Gymnasts assail U.S. Olympic and MSU officials at senate hearing

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April 19, 2018 3:48 AM

Olympic gold medalist Jordyn Wieber told a U.S. Senate subcommittee on Wednesday that USA Gymnastics, the U.S. Olympic Committee, and Michigan State University had failed to protect its athletes from sexual abuse by Dr. Lawrence G. Nassar.

“To this day, I still don’t know how he could have been allowed to do this for so long,” Wieber said. “If these institutions had done their job, neither of us would be sitting here today.”

Wieber and Jamie Dantzscher, a fellow Olympic gymnast, testified in front of a subcommittee tasked with investigating the handling of sexual abuse allegations made by dozens of young female athletes against Nassar, a former team doctor for USA Gymnastics and a former member of the Michigan State faculty.

The hearing, held by the subcommittee on Consumer Protection, Product Safety, Insurance, and Data Security, which holds jurisdiction over the U.S. Olympic Committee, was the next step in the inquiry into the systemic problems of abuse in the U.S. gymnastics program.

Sen. Richard Blumenthal, D-Conn., the subcommitee’s ranking member, said Wednesday’s hearing was “a critical step forward.”

“Across Olympic sports, there are stories of young athletes who have been victimized and have survived physical, emotional and sexual abuse,” Blumenthal said. “We want to fight it, and correct it, and prevent it from happening again.”

Dantzscher, who won a bronze medal at the 2000 Games, said she had spoken out about Nassar’s abuse beginning that year and received criticism from members of the USA Gymnastics staff. She urged the committee to question the organization’s former chairman, Paul Parilla, and its former president, Steve Penny, and to hold USA Gymnastics accountable.

“This is a case of powerful people protecting other powerful people,” Dantzscher said. “It is up to you, as powerful members of the United States Senate, to hold them accountable, and I believe you will.”

McKayla Maroney, one of Wieber’s teammates on the 2012 U.S. gymnastics team, submitted written testimony to the committee.

“We appreciate the willingness of these athletes — who share in our determination to root out abuse in youth sport governing bodies — to share their stories,” Sen. Jerry Moran, R-Kan., the chairman of the subcommittee, said.

This article originally appeared in The New York Times.

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