McKayla Maroney: US Olympic gymnast claims she was sexually assaulted by team doctor Larry Nassar for seven years

American Olympic gold medallist McKayla Maroney has claimed she was sexually abused for seven years by a former USA gymnastics doctor.

Maroney, 21, accused the former USA Gymnastics doctor Larry Nassar of assaulting her on numerous occasions from when she was aged 13.

She published a statement on the alleged abuse as part of the “#MeToo” Twitter movement which encouraged women to use the hashtag to identify themselves as victims of harassment and sexual assault.

Nasser is in jail after pleading guilty to child porn possession in July. He is awaiting trial for a number of allegations of sexual assault, which he has denied.

Maloney has claimed that Nassar assaulted her the night before she won her gold medal at London 2012.

In a post published on her Twitter, Maloney said the assaults began at a Texas training camp when he said he was treating her for injuries.

“It seemed whenever and wherever this man could find the chance, I was ‘treated,’” Maroney wrote. “It happened in London before my team and I won the gold medal, and it happened before I won my silver.”

She described one instance, during the 2011 world gymnastics championships in Tokyo, when she alleges Nassar gave her a sleeping pill on the flight to Tokyo and she woke up in his hotel room, receiving “treatment”.

“I thought I was going to die that night,” she wrote.

She said Nassar, who worked as an osteopath with the US Gymnastics team, abused her for seven years.

Several former athletes have also accused Nassar of assaulting them under the guise of providing medical care and helping spinal alignment.

“Dr. Nassar told me that I was receiving ‘medically necessary treatment that he had been performing on patients for over 30 years’,” Maroney added.

Nassar is in jail in Michigan after pleading guilty to child porn possession in July. He is awaiting trial in three cases alleging that he sexually molested nine girls, the Indianapolis Star reported.

He has pleaded not guilty to those accusations.

In addition to the criminal charges, he is being sued by over 125 women in civil court who claim he sexually assaulted them

The president of USA Gymnastics, Steve Penny, resigned in March after being accused of being slow to notify authorities about the allegations and the organisation launched an independent review.

USA Gymnastics said previously it was “outraged that a physician would exploit his patients in the manner alleged” and described Nassar's behaviour as “appalling and heartbreaking”.

It added it had “cooperated fully with the FBI and other law enforcement agencies”.