Aly Raisman, Jordyn Wieber delivered powerful statements in sentencing hearing against Larry Nassar

Aly Raisman to Nassar: “I will not rest until every last trace of your influences on this sport has been destroyed”

Friday marked the fourth day of a weeklong sentencing for former USA Gymnastics doctor Larry Nassar. On day four, Jordyn Wieber came forward for the first time as one of the more than 140 athletes who have been allegedly sexually abused by Nassar.

This makes her the the fourth member of the 2012 USA women’s gymnastics team to say she was abused by Nassar.

Wieber started her testimony by saying, “I thought that training for the Olympics would be the hardest thing that I would ever have to do, but in fact, the hardest thing I’ve ever had to do is process that I’m a victim of Larry Nassar.”

Wieber, who is from Lansing, Mich., first started seeing Nassar when she was only eight years old, and elaborated on the relationship that Nassar had with the athletes:

“He became a safe person of sorts, and to my teenage self he appeared to be the good guy in a environment that was intense and restricting. He would try to advise me on how to deal with the stresses of training or my coaches. He would bring us food and coffee at the Olympics when we were too afraid to eat in front of our coaches. I didn’t know that these were all grooming techniques that he used to manipulate me, and brainwash me into trusting him.”

Wieber tore her right hamstring when she was 14 years old and that is when she began to receive different treatment from Nassar. She discussed how this treatment made her feel uncomfortable at the time — along with teammates McKayla Maroney and Aly Raisman — but they were unsure how to process what they were going through.

Wieber stated, “I knew it felt strange but he was the national team doctor. Who was I to question his treatments or even more, risk my chance at making the Olympic team or being chosen to compete internationally?”

Wieber also suffered a stress fracture in her right shin prior to the 2012 Olympic Games.

“Because of my shin I couldn’t train without being in extreme pain and it affected the number of routines I could do to prepare before the competition, and it ultimately made me feel less prepared than I should have been. I didn’t qualify to the All-Around competition and I went through a dark time right before we won the Team Gold. Now I question everything about that injury and the medical treatment I received.

Wieber powerfully ended her statement by saying that “Even though I’m a victim, I do not and will not live my life as one,” she said. “I am an Olympian despite being abused, I worked so hard to achieve my goal.”

Aly Raisman also spoke Friday after previously saying she would not attend the hearing. Raisman spoke for nearly 12 minutes, not only going after Nassar but going after USA Gymnastics and the U.S. Olympic Committee for enabling his behavior.

“I am also here to tell you to your face Larry that you have not taken gymnastics away from me. I love this sport and that love is stronger than the evil that resides in you, and those who enabled you to hurt many people.

You already know you’re going away to a place where you won’t be able to hurt anybody ever again. But I am here to tell you that I will not rest until every last trace of your influences on this sport has been destroyed like the cancer it is.”

Raisman said that over a 30-year period, many of those involved with USA Gymnastics ignored the women and protected Nassar. “If over these many years, if just one adult listened and had the courage and character to act, this tragedy could have been avoided. I and so many others would have never ever met you,” said Raisman.

Raisman also spoke in her statement to new USA Gymnastics CEO Kerry Perry, who was not in attendance Friday. Raisman called Perry’s prior statements “cheap” and said that when Perry was in attendance earlier in the week, she left early and none of the athletes had heard from her since.

Raisman said that Perry had “taken on an organization that I feel is rotting from the inside.” She added, “This may not be what you thought you were getting into, but you will be judged by how you deal with it.”

Raisman mentioned that on Thursday, when USA Gymnastics announced it would terminate its agreement with the Karolyi Ranch, there were actual athletes still practicing at the ranch.

For this sport to go on, we need to demand real change, and we need to be willing to fight for it. It’s clear now that if we leave it up to these organizations, history is likely to repeat itself.

Now is the time to acknowledge that the very person who sits before us now — who perpetrated the worst epidemic of sexual abuse in the history of sports, who is going to be locked up for a long, long time — this monster was also the architect of policies and procedures that are supposed to protect athletes from sexual abuse for both USA Gymnastics and the USOC.