There was another well known Olympian who went to Feinstein's office earlier this year (w/ Steve Penny) to try & stop the abuse bill...SMH🤔
— Dominique Moceanu (@Dmoceanu) October 11, 2017
Confirmed by three sources.
— Dominique Moceanu (@Dmoceanu) October 12, 2017
Dominique Moceanu, a member of the 1996 "Magnificent 7" that won gold the first US team gold in Atlanta, made many tweets calling out people affiliated with USA Gymnastics for thier handling of sexual abuse. Over 140 gymnasts have sued Larry Nassar, a team doctor who was with USA Gymnastics for over 20 years and is currently in jail for child pornography, for sexual assault under the guise of treatment. USA Gymnastics was criticized for not reporting Nassar's behavior to authorities and conducting their own investigation instead. California Senator, Dianne Feinstein, and Florida Senator, Marco Rubio, created the Protecting Young Victims from Sexual Abuse Act of 2017, which would criminalize organizations like USA Gymnastics for failing to report sexual abuse to the authorities. It was revealed in the New York Times that Mary Lou Retton, the 1984 Olympic All Around Champion who only won because the best gymnastics team in the world, the Soviet Union, boycotted, went with the now ex-president of USA Gymnastics, Steve Penny, to Feinstein's office to stop the bill. Moceanu confirmed this happened and called Retton out for caring more about protecting USA Gymnastics and the Karoylis (their coaches who are accused of creating the atmosphere that allowed Nassar to take advantage of and abuse the gymnasts) then the safety of athletes.
It's always been. It's pretty obvious.
— Dominique Moceanu (@Dmoceanu) October 12, 2017
Moceanu also said that NBC tried to bury the news in her 2012 book, Off Balance, about how the Karoylis were abusive towards her. NBC owns the rights to gymnastics coverage in the US and has made documentaries like "The Ranch" glorifying the Karoylis. They are also currently under fire for refusing to air Ronan Farrow's Harvey Weinstein expose.But she gets the good treatment too.
— Dominique Moceanu (@Dmoceanu) October 12, 2017
Over the yrs I heard from various producers/reporters that @NBC tried to bury stories of abuse when my book came out & I was opening up...
— Dominique Moceanu (@Dmoceanu) October 12, 2017
I guess they didn't believe me. Producers told me, "yeah when I was working for NBC they told us not to go near your story." Makes sense now
— Dominique Moceanu (@Dmoceanu) October 12, 2017
Source: Twitter, New York Times
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