Biles breaks down as she blames ‘entire system that enabled Larry Nassar’s sex abuse’
Simone Biles broke down in tears as she told Congress the FBI and gymnastics officials turned a “blind eye” to former team doctor Larry Nassar’s sexual abuse of her and other women.
Testifying before the Senate judiciary committee, she said “enough is enough” as she and three other US gymnasts spoke about the lasting toll Nassar’s crimes have taken on their lives.
Politicians are examining the shortcomings in the FBI investigation into Nassar, including delays that allowed him to abuse more athletes.
An internal Justice Department investigation report in July said the bureau made fundamental errors in the probe and did not treat the case with the “utmost seriousness” after USA Gymnastics first reported the allegations to the FBI’s field office in Indianapolis in 2015.
Biles said she felt the FBI “turned a blind eye to us”. Pic: AP
Biles, considered one of the greatest-ever gymnasts, said that after reading the report, she felt the FBI “turned a blind eye to us”.
Biles, who has won 25 world championship medals and seven Olympic medals, said she believed the abuse happened because organisations created by Congress to protect her as an athlete – USA Gymnastics and the US Olympic and Paralympic Committee – “failed to do their jobs”.
Hundreds of girls and women said Nassar sexually abused them under the guise of medical treatment when he worked for Michigan State and Indiana-based USA Gymnastics, which trains Olympians.
Biles, who declared herself a survivor of sexual abuse, said: “I blame Larry Nassar and I also blame an entire system that enabled and perpetrated his abuse.”
She said USA Gymnastics and the US Olympic and Paralympic Committee “knew that I was abused by their official team doctor long before I was ever made aware of their knowledge”.
Appearing alongside other athletes, including Aly Raisman, McKayla Maroney and Maggie Nichols, Ms Biles was visibly emotional.
She said: “We have been failed and we deserve answers.”
Disgraced former team USA Gymnastics doctor Larry Nassar, pictured in 2018
The hearing will examine why the FBI failed to carry out an investigation sooner into Nassar, 58, who is accused of abusing up to 150 women.
A report from Justice Department Inspector General Michael Horowitz in July found the bureau made a series of failures in its handling of allegations against him when they were made aware of the abuse.
Biles is considered one of the world’s greatest-ever gymnasts
During the hearing, Ms Biles also opened up about how the abuse had affected her during the Tokyo Olympic Games this summer, which saw her withdraw from five final events due mental health reasons.
She added she travelled to Japan without her family due to COVID-19 restrictions.
She said: “As the lone competitor in the recent Tokyo Games who was a survivor of this horror, I can assure you that the impacts of this man’s abuse are not ever over or forgotten.
“This meant I would be going to the gym, to training, to therapy, living daily among the reminders of this story for another 365 days.”
Biles during practice at the US Olympic trials
FBI director Christopher Wray, who was not leading the agency during the original investigation, told the Senate panel that the actions of the agents who botched the investigation are inexcusable, and he announced one of the agents “no longer works for the bureau in any capacity”.
Nassar was sentenced in federal court in 2017 to 60 years in prison on charges of possessing child sex abuse material.
A year later, he was also sentenced up to 175 years and up to 125 years in two separate Michigan courts for molesting female gymnasts under his care.
Anti-Trump protests took place across America on Saturday, with demonstrators decrying the administration’s immigration crackdown and mass firings at government agencies.
Events ranged from small local marches to a rally in front of the White House and a demonstration at a Massachusetts commemoration of the start of the Revolutionary War 250 years ago.
Thomas Bassford, 80, was at the battle reenactment with his two grandsons, as well as his partner and daughter.
He said: “This is a very perilous time in America for liberty. I wanted the boys to learn about the origins of this country and that sometimes we have to fight for freedom.”
At events across the country, people carried banners with slogans including “Trump fascist regime must go now!”, “No fear, no hate, no ICE in our state,” and “Fight fiercely, Harvard, fight,” referencing the university’s recent refusal to hand over much of its control to the government.
Some signs name-checked Kilmar Abrego Garcia, a Salvadorian citizen living in Maryland, who the Justice Department admits was mistakenly deported to his home country.
Read more: Donald Trump’s deportations explained
Pic: AP
People waved US flags, some of them held upside down to signal distress. In San Francisco, hundreds of people spelt out “Impeach & Remove” on a beach, also with an inverted US flag.
People walked through downtown Anchorage in Alaska with handmade signs listing reasons why they were demonstrating, including one that read: “No sign is BIG enough to list ALL of the reasons I’m here!”
Pic: AP
Protests also took place outside Tesla car dealerships against the role Elon Musk ahas played in downsizing the federal government as de facto head of the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE).
The protests come just two weeks after similar nationwide demonstrations.
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Organisers are opposing what they call Mr Trump’s civil rights violations and constitutional violations, including efforts to deport scores of immigrants and to scale back the federal government by firing thousands of government workers and effectively shuttering entire agencies.
The Trump administration, among other things, has moved to shutter Social Security Administration field offices, cut funding for government health programs and scale back protections for transgender people.
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