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In emotional testimony, U.S. gymnasts lambaste investigators of Larry Nassar's sexual abuse

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When the "Me Too" movement sparked a firestorm of stories of sexual harassment and abuse, the world learned what most women already knew. Sexual abuse isn't rare. And far too often, it is covered up, with the perpetrator being protected while victims are left to languish.

Few stories have made that reality more clear than the uncovering of the years-long, widespread sexual abuse of young female athletes on the U.S. women's gymnastics team by the team's physician, Larry Nassar. The scope of his abuse is mind-blowing. The fact that it was happening all the time, behind the scenes, while the young women he was abusing were in the spotlight winning medal after medal, is shocking.

Now we're finding out how bad the investigations were, how these women were dismissed, ignored, and neglected, how investigators allowed the abuse to continue despite ample evidence that it was happening. That is simply enraging.

In emotional testimony before the Senate Judiciary Committee this morning, Simone Biles, McKayla Maroney, Maggie Nichols, and Aly Raisman spoke frankly about what they experienced. Their stories deserve to be heard and their criticisms of the investigations need to be taken seriously.

Simone Biles took a moment to collect herself during her opening statement.

"I sit before you today to raise my voice so that no little girl must endure what I, the athletes at this table, and the countless others who needlessly suffered under Nassar's guise of medical treatment, which we continue to endure today," she said. "We suffered and continue to suffer, because no one at FBI, USAG, or the USOPC did what was necessary to protect us. We have been failed, and we deserve answers. Nassar is where he belongs, but those who enabled him deserve to be held accountable. If they are not, I am convinced that this will continue to happen to others across Olympic sports...

"A message needs to be sent: if you allow a predator to harm children, the consequences will be swift and severe. Enough is enough."

McKayla Maroney was blunt in her assessment of what happened to her and offered a scathing rebuke of the FBI investigators. who she says falsified what she told them and "conceal Nassar's crimes from the public, the media, other law enforcement agencies, and most importantly, other victims."

"They chose to protect a serial child molester, rather than protect not only me but countless others," she said.

(Warning: Detailed descriptions of sexual abuse.)

Maggie Nichols' opening statement personalized her abuse: "I was named as Gymnast 2 in the Office of Inspector General's report and previously identified as Athlete A by USA Gymnastics. I want everyone to know that this did not happen to Gymnast 2 or to Athlete A. It happened to me, Maggie Nichols."

Aly Raisman detailed what an abysmal failure the investigations into Nassar were, and shared her frustration that they are still seeking answers six years later.

"The FBI and others within both USAG and USOPC knew that Nassar molested children and did nothing to restrict his access," she said. "Steve Penny and any USAG employee could have walked a few steps to file a report with Indiana Child Protective Services, since they shared the same building.

"Instead they quietly allowed Nassar to slip out the side door, knowingly allowing him to continue his "work" at MSU, Sparrow Hospital, a USAG club, and even to run for school board. Nassar found more than 100 new victims to molest. It was like serving innocent children up to a pedophile on a silver platter."

Each of these women's testimonies matters. It takes strength and courage it takes to speak about abuse you've experienced in a public forum, much less to call out powerful institutions for their failures. Kudos to these fierce defenders of justice and protectors of children for sharing their stories and for attempting to ensure that the systems that failed them will not continue to allow harm to others.







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This U.S. men's hockey star is set to make Olympic history.

He'll become the first black hockey player to take the ice for Team USA in Olympics history.

In the 98 years that hockey has been an Olympic sport, no black athlete has ever been named to a Team USA roster — until now.

20-year-old Jordan Greenway is poised to make history when he takes the ice at next month's Winter Olympics. The Boston University forward was officially named to the team's roster earlier this week, and since then, he has found himself the center of a glowing profile by Sporting News.

With NHL players absent from this year's games — the league opted not to put a break in the season schedule as they'd done in years past — Greenway is arguably the face of U.S. hockey thanks to his newfound fame. (At least for the next month or so.)

Photo by Ezra Shaw/Getty Images.

Like many Winter Olympic sports, hockey is still very white, though its makeup is slowly changing.

Greenway understands that no matter what happens later in his promising career, this moment represents a unique opportunity to inspire a younger generation.

