I was raped by my gymnastics coach; 'We were trained to say nothing bothered us'

— -- The following was told to espnW by a former gymnast whose coach was found guilty of rape of a child and indecent assault and battery on a person over 14. She felt compelled to share her ordeal after recent reports that USA Gymnastics has repeatedly failed to report abuse cases?in the hopes that her story, when added to the voices of other young women, can help to enact change.?

To prevent retaliation or harassment, we are not identifying her or the coach involved.

It had been three years since we started having sex when the man who would later be convicted of raping me took me to an abortion clinic. He had scheduled the appointment for after my 18th birthday so that I wouldn't need a parent to sign their permission for the procedure.

We went to a clinic that was an hour from where he lived and he dropped me off at the corner because he didn't want to be seen. I went in by myself, and I sat there in this room full of scared young women, all of whom had someone to support them except for me.

I was taken into the back room. I remember lying down on the table and then waking up on the table. But I was in a total daze. They wheeled me out into the waiting room and I said, "I'm ready to go." And when they asked whether someone was there to pick me up, I said, "I'm sure he's waiting outside."

And there he was, waiting in his car. He took me to a restaurant, and I ate two bites of food, then ran to the restroom and vomited violently. We went back to his house and he had to go coach gymnastics, so he left me there. And I remember thinking, "What the f---? Why am I doing this? Why isn't somebody taking care of me right now?"

I had my follow-up appointment scheduled for a week later, and during recovery you're not supposed to have sex. But the night before I was supposed to go, he forced me to have sex with him because he "just couldn't wait that long."

I thought, "What am I doing with this guy?" This wasn't a real relationship.