Simone Biles, who was honored as TIME‘s athlete of the year, said “the guilt” of Larry Nassar’s abuse should be on USA Gymnastics and the U.S. Olympic and Paralympic Committee

Simone Biles. PHOTO: LOIC VENANCE/AFP VIA GETTY IMAGES

Simone Biles is continuing to push for national gymnastics organizations to take accountability for their role in the Larry Nassar abuse scandal.

The gymnast, 24, was honored this week as TIME‘s 2021 athlete of the year. In the accompanying profile, Biles addressed the “pain” she’s felt following Nassar’s sexual misconduct. (Biles was one of dozens of women who’ve come forward to accuse the former doctor of sexual abuse.)

Nassar was sentenced to up to 175 years in prison for his crimes in 2018. While he worked as a doctor at Michigan State University and for USA Gymnastics (USAG), he sexually abused over 150 women and girls, including Biles, Aly Raisman, McKayla Maroney and Gabby Douglas.

Biles, who is the only woman to accuse Nassar of abuse who is still competing in elite gymnastics today, has been vocal about the need for the USAG and the U.S. Olympic and Paralympic Committee (USOPC) to take responsibility for their roles in the scandal.

Simone Biles. CARMEN MANDATO/GETTY IMAGES

“I definitely do think it had an effect,” she told TIME of publicly discussing the abuse over the past few years. “It’s a lot to put on one person. I feel like the guilt should be on them and should not be held over us. They should be feeling this [pain], not me.”

Biles told TIME that she thought continuing to train after coming forward as one of Nassar’s accusers in 2017 had helped prepare her for the Tokyo Summer Olympics. But she withdrew from multiple events during the Games, citing mental health and her safety. After sitting out of several of the individual finals, Biles said she was driven to compete in the beam final.

“At that point, it was no longer about medaling, but about getting back out there,” Biles told TIME. “I wanted to compete at the Olympics again and have that experience that I came for. I didn’t really care about the outcome. On that beam, it was for me.”

Biles’ latest comments come after she testified in a September Senate hearing on the FBI’s handling of the Nassar investigation. During the hearing, Biles said the FBI, USAG and the USOPC “failed to do their jobs” and protect athletes like herself.

“I am also a survivor of sexual abuse,” she said at the time. “And I believe without a doubt that the circumstances that led to my abuse and allowed it to continue, are directly the result of the fact that the organizations created by Congress to oversee and protect me as an athlete, USA Gymnastics and the United States Olympic and Paralympic Committee (USOPC), failed to do their jobs.”

Biles later added, “USA Gymnastics and the United States Olympic and Paralympic Committee knew that I was abused by their official team doctor long before I was ever made aware of their knowledge.”