Olympic star Raisman files suit against USOC and USA Gymnastics
Aly Raisman spent months urging the U.S. Olympic Committee and USA Gymnastics to get serious about taking a long, hard look into how Larry Nassar’s abusive conduct was allowed to run unchecked for so long.
Frustrated by what she considers a lack of progress, the six-time Olympic medalist is hoping she can get some answers in court.
Raisman has filed a lawsuit against both organizations, claiming they “knew or should have known” about abusive patterns Nassar, a disgraced former national team doctor now in prison for sexually abusing young athletes.
Raisman filed the lawsuit in California on Wednesday. The filing alleges negligence by the USOC and USA Gymnastics for failing to make sure appropriate protocols were followed in regards to monitoring Larry Nassar. Nassar, who is named as a co-defendant in the lawsuit, is serving decades in prison for molesting some of the sport’s top athletes and others as well as child pornography crimes.
The 23-year-old Raisman, captain for both the gold-medal winning 2012 and 2016 U.S. women’s Olympic gymnastics teams, says she was abused by Nassar in multiple locations beginning in 2010, including at the U.S. national team training facility at the Karolyi Ranch training center in Texas and the 2012 Games in London. Raisman said she initially felt she was receiving medically necessary treatment by Nassar before realizing it was abuse. She battled shame, guilt and depression in the aftermath, Raisman said.
USA Gymnastics and the USOC broke their stated mandates to protect children in their programs by not revealing Nassar’s past misconduct to athletes and their parents or guardians, the lawsuit said.
Raisman joins a list of more than 100 civil actions filed against Nassar and USA Gymnastics. McKayla Maroney, an Olympic team- mate of Raisman’s in 2012, named the USOC as a co-defendant in a lawsuit she filed last December.
Raisman filed her lawsuit the same day that roughly 115 additional plaintiffs, including a current University of Michigan male gymnast, joined a federal suit against Michigan State University, USA Gymnastics and others. Jacob Moore, a freshman, said he was treated by Nassar multiple times and described a 2016 incident in which Nassar administered acupuncture in and around Moore’s genitalia after pulling down Moore’s pants in front of a female gymnast who was a minor. The suit in Michigan now has more than 250 plaintiffs.
USA Gymnastics said in a statement Friday it is doing “doing everything we can to prevent this from happening again by making bold decisions and holding ourselves to the highest standards of care.” The USOC did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Raisman, who has become a vocal critic of both organizations after initially revealing the abuse in her autobiography released last fall, did not plan to go to court but says she felt compelled to press forward because she believes USA Gymnastics and the USOC are not making a sincere effort to “properly address the problem.”
“I refuse to wait any longer for these organizations to do the right thing,” Raisman said in a statement. “It is my hope that the legal process will hold them accountable and enable the change that is so desperately needed.”
The USOC is conducting an independent review of when former CEO Scott Blackmun and others learned the details about abuse cases at USA Gymnastics and whether they responded appropriately. Blackmun stepped down earlier this week to deal with prostate cancer, though Raisman, several high-profile gymnasts and two U.S. Senators had been calling for his ouster for weeks.