UNITED STATES
The Daily Beast
August 16, 2018
By Olivia Messer
Months after the serial sexual-abusing doctor was sentenced to life in prison, two more star Olympic athletes came forward to detail their abuse at his hands.
Olympic gold medalists Kyla Ross and Madison Kocian on Thursday came forward as the latest of the hundreds of athletes who fell victim to serial sexual abuser and former USA Gymnastics team physician Larry Nassar, who was sentenced in February to a maximum of 235 years in prison.
The gymnasts, who are now 21 and currently members of the NCAA champion UCLA gymnastics team, appeared on CBS This Morning to tell their stories of abuse.
“Being on national team for all those years, we were really silenced,” said Ross. “We didn’t really have a voice and say as athletes.”
“I’ve come to the point in my life this is something I want to share my story and move on,” she told The Associated Press. “We don’t want to be viewed as victims. This is something we have to grow through.”
Both women said they were moved after nearly 200 girls and women read victim-impact statements at two emotional sentencing hearings in January, in which the 54-year-old Nassar faced the survivors he had preyed on. More than 300 victims have come forward to accuse the former Michigan State physician who worked for decades with student-athletes.
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