Been victimized, this committee has a clear bipartisan history. Were here today to build upon that bipartisan tradition and learn what more can be done to keep our children and Young Athletes safe from sexual predators. Protecting children from abusers has been a top priority for me and a lot of members of this committee over the years. Over 30 years ago, i respospons the child Abuse Victims rights act, a bill to enhance civil and criminal penalties against those who sexually exploit children. A version of this was enacted and continues to this day to provide a mechanism by which victims can seek justice. And just last year, i worked with my colleagues to pass another important major known as the survivors bill of rights. It empowers survivors of sexual account assault in the criminal justice system. Sadly, we know the sexual abuse of children can occur in almost any setting, but whats especially disturbing is when that abuse occurs by someone in a position of trust, in what should be a common sense safe environment, such as youth athletic programs, but we find out sometimes it doesnt turn out that way. Recent headlines have focused our attention on troubling allegations of czech child sexual abuse in the Gymnastics Program around the country. Usa gymnastics, the National Sports organization that oversees gymnastics in our country, was the focus of an investigation last year by the Indianapolis Star. The newspaper detailed hundreds of sexual abuse allegations from gymnasts across the country over a period of two decades. Coaches, instructors, and even the National Gymnastics teams doctor have been accused of abusing child athletes. Unfortunately, this isnt the only National Sport organization that made headlines for alleged sexual abuse by coaches and instructors in recent years. We all remember that the usa swimming several years ago imposed lifetime ban on dozens of swim coaches for abusing teenagers. The outcome from the latest victims led to us conveying todays hearing and exploring whether were doing enough to ensure childrens safety in athletic organizations. For example, some have argued that usa gymnastics didnt alert authorities to suspected sexual abuse until and unless a formal written complaint was submitted by a victim or their family. If true, such a policy might have allowed predators to victimize children long after gymnastics officials had reason to suspect sexual abuse. Other media accounts suggest that coaches werent banned from the sports until years after they were convicted of crime against children. Sexual abuse is a heinous crime and should be treated as such. So i hope that our witnesses can help us understand why allegations of sexual abuse so often remain hidden instead of being immediately reported to Law Enforcement. The avrerage perpetrator strike multiple times before being caught, which is why it is so important that these crimes be reported promptly and investigated promptly. Usa gymnastics has chosen not to appear today before the Judiciary Committee to answer any of my or my colleagues questions, but were fortunate to have with us today several vi individuals who have been through the unimaginable. Were going to hear firsthand about these experiences. Were also going to hear from the United StatesOlympic Committee, the organization that certifies 47 National Sports organizations that work with young people. Well hear how the u. S. Olympic committee is working to ensure Young Athletes safety, and well hear from a prosecutor with years of experience prosecuting sex crimes. I thank each of our witnesses for being here today and sharing their stories and expertise. Finally, i also want to extend my colleague on my left here Senate Ranking member feinstein for taking a very clear lead in developing a very important bill that is a direct response to these issues. Ive joined her as an original cosponsor of this legislation, which would promote more reporting and give survivors tools to hold perpetrators accountable. I know that she will speak more about her bill, our bill i should say, but im proud to be a cosponsor, so now i will turn to Ranking Member feinstein for her opening statements. Thanks very much, mr. Chairman. And thank you very much for being the original cosponsor of this bill. It is very much appreciated. I want everybody here to know that date we have 17 cosponsors, senator blumenthal is one, senator susan collins, senator cortez mas to, senator donnelley, senator ernst, senator franken, senator hirono, senator klobuchar, senator rubio, senator warren, and senator young. And we are delighted to have them aboard all as original cosponsors. And i want to thank you for working with me and for your help of your staff. Everybodys been quite wonderful. Id like to just recognize a few people who are here, and id like to recognize jeanette, a former gymnast from paradise, california, who was on the usa Gymnastics National team in 1999 and who competed as a gymnast for ucla. Would you stand . Thank you so much for being here. We appreciate it. [ applause ] and matty larson, a usa National Team gymnast who is currently studying at ucla, would you stand please . Thank you very much. I met jeanette and matty along with two of our witnesses, jamie and jessica, who will speak in a minute, as well as several other athletes a few months ago in my office. I have never in 24 years had a meeting like that meeting, but the unity and strength these women have shown in pushing for greater accountability in olympic sports has made me just so proud of their courage. They are