Olympian Aly Raisman Details Sexual Assault By Team Doctor Larry Nassar That Began When She Was 15

Aly Raisman continues to share her story.
As we reported last week, the Olympian opened up about the sexual abuse she suffered at the hands of USA Gymnastics‘ longtime team physician, Larry Nassar. This admission comes a month after her Fierce Five teammate, McKayla Maroney, admitted she was abused by the same doctor for many years, beginning when she was only 13.
During her interview on 60 Minutes that aired on Sunday, the 23-year-old revealed that she was just 15 years old when she first began seeing the now-disgraced medical professional.
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She explained:

“I was just really innocent. I didn’t really know. You know, you don’t think that of someone. You know, so I just– I trusted him … I didn’t know anything differently. We were told he is the best doctor. He’s the United States Olympic doctor and the USA Gymnastics doctor, and we were very lucky we were able to see him.”

The athlete went on to express her frustration with a system that keeps victims silent:

“Why are we looking at why didn’t the girls speak up? Why not look at what about the culture? What did USA Gymnastics do, and Larry Nassar do, to manipulate these girls so much that they are so afraid to speak up? … I am angry. I’m really upset because it’s been– I care a lot, you know, when I see these young girls that come up to me, and they ask for pictures or autographs, whatever it is, I just– I can’t– every time I look at them, every time I see them smiling, I just think– I just want to create change so that they never, ever have to go through this.”

As for the abuse itself, Aly said it was very confusing because of Nassar’s predatory technique called “grooming”:

“He would always bring me, you know, desserts or gifts. He would buy me little things. So I really thought he was a nice person. I really thought he was looking out for me. That’s why I want to do this interview. That’s why I wanna talk about it. I want people to know just because someone is nice to you and just because everyone is saying they’re the best person, it does not make it okay for them to ever make you uncomfortable. Ever.”

You can watch the full segment, and hear from Aly’s parents, in the video (below):

[Image via CBS.]