MadameNoire Featured Video

Olympic Gymnasts Testify On FBI Failures To Investigate Abuse

Source: Bloomberg / Getty

Simone Biles has given a moving testimony at a senate earing regarding the corrupt investigation into former USA Gymnastics doctor Larry Nassar. Nassar is currently serving 40 to 175 years since being convicted of sexually abusing over 150 girls during his 20 plus years as a doctor.

During her testimony, Biles put the blame on the USA Gymnastics (USAG) and the United States Olympic and Paralympic Committee (USOPC) for the abuse she suffered and said that they “failed to do their jobs,” CNN reported. She added that “an entire system that enabled and perpetuated his abuse.” Biles said she wants everyone involved in the FBI’s crooked investigation to be “at least be federally prosecuted to the fullest extent because they need to be held accountable.”

“I don’t want another young gymnast, Olympic athlete or any individual to experience the horror that I and hundreds of others have endured before, during and continuing to this day, in the wake — of the Larry Nassar abuse,” Biles said during the hearing.

She continued, “USA gymnastics and the United States Olympic and Paralympic committee knew that I was abused by their official team doctor long before I was ever made aware of their knowledge. We suffered and continue to suffer, because no one at the FBI, USAG, or the USOPC did what was necessary to protect us. We have been failed.”

The mishandling of Nassar was discovered after the Department of Justice‘s Inspector General Michael Horowitz released an 119-page report with details of their investigation. It was found that the FBI’s Indianapolis office’s didn’t respond “with the utmost seriousness and urgency that the allegations deserved and required.” The report stated that FBI agents didn’t respond to sexual abuse allegations against Nassar for months, which led to more athletes being sexually abused. There were also false statements made and “extremely poor judgement” shown regarding the investigation.

This week, Michael Langeman was fired from the FBI’s Indianapolis office due to his role in the botched investigation, the Washington Post reported. Langeman had interviewed athlete McKayla Maroney in 2015 about her sexual abuse allegations against Nassar.

 

Comment Disclaimer: Comments that contain profane or derogatory language, video links or exceed 200 words will require approval by a moderator before appearing in the comment section. XOXO-MN