125 women suing maroney tormentor
“We are strengthening and enhancing our policies and procedures regarding abuse, as well as expanding our educational efforts to increase awareness of signs to watch for and reporting suspicions of abuse, including the obligation to immediately report,” the organization added.
Maroney said Nassar’s abuse began at a Karolyi training camp in Texas and continued until she retired from gymnastics last year.
She said the worst of the abuse took place during the 2011 world championships in Japan, when she became a breakout star. She said Nassar gave her a sleeping pill on the flight to Tokyo and she woke up in his hotel room, once again “getting a ‘treatment.’”
“I thought I was going to die that night,” she wrote.
She remembered watching the 2004 Athens Olympic Games as an 8-year-old and had hopes of one day competing. And while she fulfilled her dreams, she lamented the abuse she suffered along the way.
“Sure, from the outside looking in, it’s an amazing story. I did it. I got there, but not without a price,” she added.
It’s unclear if Maroney is a plaintiff in the federal lawsuit against Nassar.
FBI agent Rod Charles testified in the 2016 child porn case that Nassar targeted victims as young as 6. He would tell his victims that the abuse, which often involved digital penetration, would help treat hip or back pain, according to court papers.
Nassar tried to dispose of several hard drives, which were filled with tens of thousands of child porn images, according to a transcript of his arraignment.
He pleaded guilty to child porn possession in July and is awaiting trial in three criminal cases alleging that he sexually molested nine girls, including nine gymnasts seeking treatment for injuries.
He has pleaded not guilty to those accusations, and his attorney said Nassar intends to go to trial in December.
Jamie Dantzscher, 35, was an early accuser of Nassar. She, too, claimed he abused her while claiming to be providing her with medical treatment.
She won a team bronze in the 2000 Olympics in Sydney.
Rachael Denhollander has alleged that Nassar abused her five times when she was 15 in Nassar’s office at Michigan State.
Denhollander told the Indianapolis Star that Nassar abused her treating her for back pain in 2000.
Three-time national champion rhythmic gymnast Jessica Howard was another victim. In a op-ed in The New York Times this year, she called for “additional systemic change ... to safeguard athletes from psychological and physical abuse.”