Trigger warning: Sex abuse
- Multiple U.S. gymnasts are testifying before Congress today about the FBI’s investigation of disgraced former U.S.A. Gymnastics doctor, Larry Nassar.
- Nassar was sentenced to 60 years in jail in 2017 after sexually assaulting hundreds of girls and young women during his time as the team doctor.
- Former Olympic gymnast Aly Raisman, who spoke about how the abuse has continued to impact her life.
Multiple U.S. gymnasts are testifying before Congress today about the FBI’s investigation of disgraced former U.S.A. Gymnastics doctor, Larry Nassar. Nassar was sentenced to 60 years in jail in 2017 after sexually assaulting hundreds of girls and young women during his time as the team doctor.
One of the women who came forward was former Olympic gymnast Aly Raisman, who spoke about how the abuse has continued to impact her life.
“I personally don’t think that people realize how much experiencing this type of abuse is not something one just suffers in the moment,” she said during her testimony. “It carries on with them sometimes for the rest of their lives. For example, being here today is taking everything I have. My main concern is, I hope I have the energy even to just walk out of here. I don’t think you realize how much it affects us, how much the PTSD, how much the trauma impacts us. For every survivor it’s different.”
Aly, 27, said that sometimes she doesn’t have the energy to stand up in the shower after sharing her story in public.
“I couldn’t go for a ten-minute walk, and this is from someone who competed in two Olympic games,” she said “There are times when I forget what I’m saying. I have no energy, I am 27 and my 80-year-old grandfather has more energy than I do.”
Aly said that she’s “sick” from the trauma she experienced and that it “hits me out of the blue.”
“I often wonder, am I ever going to feel better?” she added.
“I think it’s important for people to understand how much, even if we’re not crying, how much we are all struggling and how much survivors are suffering, because people often say, ‘Well, why did you just come forward now?’ Because it’s terrifying to come forward, the fear of not being believed, but also because it affects us so much,” she said. “Sometimes it’s impossible just to say the words out loud.”
Many survivors of sexual assault have spoken out to thank Aly and other gymnasts who have come forward with their testimonies.
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