UNITED STATES
Yahoo Lifestyle
February 13, 2018
By Raechal Leone Shewfelt
Olympic great Aly Raisman has returned to the Sports Illustrated Swimsuit issue, and this time, she brought along a message.
The 23-year-old, who led the U.S. gymnastics team to gold medals in 2012 and 2016, posed with inspiring words scrawled on her body, such as “survivor” across her chest, “live 4 you” and “every voice matters” down one arm, and “fierce” on the other. “Women do not have to be modest to be respected” ran down one side of her body. There was no swimsuit, no clothing at all, just those words, which Raisman — not the photographer or stylists — chose, as did all the women featured in the what the magazine called its “In Her Own Words” project.
Raisman has been showing her strength beyond the physical, which audiences saw on display in London and Rio de Janeiro. In November, she revealed on 60 Minutes that she was one of the more than 265 people who had been sexually abused by Larry Nassar, the disgraced former doctor for the USA gymnastics team who’s been convicted of molesting athletes. Then, Raisman was one of around 100 victims who addressed Nassar in the courtroom as he was sentenced in January.
When it was her turn to speak — she was the 73rd victim to address Nassar — Raisman did not mince words. She was, well, fierce.
“Larry, you do realize that this group of women you heartlessly abused over a long period of time are now a force. And you are nothing,” Raisman said, as she faced her abuser. “The tables have turned Larry. We are here. We have our voices. And we are not going anywhere.”
In the wake of the Nassar scandal, Raisman also has called out the USA Gymnastics culture that enabled Nassar to continue abusing for decades.
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