REUTERS/Brian Snyder
The Today show released clips of an NBC News interview with gold-medal Olympian McKayla Maroney on Wednesday, in which she claims she was abused by Team USA doctor Larry Nassar “every time” she saw him. Maroney recounted the first time she was abused by Nassar at the age of 13, saying that he told her “that he was going to do a checkup” on the first day they met. From them on, Nassar allegedly kept Maroney quiet by claiming that “nobody would understand this and the sacrifice that it takes to get to the Olympics.” She said, “...he didn’t say it in a way that was mean or anything like that—I actually was like, that makes sense. I don’t want to tell anyone about this, and I didn’t believe they would understand.” She claims that she was abused “hundreds” of times. When asked why she was speaking out now after her silence through the Nassar’s trial, Maroney said, “Doing what’s right is not always easy but I need to speak out for the girls and for the future.” The full interview will air on NBC’s Dateline this Sunday, along with interviews with national Olympic team coordinator Martha Karolyi.