Simone Biles responds to new report on Larry Nassar investigation: "The pain is real"
Simone Biles is demanding answers after a troubling new Wall Street Journal report claims USA Gymnastics never investigated or asked if she had been abused by team doctor Larry Nassar. The four-time Olympic gold medalist was among the first to raise alarms about Nassar.
News she was purposely kept in the dark about USA Gymnastics' investigation into Nassar, now in prison for multiple sex crimes, hit her hard.
On Friday, Biles posted on Twitter, "the pain is real and doesn't just go away… especially when new facts are still coming out."
Can’t tell you how hard this is to read and process. The pain is real and doesn’t just go away...especially when new facts are still coming out. What’s it going to take for a complete and independent investigation of both USOPC and USAG??? https://t.co/UrDXIrTng9
— Simone Biles (@Simone_Biles) November 22, 2019
In August, Biles leveled criticism at USA Gymnastics for having failed its athletes.
"You had one job. You literally had one job and you couldn't protect us," she said.
USA Gymnastics launched an investigation after gymnast Maggie Nichols reported Nassar to her coach in June of 2015. Biles was also among those voicing concerns then. She described feeling "uncomfortable," according to notes submitted to Congress by Rhonda Faehn, then the head of the U.S. women's gymnastics program. So did Aly Raisman, who spoke with "60 Minutes" two years ago.
The Wall Street Journal reports that in June of 2015, Faehn told Steve Penny, then head of USA Gymnastics, that Biles felt uncomfortable with Nassar. But in a statement to CBS News, Penny's lawyers said he didn't know Biles was a victim until she came forward publicly almost three years later.