championing the prevention of sexual abuse to make sure Young Athletes who follow in their footsteps do not experience what they had to endure, so it is because of their stories that the chairman, myself, senator collins, and 15 other senators that i have listed came together to work on Bipartisan Legislation to make sure that all National Governing bodies that oversee millions of aspiring olympians follow the strictest policies to prevent sex abuse. I believe this is one issue on which we can all agree and that we can Work Together to make a real difference, and im so pleased that the u. S. Olympic committee, which is represented by rick adams here today are you here, mr. Adams . Oh, right in front of me. Im sorry. Strong lly supports the bill as well. Thank you so much. I first began to learn how Sports Organizations such as usa tae kwon do, usa swimming, and in particular usa gymnastics handled sex abuse allegations just before rio de janeiro. At the time, it was reported that usa gymnastics had repeatedly been notified of sexual abuse allegations against its coaches, but did not immediately report those allegations to Law Enforcement. These stories were heart wrenching and involved children as young as 6 years old. One such case revealed that a usa gymnastics that usa gymnastics had received at least four complaints about a member coach, william mccabe, as early as 1998. Yet never reported these allegations to police. According to federal authorities, the very next year mccabe began to molest one very young girl. In the meantime, he continued to coach children for seven more years. During this time, usa gymnastics not only avoided reporting mccabe to police, but also reassured a concerned mother that mccabe was in good standing. Mccabe was ultimately convicted of Sexual Exploitation of children in 2006 after a mother went directly to the fbi. He is now serving a 30year sentence in federal prison. Following the Olympic Games last summer, victims from all over the country began to come forward to talk about their abuse and the culture of money and medals we found had taken priority over their safety. Survivors spoke about a culture that put enormous amounts of pressure on Young Children to keep quiet, to not complain, to simply adhere to whatever the grownups around them were saying. One mother wrote the Judiciary Committee to bring to our attention complete complaints about a usa Gymnastics Team doctor that went reported to the police for five weeks. She wrote and this is a quote i learned that this organization at its highest level deceived me and my family. This organization not only failed to protect my daughter. But when they realized she had been molested, attempted to hide it. Mr. Chairman, i request that that letter be entered into the record. Without objection, it will be entered. Thank you. No mother should ever have to experience that kind of pain. Before i discuss the bill weve introduced, id like to note that the committee invited usa gymnastics Board Chairman to testify here today, but he declined the invitation. He did, however, request that a statement be entered into the record which indicates the organizations suppo for the bill and its enactment. And i ask that that be entered into the record. Without objection, it will be entered. Mr. Chairman, the bill that you and i and the members here today introduced three weeks ago will lead to more accountability and oversight within usa olympic team sports. First, the bill mandates that those officiated with National Governing bodies such as usa gymnastics and usa swimming must report child and sex abuse. Child abuse and any sex abuse as soon as possible to Law Enforcement. Second, the bill reforms the law that allows minor sex crime victims to sue their perpetrators. The bill also lengthens the statute of limitations for victims to sue their perpetrators. Drawing from a bill that senator cornyn and i introduced earlier this year, it extends the statute of limitations from age 21 to 28 or alternatively ten years after the victim actually realizes the injury or violation. And third, theill specifically delineates the responsibilities for all 47 National Governing bodies chartered under the ted stevens act. Under the bill, those bodies must train members and implement and enforce policies to accomplish several things. First, members must report immediately sex abuse to Law Enforcement. Two, members must be allowed to easily report sexual abuse complaints to National Governing bodies such as a 24hour hotline and other authorities. Easy for a youngster to access. It simply cannot be the case, as it is with usa gymnastics, where members reports of sex abuse were only recognized if they were made in writing. Third, adults other than parents should be prohibited from oneonone situation with minors without being an observable and interruptible distance from another adult. And of course, whenever a Team Physician examines a female minor, there should be another adult in the room. Just as it is in the regular population. Fourth, coaches who have unresolved sex abuse allegations against them and there are many will be presevented fro continuing to work with children until there is no longer any risk to the child. With that, i want to thank senator grassley again for calling this hearing and i also want to thank the witnesses again for joining us today. We very much look forward to their testimonies. Thanks so much, mr. Chairman. Before i introduce the panel, i have a statement from usa gymnastics that they want put in the record and we will honor