It was only earlier this year that disgraced sports doctor Larry Nassar was sentenced to up to 175 years in prison for multiple counts of sexual misconduct and child pornography, so the terrible aftermath his victims have to endure will probably linger for quite some time. Olympian McKayla Maroney, who gave a victim impact statement in Nassar's January trial along with 132 other victims, says the abuse occurred "hundreds" of times and made her question if her career in gymnastics was worth it, Buzzfeed reports.
"I at times question if my gymnastics career was really even worth it because of the stuff I’m dealing with now, because sometimes you’re just left in the dust," Maroney said. "You have to pick up the pieces of your life. That has been the hardest part for me, but it’s always three steps forward, two steps back."
At the Prevention of Cruelty to Children luncheon in New York on Tuesday, the athlete also shared that Nassar even referred to the abuse as her "sacrifice" to get to the Olympics. Ultimately, she blames authorities such as Nassar's former employers Michigan State University, USA Gymnastics, and USOC for their failure to stop Nassar's abuse. Maroney has also previously stated that USA Gymnastics in particular tried to keep her quiet about the abuse.
"Within the gymnastics world, there’s no question we need to rebuild from the ground up so this never happens again," she said. This week, Maroney's teammate Jordyn Wieber announced that she would be filing a lawsuit against these same governing bodies, along with 260 others suing them for failing to stop the abuse.
In a clip from an upcoming Dateline special surrounding the abuse scandal, Maroney says she was abused from the very first time she saw Nassar for treatment and every time after that. "He said that nobody would understand this and the sacrifice it takes to get to the Olympics. You can't tell people this. I actually was like, that makes sense. I don't want to tell anybody about this. And I didn't believe that they would understand."
The Dateline special airs on Sunday night and will also see USA Gymnastics team coordinators Bela and Martha Karolyi, who ran the Karolyi Ranch in Texas where much of the abuse took place, speak out publicly for the first time.
