The investigation was quickly dropped and it took another report, in May 2016, for the FBI to launch a new one.     

The biggest scandal in American sports history came to light in September 2016 following an article in the Indianapolis Star daily.

"I hold an entire system responsible"

"I hold Larry Nassar accountable and I hold accountable an entire system that allowed and perpetrated these abuses, the American Gymnastics Federation and the US Olympic Committee," said Simone Biles, a huge multi-gold medalist champion.

McKayla Maroney, she focused her anger on the agent from the local FBI office who had taken his testimony, containing very specific details of the assaults, and who had reacted with "silence and contempt".

"Not only did the FBI not do an investigation, but when [federal agents] finally made a report seventeen months later, they made false statements about what I said," accused the 25-year-old gymnast, who had been assaulted when she was 13.

By falsifying her testimony, "these FBI agents committed a crime," she said, denouncing the absence of sanctions taken by the Department of Justice which chose not to prosecute these police officers.

The department refused to testify before the commission. 

Aly Raisman, victim of Larry Nassar from 2010, had denounced him in 2015 to the Federation.

Still, "the FBI took fourteen months to contact me, despite my numerous requests to testify," said the 27-year-old.

She criticized the silence of sports bodies after the departure of the selection doctor in September 2015. He had continued to work at the university and at the gymnastics club, killing a hundred additional victims.

"It was like serving innocent children to a pedophile on a silver platter," she said.  

FBI apologies

Maggie Nichols, 24, and the first to report sexual violence, also denounced the Federation for having sanctioned her for speaking out.

"My Olympic dream faded in the summer of 2015 when my coach and I denounced the assault on Larry Nassar," she said.

FBI Director Christopher Wray has apologized to the victims of Larry Nassar, admitting that "the fundamental mistakes made in 2015 and 2016 should never have been made."

The officer who oversaw the investigation was fired, he added, expressing "frustration" that the officer in charge of the investigation was not sanctioned, having retired before the findings of the investigation. general inspection. 

This agent had asked the Federation to obtain a post of head of security, which he ultimately did not obtain.

Christopher Wray also underlined that various reforms recommended by the report of the general inspectorate had been undertaken within the FBI, in particular a better training of the agents on sexual violence.

With AFP

The summary of the week

France 24 invites you to come back to the news that marked the week

I subscribe

Take international news everywhere with you!

Download the France 24 application

google-play-badge_FR