Simone Biles Delivers Emotional Testimony on Horrifying Abuse Suffered from Larry Nassar, Blames ‘Entire System that Enabled’ Him

Simone Biles delivered a horrifying account of the abuse she suffered at the hands of former USA Gymnastics doctor Larry Nassar while testifying before the Senate.

Biles appeared before the Senate Judiciary Committee, alongside retired Olympic gymnasts McKayla Maroney and Aly Raisman, and former collegiate artistic gymnast Maggie Nichols, as the Senate examines the FBI’s failure to investigate Nassar’s crimes sooner.

Biles was the first to deliver her account, beginning her testimony by explaining how proud she is to represent the United States, and noting how important her record of 25 world championship medals and seven Olympic medals for Team USA are to her.

“I am also a survivor of sexual abuse, and I believe without a doubt, that the circumstances that led to my abuse and allowed it to continue are directly the result of the fact that the organizations created by Congress to oversee and protect me as an athlete, USA Gymnastics and the United States Olympic and Paralympic Committee failed to do their jobs,” she continued.

Biles went on to recite a quote from Nelson Mandela, who said, ‘There can be no keener revelation of a society’s soul than the way in which it treats its children.”

The gymnast used to the statement to stress that she wants to ensure that no other young gymnast, athlete, or any individual “experience the horror that I and hundreds of others have endured before, during and continuing to this day.”

Biles grew increasingly emotional while giving her account, prompting Sen. Dick Durbin (D-IL) to allow her to take a moment to compose herself.

“To be clear, I blame Larry Nassar and I also blame an entire system that enabled and perpetrated his abuse,” she said through tears. “USA Gymnastics and the United States Olympic and Paralympic Committee knew that I was abused by their official team doctor long before I was ever made aware of their knowledge.”

Biles admitted that she was not even aware of the magnitude of Nassar’s abuse until the Indianapolis Star published an article in 2016, titled “Former USA gymnastics doctor accused of abuse.”

Yet, while I was a member of the 2016 US Olympic team, neither USAG, USOPC, nor the FBI ever contacted me or my parents, while others have been informed and investigations were ongoing, I had been left to wonder why I was not told until after the Rio Games,” Biles revealed. “This is the largest case of sexual abuse in the history of American sport and although, there have been a fully independent investigation of the FBI’s handling of the case, neither USAG nor USOPC, have ever been made the subject of the same level of scrutiny.”

Biles stressed that while these organizations are trusted to protect American athletes, she feels as if the reasons for their organizational failures still remain unanswered.

“As you pursue the answers to those questions, I ask that your work be guided by the same question that Rachael Denhollander and many others have asked: How much is a little girl worth,” she continued, quoting the first person to accuse Nassar. “I sit before you today to raise my voice to that, so 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.”

Biles went on to say that she and her teammates continue to suffer because the FBI, USAG, and the USOPC failed to take the actions needed to protect them

“Nassar’s 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,” she said. “In reviewing the OIGs report, it truly feels like the FBI turned a blind eye to us and went out of its way to help protect USAG and USOPC a message needs to be set. If you allow a predator to harm children, the consequences will be swift and severe. Enough is enough.”

Biles then concluded her testimony, offering an appalling account of how Nassar’s past abuse continues to haunt her and her fellow USA gymnasts:

I will close with one final thought. The scars of this horrific abuse continued to live with all of us as the lone competitor and the recent Tokyo Games who was a survivor of this horror, I can ensure you that the impacts of this man’s abuse are not ever over or forgotten the announcement in the spring of 2020 that the Tokyo games were to be postponed for a year meant that I would be going to the gym, to training, to therapy, living daily among the reminders of this story for another 365 days. As I have stated in the past one thing that helped me push each and every day was the goal of not allowing this crisis to be ignored. I worked incredibly hard to make sure that my presence could maintain a connection between the failures and the competition at Tokyo 2020, that has proven to be exceptionally difficult burden for me to carry particularly when traveled to when required to travel to Tokyo, without the support of any of my family. I am a strong individual and I will persevere, but I never should have been left alone to suffer the abuse of Larry Nassar. And the only reason I did was because of the failures that lie at the heart of the abuse that you are now asked to investigate.

The hearing comes after Michael Horowitz, the Justice Department’s inspector general, issued a report that harshly condemned the FBI for committing series of “fundamental errors” that enabled Nassar’s abuse for months.

While the Horowitz Report did not name FBI agent Michael Langeman, it was so evident that the report was aimed at him and his former boss Jay Abbott, that he was fired days before Tuesday’s hearing.

Watch Biles’ testimony above, via CNN.