Aly Raisman is the epitome of strong — both mentally and physically. Though the 23-year-old gymnast is widely known for her talent in the sport, which led her to become the second most decorated American Olympic gymnast of all time, she recently made headlines for her courageousness in court.
Us Weekly’s Jennifer Peros caught up with Raisman at the Aerie Celebrates #AerieREAL Role Models event on Thursday, January 25, where she got candid about the sentence hearing for Larry Nassar.
As previously reported, the Dancing With the Stars alum was one of more than 100 victims of the 45-year-old disgraced doctor’s sexual abuse who addressed him in court during his week-long sentence hearing. Michigan Judge Rosemarie Aquilina sentenced Nassar to 175-years in prison, but Raisman told Us that isn’t enough.
“You know what, someone brought this up the other day and they said he’s going to jail for almost like a year for each survivor, so when you put it in that perspective, it’s really not enough,” she told Us. “It would be like for the abuse he did there’s been so many girls that have come forward. It’s like he got one year for each person, like that’s not enough, you know what I mean?”
She continued: “He’s gonna die in jail but any number is never enough. But I’m glad because so many people are watching and I hope that it does set an example to all the other abusers out there that their time is up and that abuse is never okay.”
The Olympic gold medalist added: “We have to fix the problem and the organizations.”
The Fierce author also opened up about where she’ll go from here to ensure the conversation about speaking out doesn’t end. “I have a lot of things that I want to do. I really want to work with educating children from the time they’re really little about what abuse is and how to look out for a predator and teach these young kids that you could also be hurt by someone that you love, someone that you trust so much,” she told Us.
She continued: “Because when I was little I only thought that I could be hurt by a stranger. I mean, you have to teach kids that it could be someone that you’re very close with and they might … we have to teach them grooming techniques so they understand the warning signs of a predator.”
Nassar was accused of inappropriate or abusive sexual behavior by more than 130 women and girls, including gold medalists Raisman, Jordyn Wieber, Simone Biles, Gabby Douglas and McKayla Maroney. He pleaded guilty in November to molesting seven girls, three of whom were under the age of 13.
Reporting by Jennifer Peros