"I’ve been able to accomplish a lot of good things and just allowing a lot of African American kids who are younger than me who see kind of what I’m doing, I hope that can be an inspiration for them," he told Sporting News. "Go out and do something different against the typical stereotypes that most African-Americans play basketball, or whatever the case is."

Jordan Greenway scores against Connor Ingram of Team Canada during a preliminary round game in the 2017 IIHF World Junior Hockey Championship in 2016 in Toronto. The USA defeated Canada 3-1. Photo by Claus Andersen/Getty Images

The profile notes that Greenway is just one of 13 African American athletes playing Division I men's hockey, making up less than one percent of the total. When it comes to the pros, black athletes are represented slightly better, though they still account for just 2.29% of all players.

For what it's worth, the NHL has been investing time, money, and energy into increasing league diversity in past years.

Individual teams like the Philadelphia Flyers, New York Rangers, Washington Capitals, Chicago Blackhawks, and San Jose Sharks, have launched inner-city outreach programs aimed at making hockey accessible to kids of all backgrounds and income levels.

"We want to get sticks in the hands of kids by taking the cost out of by [sic] letting them play. They learn about hockey, they learn about teamwork and they learn about the sport," Chicago Blackhawks senior director of Fan Development Annie Camins told Rolling Stone in 2016. More than 90,000 kids have participated in the team's program since its launch.

Children in Vancouver are seen playing street hockey during the 2010 Winter Olympics. Photo by Martin Bureau/AFP/Getty Images.

The 2018 Olympic Winter Games run from February 9-24 in Pyeongchang, South Korea.

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Now even senators are rallying around the U.S. women's hockey team. Good.

You may not see Team USA on the ice at the women's hockey world championships, which begin on March 30, in Michigan.

Players on the U.S. women's national team are planning to boycott the tournament over what they consider pathetically low wages and a general lack of support from USA Hockey, the team's governing association.

The U.S. women's team went home with the silver medal at the 2014 Winter Olympics in Sochi, Russia. Photo by Alexander Nemenov/AFP/Getty Image.

The athletes are reportedly paid just $1,000 a month during the six-month Olympic residency period and "virtually nothing" the other 3.5 years between Olympic games — even though they continue to train and compete in other events. Astoundingly, many of the players hold second and third jobs to make ends meet.

Fortunately, it appears lots of other people — including a handful of powerful U.S. senators and stars on the U.S. men's team — are in the women's corner.

In response to the charges of unfair wages and benefits, Team USA players spread the word using the hashtag #BeBoldForChange.

Their many supporters followed suit.

Hannah Beckman, a New Jersey Rocket, wants to play on Team USA someday, but under much fairer circumstances.

Olympic medalist Julie Chu of the Les Canadiennes knows that taking a stand takes guts, and she's committed to standing strong.

Johnny Laursen, who plays for the USA Warriors, a team made of wounded service members, said "silent is what [he] won't be."

Tennis champion Billie Jean King spoke out in support of equality too.

And Amanda Kessel, who plays on the women's team, said she's sitting this one out for all the younger players watching at home...

Players like Daria, a future hockey star.

And Annie, who knows she can hang with boys on the ice too.

And every other girl who deserves better than the status quo.

On March 27, the women's team gained a handful of other high profile supporters: 14 U.S. senators.

In a fiery letter to USA Hockey executive director Dave Ogrean, more than a dozen senators — including Elizabeth Warren, Dianne Feinstein, and Cory Booker — asked the organization hear out the players' demands and respond appropriately.

Photo by Alex Wong/Getty Images.

"We are disturbed by reports from the U.S. Women's National Hockey Team suggesting that USA Hockey is not providing 'equitable support' to female athletes," the senators wrote, noting the inequality goes far beyond a paycheck. "While USA Hockey provides its male athletes with a 'seemingly endless' supply of hockey equipment, for example, female players are often expected to 'buy their own.'"

Here is an excerpt from the full letter:

The U.S. Women's National Hockey Team has medaled in every Olympics since 1998, when Women's Hockey was first added as an Olympic Sport. The team has won gold medals at the IIHF World Championships for the past three years in a row. As Megan Duggan, team captain, announced last week, the women's team has "represented our country with dignity and deserves to be treated with fairness and respect." We urge you to resolve this dispute quickly to ensure that the USA Women's National Hockey Team receives equitable resources.

