{"id":13447,"date":"2017-10-18T21:44:00","date_gmt":"2017-10-18T21:44:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/associatednews.us\/content\/2017\/10\/18\/olympic-gymnast-mckayla-maroney-says-she-was-molested-for-years-by-team-doctor\/"},"modified":"2017-10-18T21:44:00","modified_gmt":"2017-10-18T21:44:00","slug":"olympic-gymnast-mckayla-maroney-says-she-was-molested-for-years-by-team-doctor","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/associatednews.us\/content\/olympic-gymnast-mckayla-maroney-says-she-was-molested-for-years-by-team-doctor\/","title":{"rendered":"Olympic Gymnast McKayla Maroney Says She Was Molested For Years By Team Doctor"},"content":{"rendered":"

By Laurel Wamsley<\/a><\/span> <\/p>\n

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\n McKayla Maroney stands on the podium at the 2012 Olympic Games in London. She says a team doctor molested her for years, including during the Olympics.<\/p>\n

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Ronald Martinez\/Getty Images<\/p>\n

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Ronald Martinez\/Getty Images<\/p>\n

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Editor’s note: This story contains graphic language.<\/em><\/p>\n

As women around the world tell their stories of sexual harassment and assault using the phrase “Me too,”<\/a> one prominent voice added her own harrowing account.<\/p>\n

McKayla Maroney, a member of the U.S. women’s gymnastics team that won gold at the 2012 Olympics<\/a> in London, says she was abused for years by former USA Gymnastics team doctor Larry Nassar.<\/p>\n

“I had a dream to go to the Olympics,” she writes<\/a> in a statement posted to Twitter, “and the things that I had to endure to get there, were unnecessary, and disgusting.”<\/p>\n

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#MeToo<\/a>pic.twitter.com\/lYXaDTuOsS<\/a><\/p>\n

\u2014 mckayla (@McKaylaMaroney) October 18, 2017<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<\/div>\n

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“Dr. Nassar told me that I was receiving ‘medically necessary treatment that he had been performing on patients for over 30 years,’ ” she writes. “It started when I was 13 years old, at one of my first National Team training camps, in Texas, and it didn’t end until I left the sport.” She says the abuse continued in London during the 2012 games.<\/p>\n