Simone Biles, the world’s greatest gymnast, ended up in tears on Wednesday after a training session in Kansas City, while discussing her lack of faith in USA Gymnastics, following the Lawrence G. Nassar sexual abuse scandal.
The Doctor was sentenced to life prison for molesting more than 300 underage athletes, while telling them it was for medical purposes. Simone Biles was one of them.
In response to a new story about a congressional subcommittee investigation focusing on the safety of athlete in the Olympic sport, she said in an interview at the training session, “We had one goal, and we’ve done everything that they’ve asked us for, even when we didn’t want to, and they couldn’t do one damn job, you had one job, you literally had one job and you couldn’t protect us“.
She added that, on some days she feels unable to train. On other days, her mind will bring her back to the abuse mid-workout, forcing her to leave the gym. She had been open about going to therapy to help cope with the trauma. She also shared how it’s been difficult to trust doctors again since her abuse.
At this point, Biles said, all she can do is hope USA Gymnastic will do the right thing, even if she has her doubts.
In response to Biles comments, the President and CEO of USA Gymnastics, Li Li Leung has said, “Simone Biles is undoubtedly the best gymnast in the world and possibly of all time. She is an outstanding representative for gymnastics and the United States. We at USA Gymnastics have made a lot of progress in strengthening our athlete safety measures and putting our athletes first, but we know we have more to do.
One of our goals is for our athletes to feel comfortable in speaking up and sharing their opinions, and we are listening to what they have to say.
We will continue to work hard to demonstrate to Simone and all of our athletes, members, community and fans that we are working to foster a safe, positive and encouraging environment where athlete voices are heard. We join the rest of her fans and the sport in wishing her the best of success this week at the championships“.
Emotional @Simone_Biles expresses frustration toward USA gymnastics at the 2019 U.S. Championships. pic.twitter.com/eM9ameQw6e
— Olympic Channel (@olympicchannel) August 7, 2019
#Peace.Love.SimoneBiles
