Gabby Douglas has become the third Olympic gold medalist to say she was abused by USA Gymnastics team doctor Larry Nassar.
Douglas was widely criticized last week when she appeared to blame survivors of abuse, saying that saying that women should “dress modestly and be classy” to avoid enticing “the wrong crowd”. Those comments were in response to Aly Raisman, the US team captain at the London and Rio Games, who said she had been abused by Nassar.
Douglas, a three-time Olympic gold medalist, later said sorry for those comments, and followed them up with an Instagram post on Tuesday. “I know that no matter what you wear, it NEVER gives anyone the right to harass or abuse you. It would be like saying that because of the leotards we wore, it was our fault that we were abused by Larry Nassar,” she wrote. “I didn’t publicly share my experiences as well as many other things because for years we were conditioned to stay silent and honestly some things were extremely painful.”