【Text/Observer Network Ruan Jiaqi】
According to US media local time reported on the 15th, the US women's gymnast Simon Byers and 3 other female gymnasts attended the congressional hearing as victims on Wednesday and gave testimony on the "case of sexual assault by the former team doctor of the US gymnastics team".
In his speech, Byers blasted the sports system for malfeasance and accused the FBI of failing to investigate the case. "The root cause of my long-standing violations is the organization that Congress has set up to oversee the protection of athletes, and neither the U.S. Gymnastics Committee nor the U.S. Olympic and Paralympic Committees have failed to perform their duties. The FBI has also turned a blind eye to the crimes of hundreds of young athletes being sexually assaulted. ”
FBI Director Christopher Ray acknowledged at the hearing that the agent's mistake in the case was unacceptable and that one of the agents involved had been fired. He stressed that lessons would be learned and that he would apologize to the victims.
In 2016, Larry Nassar, a former team doctor on the U.S. gymnastics team, was accused by a number of gymnasts of sexually assaulting 265 women in more than 20 years under the guise of "treatment", mainly from the U.S. Gymnastics Team and Michigan State University, many of whom were underage when they were sexually assaulted, including several Olympic gold medalists, such as 24-year-old American women's gymnast Simon Byers, who won 4 gold and 1 bronze at the 2016 Rio de Janeiro Olympics.
The biggest sexual assault scandal in the sport's history shocked the world after it came to light, and in 2018 Nassar was sentenced to 175 years in prison. However, the case did not end after Nassar was imprisoned, and the investigation and accountability of the relevant departments continued.
After four years, an investigation report by the U.S. Department of Justice in July this year showed that the FBI had serious dereliction of duty in handling the case, not only repeatedly delaying the handling of the case, but also lied to the Attorney General's inspector general to cover up their mistakes and mistakes in their work. This allowed Nassar's crimes to continue for months after they were reported, directly leading to the abuse of at least 40 women, causing great dissatisfaction and indignation among the victims.
Larry Nassar
Regarding the FBI's negligence in its work disclosed in the report, the Senate Judiciary Committee of Congress held a hearing on September 15, which Wasles and three other female gymnasts attended.
At the meeting, Biles shelled the sports system for dereliction of duty, accusing the FBI of investigating the case poorly. "The root cause of my long-standing violations is the organization that Congress has set up to oversee the protection of athletes, and neither the U.S. Gymnastics Committee nor the U.S. Olympic and Paralympic Committees have failed to perform their duties. The FBI has also turned a blind eye to the crimes of hundreds of young athletes being sexually assaulted. ”
In her speech, she choked up several times and burst into tears: "I blame Nassar, and I blame the entire sports system, and the FBI is also blamed for it, and it is (they) who have contributed to Nassar's crimes." ”
In her testimony, Byers also referred to this year's Tokyo Olympics, when she withdrew from the women's gymnastics team final due to mental health problems, and the shadow that hung over her mind was the nightmare of being sexually assaulted by the former team doctor: when she trained for the Olympics, she had to return to the training place where she had been sexually assaulted every day. "The Spring 2020 Tokyo Olympics was postponed for a year, which meant I had to go to the gym to train and get treatment, but I had enough of living in the memory of the sexual assault every day for 365 days."
The same day that the report, which accused the FBI of dereliction of duty, was the day the U.S. Gymnastics team flew to Tokyo for the Olympics.
After a major mistake on vaulting, Byers withdrew from the gymnastics women's team final
Gymnastics gold medalist McKayla Maroni also testified at the 2012 London Olympics. She recalled reporting to FBI agents in 2015, when the reaction was very "cold" and did not take it seriously.
At the time, Maroni spent 3 hours on the phone telling the other side the details of Nassar's sexual assault. But after he finished speaking, the other party was silent, and even asked, "Is that all?" ”。
Most importantly, Maroni noted that the FBI not only did not act, covering up its accusations against Nassar for months, but also tampered with her confession, "In the summer of 2015, after telling the FBI the entire story of my sexual assault, the FBI not only did not report that I was sexually assaulted, but the testimony was not recorded until 17 months later, but they also made completely false corrections to what I said, falsifying a testimony." ”
Maroni was furious that "they chose to fabricate facts, lie and amend my testimony to protect a person who has continuously molested and sexually abused children." ”
At the hearing, FBI Director Christopher Ray apologized to the victims present for the department's negligence, "I particularly regret that in 2015 some FBI staff had the opportunity to stop the monster, but failed to do so." ”
He acknowledged unacceptable mistakes made by the FBI agent handling the case and revealed that one of the competent agents had been fired for failing to handle the case properly and for deception, while another agent had retired.
Ray, who only served as the FBI's top leader in 2017, is not well aware of what happened in 2015, but stressed that he would learn from it, promising to prevent the recurrence of such mishandled cases under his leadership.
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