“Enough is enough,” these were the words of Simone Biles that brought the curtain down on the largest and most heinous s*xual abuse scandal in sports history. Larry Nassar, a 60-year-old former physician, preyed upon hundreds of female athletes. Among his victims were Simone Biles, McKayla Maroney, and Aly Raisman, with some as young as eight years old. Even though Nassar is now serving a life sentence, the deep emotional scars left on these athletes persist, as shown in great detail, in the Netflix documentary “Simone Biles; Rising,” which premiered on July 17th.

In its second episode, Biles opens up about her harrowing experiences with team doctor Larry Nassar who s*xually abused more than 100 girls. We get a glimpse of Aly Raisman delivering a heart tugging and a gut wrenching testimony of the assault itself and how being responsive to cry for helps would go so far to save young lives. The poignant scene goes on to showcase a bunch of gymnasts collecting medals and there’s this deafening voice in the background by reporter lamenting all the abuse they had to undergo because the gymnastics industry was very much a capitalistic business that rarely prioritized gymnasts’ mental health and clarion calls for help. In the docuseries, Biles candidly admits, ‘I felt so naive all those years, thinking it was normal,’ about being sexually assaulted.

In the next scene, Simone Biles is shown driving in a car, recalling, “I was driving at 99, and I just remember breaking down and calling my mom. She asked me to pull over because I was crying so hard.” The footage captures the car moving through gloomy surroundings, enhancing the somber tone of this period in her life. Following this, Simone Biles’s mother, Nellie, is seen sitting, with an emotional look on her face and recounting her dialogues with Biles, ” She was just hysterical. She didn’t say anything. She just cried , and we just cried together.” But how did this abuse start?

Simone Biles’ heroic stand against Larry Nassar

Physician Larry Nassar was incarcerated in 2017 following his conviction for s*xually abusing hundreds of female gymnasts during his 18-year tenure as the team doctor for the US women’s national gymnastics team. However, Simone Biles didn’t hold back and faced a challenging decision in 2018 when she decided to publicly share her experience as a survivor of s*xual abuse by former Team USA doctor Larry Nassar. In an interview on the “Call Her Daddy” podcast, she explained that she wanted to be honest and open, qualities that have always defined her. Despite knowing it would be tough, she felt it was important to speak out because she hoped her story could help others going through similar situations.

As she puts it, “It was hard to get out of bed. It was hard to do anything. Everything felt heavy in the end of the world. And again, a lot of sleepless crying nights,” she explained. “It just felt very — I wouldn’t even say dehumanizing — but it felt like I held a lot of the guilt that wasn’t mine to hold. I think that was the hardest for me to process.” Before speaking publicly, Simone made sure she was emotionally ready and had the support she needed. Nassar’s abuse had deeply affected her, and she struggled to understand how she coped with it for so long.

Back in April this year, the US government announced a $139 million settlement in response to allegations of negligence by the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) regarding Nassar’s case. This payout is in addition to the $500 million settled by Michigan State University in 2018—one of the largest compensations ever for victims of s*xual abuse. Nassar, now 60 years old, is currently serving a 360-year sentence at a federal prison in Pennsylvania.

His charges not only included s*xual assault of minors but also possession of child p**nography, to which he confessed. During the investigation in 2016, an FBI agent testified finding over 37,000 images and videos of child pornography at Nassar’s residence. Despite these mountains to climb, Simone’s courage in sharing turned her pain into a source of inspiration for many.