LANSING, Mich. (WSYM) - Hearing one brave voice after another at Larry Nassar's sentencing hearing this week has inspired more women to speak before Judge Rosemarie Aquilina hands down her sentence in his criminal sexual assault case.
At least 120 women have agreed to address the court, including DeWitt's own Olympic Gold Medalist Jordyn Wieber. She reached out to the Attorney General's office earlier this week to see if she could speak Friday. Up until then, she had not publicly disclosed her abuse.
Before a packed courtroom, Wieber said, "I am one of 140 women and survivors whose story is important. Our pain is all the same, our stories are all important." Like many victims of sexual abuse, Wieber said the abuse caused her shame and confusion. "I have spent months trying to think back on my experience and wonder how I didn't even know this was happening to me and how I became so brainwashed."
Wieber said the abuse started when she tore her hamstring at age 14 and continued when she and her fierce five team members competed in the 2012 Olympic games in London. "Our bodies were hanging by a thread when we were in London. Who was the doctor that USAG sent to keep us healthy and help us get through? The doctor that was our abuser, the doctor that is a child molester."
With tears in her eyes, Wieber talked about a shin injury that kept her from qualifying for the all-around competition, now questioning Nassar's medical treatment at the time. "Was Larry even doing anything to help my pain? Was I getting the proper medical care or was he only focused on which one he was going to prey on next?"
FOX 47 News spoke to Nassar Upon his return to the U.S. after the 2012 Olympic games about Wieber's injury. He said, doctors did what they could do and worked on her constantly. He said she did a marvelous job and performed as well as she could under the circumstances.
But despite the shame she feels and struggles she works to overcome, Wieber refuses to let Nassar control her. "I am angry with myself for not recognizing the abuse and that's something I'm struggling with today. But even though I'm a victim, I do not and will not live my life as one. I am an Olympian."
