09/13/2021 4:55 PM
Clarín.com
sports
Updated 09/13/2021 4:55 PM
American gymnast Simone Biles will testify on Wednesday before a committee of the US Senate that is evaluating the errors the FBI made in investigating the sexual abuse committed by Larry Nassar when he was the doctor for the national gymnastics team.
The judicial committee of the US Senate announced on Monday that Biles and three other world champions will participate in a hearing on Wednesday, although they will do so by videoconference due to the restrictions of the pandemic.
Biles's testimony comes after an internal Justice Department report in mid-July revealed that
the FBI failed to respond with the necessary urgency and seriousness to the allegations against Nassar
, who used his position as a doctor to abuse female athletes. and hide it.
Biles, 24, the winner of 19 world titles, was highly critical of the way the federation (USA Gymnastics) and the US Olympic and Paralympic Committee handled allegations of abuse against Nassar and is one of some 140 athletes who have filed a complaint against both organizations.
In a recent interview with
Vogue
magazine
, Biles revealed that when the Tokyo Olympics were postponed for a year, she was "shattered" by the prospect of having to spend another year with the American gymnastics federation.
"I cried and thought that I could not bear to be another year with USA Gymnastics," said the multi-champion, who just started the Tokyo Olympics withdrew from the first final, putting on the table the mental health problems that threaten athletes of Elite.
In addition to Biles, three other gymnasts who denounced Nassar's abuses will also testify before the Senate judicial committee.
One of these athletes
McKayla Maroney
, who won a gold and a silver medal at the 2012 London Olympics, signed a confidential agreement with the American gymnastics federation at the end of 2016 to receive compensation of $ 1.25 million. .
Another of them is
Maggie Nichols
, who was the first to point out the US gymnastics federation for the abuses in 2015 and who recently starred in a Netflix documentary called
Athlete A
, the name researchers used to refer to her and protect her identity.
The latest is
Aly Raisman
, captain of the US Olympic team in the 2012 and 2016 Olympics and who recounted her experience in a book published in 2017.
More than 350 women
are believed to have been
abused by Nassar
, who received an effective life sentence by a Michigan court in 2018, for sexually abusing dozens of young gymnasts.
He is also serving a 60-year prison term for a federal child pornography conviction.
Source: EFE