“I never should have met him,” Maroney said at an event hosted by the New York Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children on Tuesday, according to Time.
“I at times question if my gymnastics career was really even worth it because of the stuff I’m dealing with now, because sometimes you’re just left in the dust,” Maroney said. “You have to pick up the pieces of your life. That has been the hardest part for me, but it’s always three steps forward, two steps back.”
Maroney, a member of the gold medal-winning 2012 U.S. women’s Olympic gymnastics team, called Nassar a “monster” on Tuesday.
In October, she accused Nassar of abusing her from when she was 13 up to her departure from the sport in 2016. She also provided a statement to be read in court by a Michigan prosecutor during a January sentencing hearing for Nassar at which over 150 other victims and family members confronted him in person.
“I remember watching the 2004 Olympics,” Maroney wrote in her statement. “I was 8 years old, and I told myself that one day I would wear that red, white, and blue leotard, and compete for my country. Sure, from the outside looking in, it’s a remarkable and amazing story. I did it. I got there, but not without a price.”
Maroney credited the courtroom testimony of her 2012 teammates, Aly Raisman and Jordyn Wieber, with helping her find her voice. She also acknowledged the outpouring of women’s tales of harassment and abuse that sprung the #MeToo movement.
“I carried this secret around with me,” Maroney said. “A lot of people say it’s empowering to speak, and it really was.”
She described the process of healing from the scars inflicted by Nassar as “day by day,” but added, “If there is one thing gymnastics teaches you, it’s that you get up when you fall. We can’t give up [the fight] to end sexual abuse.”
In December, Maroney filed a lawsuit against USAG, claiming that a settlement she had previously reached with the organization improperly prevented her from speaking out against Nassar. On Tuesday, Wieber became the latest Olympian to sue the three institutions, joining Raisman and Jamie Dantzscher as well as Maroney.
Raisman has become a particularly scathing critic of USA Gymnastics, the U.S. Olympic Committee and Michigan State University, where Nassar was on staff for two decades, for what she has described as their roles in not only enabling his abuse over many years but creating a climate of fear and powerlessness among athletes.
On Tuesday, Maroney said that “within the gymnastics world, there’s no question we need to rebuild from the ground up so this never happens again.”
“I definitely see a future where athletes are safe and succeeding. My team won gold medals in spite of USA Gymnastics, MSU, and the USOC,” Maroney said, adding:
Major changes have taken place among the leadership of those bodies, including the resignations of the presidents of the USOC and MSU and of USAG’s entire board of directors. Maroney claimed that the institutions were only interested in “money, medals” and not the welfare of their athletes, saying they “demanded excellence from me, but they couldn’t give it to us.”
