Olympic gold medalist McKayla Maroney said she was a victim of sexual abuse over several years starting at the age of 13 when she was invited to a USA Gymnastics national team training camp.
Maroney wrote on Twitter that she was sexually abused by Dr. Larry Nassar, a longtime doctor for USA Gymnastics who has been accused of assaulting at least 140 girls and women. He is on trial in Michigan facing sexual assault charges and awaits sentencing on federal charges.
Maroney said she was told by Nassar that she was receiving "medically necessary treatment that he had been performing on patients for over 30 years."
The abuse continued until she left the sport, Maroney said. "It seemed whenever and wherever this man could find the chance, I was 'treated.'"
#MeToo pic.twitter.com/lYXaDTuOsS
— mckayla (@McKaylaMaroney) October 18, 2017
The 21-year-old from Long Beach, Calif., said she was abused before her U.S. team won the Olympic gold at the 2012 London Olympics and before she won silver on the vault.
Maroney described an incident that she said occurred when she was 15 and had traveled to the 2011 world championships in Tokyo. She said Nassar had given her a sleeping pill "and the next thing i know I was alone with him in his hotel room getting a 'treatment.' I thought I was going to die that night."
She posted the tweet describing the abuse late Monday night with the #MeToo hashtag. "People should know that this is not just happening in Hollywood," Maroney wrote. "This is happening everywhere. Wherever there is a position of power, there seems to be potential for abuse. I had a dream to go to the Olympics, and the things that I had to endure to get there were unnecessary and disgusting."'
She dreamed of becoming an Olympian while watching the 2004 Olympics, Maroney said. "From the outside looking in, it's an amazing story. I did it. I got there, but not without a price."
