Biles repeats plea for inquiry
Simone Biles delivered a sharply worded rebuke to USA Gymnastics for its failures in the Larry Nassar abuse scandal in response to the federation’s message Saturday congratulating her on her 23rd birthday.
USA Gymnastics’ message along with a Twitter post of
Biles’ floor exercise routine from the 2019 national championships read, “HAPPY BIRTHDAY to the most decorated gymnast of all time, @simonebiles! We know you will only continue to amaze us and make history!”
Biles replied, “how about you amaze me and do the right thing... have an independent investigation.”
It was the third time in recent weeks that the four-time Olympic gold medalist from Spring has called upon USA Gymnastics to commission an independent review of its failure to protect gymnasts from the abusive practices of the disgraced sports doctor.
Two weeks ago, during an appearance on NBC’s “Today,” she said, “They just need to do what they say in some of their tweets that they release and to just do an independent investigation. And there’s a lot of things that need to happen before we can move forward.”
En route to a team training camp in Indianapolis in late February, she tweeted, “Heading to team camp. Still want answers from USAG and USOPC. Wish they BOTH wanted an independent investigation as much as the survivors & I do. Anxiety high. Hard not to think about everything that I DON’T WANT TO THINK ABOUT!!!”
In 2018, the U.S. Olympic Committee issued a 237-page report conducted by the Boston law firm Ropes & Gray that was strongly critical of USA Gymnastics’ culture and said the atmosphere at the Karolyi Ranch training site in Walker County gave Nassar “broad latitude” to abuse young gymnasts.
The Ropes & Gray report also said top USOC officials failed to take prompt action to protect gymnasts and others after receiving initial reports of allegations against Nassar in 2015.
USA Gymnastics, which is in Chapter 11 bankruptcy as it tries to settle hundreds of millions of dollars in insurance claims filed by Nassar’s victims, has not commissioned its own report but said in 2018 that it accepted the Ropes & Gray report findings and would adopt its suggested reforms.
The report casts a broad net of blame regarding the ability of Nassar, who is serving the equivalent of a life prison sentence on federal and state charges, to abuse young women under the guise of medical care.
It said the USOC and USA Gymnastics did not keep pace with best practices adopted by other groups that dealt with young people, which “had the effect of allowing abuse to occur and continue without effective intervention.”
As of Sunday morning, Biles’ response to the USA Gymnastics tweet had 380,000 likes and 56,000 retweets.