I started taking gymnastics classes when I was very young up until I was going into high school and I loved every minute of it. I loved the feeling of landing a skill I had been working on and starting to learn new ones. I practically lived in my gym. I was there so often my parents called me a gym rat, which I also loved.
Gymnastics gave me so many friends and my coaches taught me so many valuable lessons about never giving up and how important hard work and dedication is. My sister and I used to watch the USA Olympics team compete in the Olympics. We would stay up and watch our heroes bring home gold.
Now, my childhood heroes are becoming heroes for so many by speaking up about the horrible things they had to go through and I stand with them now just as I did pretending to win gold with them as a child.
Larry Nassar betrayed the trust an athlete needs to have with their doctor and he deserves the sentence he was served. He used his position and power to assault so many who were trying to reach their dreams. Aly Raisman, Mattie Larson, and so many other brave and strong women came forward so that this can never happen to another girl again. They told their stories and now they have so many in their corner when at one point it seemed that they had no one for so long.
As a former gymnast, I support and stand with these girls 100 percent and I share their anger toward USA Gymnastics and the US Olympic Committee. I aspired to be just like them and it makes me sick knowing what they had to go through. The gym I went to was my second home and I cannot imagine how they feel knowing that the place they could have called a second home was a place of terrible tragedy and unsafe.
The trust between athletes with their coaches, trainers, and doctors is sacred because athletes need to rely on those people for help and guidance. Now, these girls may never feel safe around a doctor again.
I am truly inspired by these strong and amazing women who have shared their stories. I have listened to every statement because they deserve to be heard and action needs to be taken to insure that this never happens again. These women are role models for women all over to not remain silent. Speak up and you will be heard.
My younger self, as well as myself right now, hurts with these girls because the sport we all love betrayed its participants. I hope now that USA gymnastics along with the Olympic Committee will take action and ensure that their athletes along with all future US Gymnasts will never go through something like this ever again.
