Raisman’s composure during this post-trial press run is admirable—it’s the same kind of concentration Raisman called upon when competing, she said—and her composure is remarkable. Nassar made eye contact with Raisman at various points during her testimony—something she said she wasn’t expecting—but Raisman steadily held his gaze, drawing strength from the other survivors in the room.
“I didn’t know how I would feel,” she told Kotb, “but when I walked in there, being with this army of survivors, and even—I didn’t know most of these girls and these women, but I just felt an instant connection.”
Beyond Nassar’s sentencing, Raisman wants more from the organizations that harbored and supported Nassar’s abuse. “We need to hold these organizations accountable,” she said. “U.S.A Gymnastics, United States Olympic Committee, M.S.U., they need an independent investigation. This is bigger than Larry Nassar. We have to get to the bottom of how this disaster happened. If we don’t figure out how it did, we can’t be confident that it won’t happen again.”
