Simone Biles turned 23 years old on March 14 and received a lot of happy birthday messages on social media. But there was at least one message sent to Biles that she didn’t care for, it seems.
The wish from USA Gymnastics read “HAPPY BIRTHDAY to the most decorated gymnast of all time. We know you will only continue to amaze us and make history!”
Even though USA Gymnastics tagged the wrong account, Biles responded to the tweet, and she blasted them.
“How about you amaze me and do the right thing… have an independent investigation,” she tweeted on her birthday.
Biles’ response has to do with former USA Gymnastics’ national team doctor Larry Nassar, who also was a physician at Michigan State University.
Beginning in 2017, Nassar received multiple prison sentences, equating to life, after he was accused of sexually abusing over 300 females, including Biles, since the early ’90s.
In 2019, the results from a congressional investigation on Nassar were released, showing that the USA Gymnastics, the U.S. Olympic Committee, the FBI and Michigan State University all had an opportunity to stop Nassar from abusing the girls and “failed to do so.”
“[They all] sat on evidence of his sexual misconduct for over a year,” the report stated. “Allowing for the additional sexual abuse of dozens of other girls.”
After Biles sent her tweet, a lot of people gave her credit for refusing to remain silent about the abuse and for taking USA Gymnastics to task.
“So many reasons you are the GOAT. Strength in 100 different ways,” one person tweeted.
“I hope more young people will use their voices,” read another comment. “We all need them to build a better future for all of us.”
“We don’t just love you for your gymnastics but also for your voice,” wrote someone else.
In 2019, during an interview with actress Priyanka Chopra, Biles spoke about the abuse and how it’s affected her.
“I’m still going through things in everyday life that I still need to go to therapy for,” Biles explained. “It all comes back to my childhood and everything that’s happened to me being sexually abused. I was very depressed, I never left my room, I was sleeping all the time. I told one of my lawyers, ‘I sleep all the time because it’s the closest thing to death.’ “
“I feel like I’m a stronger woman today, and I feel like telling my story has helped younger girls,” she added.