It appears as though USA Hockey hasn't taken the team's demands all that seriously thus far.

Last week, after players began announcing plans to sit out, the organization started reaching out to second- and third-tier players to fill the roster. In an act of solidarity, many of those athletes — including goalie Brittany Ott, whose tweet is below — have refused to step in and play.

News of the boycott has been rumbling online in recent weeks, as more and more groups — including athlete unions representing the NHL, NBA, NFL, and MLB — have spoken out in support of the women's team.

On March 26, athlete agent Allan Walsh reported the U.S. men's team might even boycott their world championship games in solidarity with the women's team.

They're scheduled to play in France and Germany in May.

It's important to note that while athletes on the men's and women's teams are paid equally by USA Hockey, all of the men are NHL players — their paychecks from being on the national team is a drop in the bucket. It's a different story for the women.

As writer Jessica Luther pointed out online, if the men's team follows through with their own boycott, it's a great example of turning allyship into real action.

The women's boycott, however, may be avoidable if all goes well at a USA Hockey emergency board meeting being held on March 27.

Board members are expected to vote on a deal that reportedly includes significant wage increases and improved benefits for players.

"[Reaching a deal with better wages and benefits] is our chance to make history for every woman on the ice today and every little girl who's just lacing up her skates for the first time," women's team forward Hilary Knight explained to USA Today. "We're hopeful for them and for us that we'll get the change that is long overdue."

This article may be updated with information on the board meeting vote.

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Leslie Jones saw Gabby Douglas getting bullied online, and she wasn't having it.

You've probably heard of badass Olympian Gabby Douglas.

Photo by Laurence Griffiths/Getty Images.

She's a gymnast who is currently competing in the 2016 Rio Olympics for Team USA.

On Aug. 9, 2016, Douglas and her teammates jumped, flipped, and spun their way onto the gold medal podium for the women's gymnastics team all-around. They got up on the stand and stood proudly as the U.S. national anthem blared through the stadium.  

It was a happy moment. Until some jerks on the internet chimed in.

People online started criticizing Douglas for not putting her hand over her heart during the national anthem. She wasn't being patriotic enough, they said.

Photo by Laurence Griffiths/Getty Images.

The Virginia-born woman competing for Team USA in the Olympics while draped in a leotard almost literally made out of  the American flag isn't patriotic enough.

I would say it's absurd, but we all know her patriotism isn't really the issue. After all, Michael Phelps laughed at his buddies' antics while the national anthem played for one of his gold medals, and no one took to Twitter to harass him.

But Douglas is black and a woman, and internet trolls, that's a double whammy in terms of being a target for harassment about everything from her hair to her smile to her general demeanor and even accusing her of bleaching her skin.

Women of color have to deal with more online harassment than anyone else by a long shot.

"I tried to stay off the internet because there's just so much negativity," Douglas reportedly said, choking back tears. "Either it was about my hair or my hand not over my heart [on the podium] or I look depressed. ... It was hurtful. It was hurtful. It was. It's been kind of a lot to deal with."

"Ghostbusters" star and Olympics enthusiast Leslie Jones also knows a thing or two about online harassment.

Photo by Frazer Harrison/Getty Images.

Jones faced an absolutely horrific amount of harassment after "Ghostbusters" premiered in July, and when she heard what was happening to Gabby, she jumped to the gymnast's defense.

Jones started the hashtag #LOVE4GABBYUSA — a spin on the #LoveForLeslieJ hashtag people used to support her just a month ago — and other Twitter users started jumping in fast.

Gabby received support from TV producer Shonda Rhimes:

From actresses Kerry Washington and Gabrielle Union:

And TV writer Jose Molina:

If you ask me, comedian Aparna Nancherla said it best:

The internet can be a pretty terrible place. Harassment of women and people of color is commonplace, and most people don't have celebrities and hashtags to come to their defense.

One thing is for sure, though. Gabby Douglas is inspiring a lot more love than hate.

Because for every hurtful tweet, there's one like this:

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