that request, but theyre all the same group that turned down the opportunity to testify today. And it seems to me like they would have done their cause a lot more good by testifying than just giving us a statement for the record. And then also from missing expl children, a statement to put in the record as well without objection, those things will be entered. Mr. Chairman, could you distribute that statement so we have it whenuestioning the witnesses, please . Well get it to you. Thank you. Take this one. Im going to introduce the whole panel, then ill call you from my left to right, in that order. Our first witness is jaime dantzscher. She won an olympic bronze medal in gymnastics in the year 2000 summer Olympic Games, sydney, australia. She graduated from ucla 2005 with a degree in psychology. Rick adams, mr. Adams is chief paralympic sport Organizational Development at the United StatesOlympic Committee. Before joining the Olympic Committee in 2010, mr. Adams had served as ceo of the usa weightlifting president manager and partners of rbc sports and president and ceo of uchl. Mr. Adams graduated from ucla and obtained his law degree at rutgers university. Jessica howard was the u. S. National champion in ewe rhythmic gymnastics from 99 to 2001 and a finalist in the 99 world championships. Shes a member of the usa gymnastics hall of fame. Eric olsen serves as the Commonwealth Attorney for stafford county, virginia. He serves on the board of directors for the National DistrictAttorney Association and chairman of training and education committee. Mr. Olsen has over two decades of experience prosecuting child abuse and Domestic Violence. Finally, we are honored to have with us today, dominique mocenau. She and her team won the gold medal in gymnastics at the 1996 atlantic summer games. Today, she remains the youngest Gold Medalist in u. S. Gymnastics history. She was enducted into the United States or usa gymnastics hall of fame and the u. S. Olympic hall of fame. Today, she is an author. Shes a business owner, an advocate and motivational speaker. Thank you all, once again, for being here. I think my staff informed you about five minutes, but if you have a longer, written statement, those longer written statements will be included in the record. I never wrap the cattle right at the red light going on, but try to sum up in a few seconds or less than a minute your last thoughts before you turn it over to the next person. So, would you start, jaime, please . Chairman grassley, Ranking Member feinstein and distinguished members of the committee, im honored to appear before you today. Thank you. I fell in love with gymnastics before i turned 3 years old when i saw marry lou retton on tv. My parents were come pettive athletes growing up, but they didnt know much about gymnastics. I played tball and tried other sports. I never stopped asking them to let me take gymnastics. I wanted to be an olympian. I remember taking the cushions off the couch to make mats and teaching myself flips. After rearranging furniture, they put me in gymnastics when i was 7 1 2 years old. I loved it more than i imagined i would. I loved to tumble and swing on bars. I felt like i was flying. I would try anything to be like the olympians i saw on tv, wear my hair like them, walk and stand like them. I practiced my olympic salute other and over. My parents has to beg me to leave the gym after practice because i couldnt get enough of it. Gymnastics brought me so much joy as a little girl. When i was 11 years old, i started training as an elite gymnast in california. I needed to work with more experienced coaches at that time. This is a big sacrifice for my entire family because it was a 90minute drive each direction from home. My parents worked five to six days a week and had six siblings involved in sports as well. My coaches assured them it would be worth it because i had the talent to go really far. Financially, my parents didnt know how they would make all this work, but they decided to try in hopes i would have the opportunity to get a College Scholarship one day. Gymnastics started becoming intense at this point. I started training 2530 hours a week, including two workouts a day. My coaches were serious and scary to me at times because they would yell at me. My body was always sore and i always seemed to be tired, but i was learning new skills only seen on tv. I thought thats what i had to do to accomplish my dream. I made the junior National Team for the first time when i was 12 years old. It was in palm springs, california. What i remember most about that competition is i was competing at the same competition of the girls i only saw on tv, like dominique. I was so excited. I made the usa National Team every year after that. All the way up to the olympics. It was around then i was introduced to u. S. National Team Physician, dr. Larry nassar. What i have come to understand is the medical treatment he performed for my back was Sexual Assault. He abused me at the Training Center in texas. He abused me in california and all over the world. Many times, it took place in my own room, in my own bed. Worse, he abused me in my hotel room in sydney at the Olympic Games. When i first spoke out about my abuse, i thought i was the only one. I was disbelieved and even criticized by some in the Gymnastics Community for bringing this to light. Now i know im not alone. 400 women shared stories shockingly similar to mine. Children often dont speak up when they are abused, they suffer in silence. They are taught to submit to the authority of adul