Gabby Douglas, the Olympic gymnast who was criticized last week for placing some of the onus on women to avoid sexual harassment, apologized again on Tuesday and said that she, too, had been abused by a team doctor.
Ms. Douglas, 21, drew angry responses on Friday after she wrote on Twitter that it was a woman’s responsibility “to dress modestly” so as not to attract “the wrong crowd.” She later apologized for that comment, noting that “regardless of what you wear, abuse under any circumstance is never acceptable.”
In a statement she posted on Instagram four days later, Ms. Douglas suggested she was one of the many gymnasts who contend that they had been abused by Lawrence G. Nassar, a former team doctor for U.S.A. Gymnastics.
“It would be like saying that because of the leotards we wore, it was our fault that we were abused by Larry Nassar,” Ms. Douglas wrote. “I didn’t publicly share my experiences as well as many other things because for years we were conditioned to stay silent and honestly some things were very painful.”Responding to an email from The New York Times on Tuesday, Jeff Raymond, Ms. Douglas’s publicist, said that through her Instagram post, “Gabby is confirming that she too was a victim of Larry Nassar.” He would not detail the abuse Ms. Douglas alluded to in her statement.
More than 140 women have said that Dr. Nassar had touched them inappropriately during medical appointments.
Dr. Nassar is in jail in Michigan, facing 22 counts of first-degree criminal sexual conduct involving at least seven victims. He has so far denied the charges.
Olympic Champion Gabby Douglas Says She Was Also Abused By Team Doctor
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November 22, 2017
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