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Following Tuesday's two-hour Senate hearing pertaining to the Larry Nassar sexual assault scandal, incoming United States Olympic Committee (USOC) CEO Sarah Hirshland completely snubbed two-time Olympic gymnast and three-time Olympic gold medalist Aly Raisman.
Raisman, 24, is one of the 85 survivors of Nassar's sexual assault who attended this hearing in Washington, D.C. Nassar, who has been accused of sexually assaulting more than 300 people, many of whom female gymnasts, under the guise of medical treatment for more than two decades, is currently serving a 60-year federal prison sentence that he was given this past December on three child pornography charges.
The 54-year-old disgraced former USA Gymnastics and Michigan State University physician is doing so at United States Penitentiary, Tucson in Tucson, Arizona. He was physically attacked within hours after his release into the general population of the prison. He had been in the prison for over five months prior to joining the general population for the first time earlier this week.
Should he survive this 60-year federal prison sentence, Nassar will begin serving the state prison sentence that he was issued on seven sexual assault charges in January by Judge Rosemarie Aquilina in an Ingham County, Michigan courtroom following a seven-day sentencing hearing. This sentence is for between 40 and 175 years.
In February, Nassar was issued another state prison sentence for between 40 and 125 years on three additional sexual assault charges by Judge Janice Cunningham in an Eaton County, Michigan courtroom following a three-day sentencing hearing.
After the Senate hearing regarding Nassar's sexual assault had concluded, Raisman approached Hirshland in an attempt to introduce herself, but Hirshland was not having any of it.
Here is what Raisman says went down, according to Sports Illustrated.
"I said, ‘Excuse me, excuse me, excuse me,' and she kind of ignored me, but I was like, 'excuse me'. So she looked at me because I wasn’t going to let her leave. I said, 'I’d really like to introduce myself to you.' She’s like, 'I’ve been instructed I can’t talk to you.' So I said, 'You can’t just say hi to me?' She said no and then rushed out."
After Raisman criticized Hirshland for how she handled this encounter, Hirshland got word of it. It was after she got word of Raisman's criticism that she apologized to her via email.
Here is what Hirshland had to say over the phone about her apology to Raisman, according to USA Today.
“It was a sincere apology and my sincere ask for a redo.”
Whether or not a "redo" takes place in the near future if at all remains to be seen. What is clear is that Raisman was and is not happy over what happened (or what didn't happen), and justifiably so.
