Throughout my elite gymnastics career,
I always put so much pressure on myself to be the best that I can be.
But I realize now, more than ever,
it's even more important to speak up and make a difference in the world.
I get letters from so many people
that trust me enough to share their stories with me.
[overlapping voices] Dear Aly...
Dear Aly...
[woman] Dear Aly,
You defied all odds doing moves few gymnasts can even attempt.
If you could do that, I knew I could defy the odds too.
[woman 2] Because of you,
I will never again stand by when someone else is in harm's way.
In life, you need to keep fighting.
You helped spark a movement that I'm proud to be a part of.
I knew if you could find the strength to go on,
that I could too.
I'm still young. I'm still learning.
But I realize now, more than ever,
that we all have the power to create change
just by sharing our stories.
Dear Aly...
[woman 3] Dear Aly...
[man 2] Dear Aly...
[voices continue]
[Aly] When I was a little girl,
I watched the 1996 Olympic women's gymnastics team
win the team gold medal.
[male announcer] What a beautiful moment for American sports.
Gold on home turf in Atlanta.
I was so, so inspired by them,
and I knew that I wanted to be just like them.
I started gymnastics when I was two years old,
taking classes with my mom.
I fell in love with it right from the start.
When I was at the gym,
it just felt so comfortable and safe for me to be there.
[crowd cheers]
-[woman] Nice! Stick it! -[girl] Whoo!
[Aly] My coach said I have to lead by example
and to look out for people, to be there for your teammates,
and that, you know, in order to win a competition
you have to be a team from start to finish.
I had absolutely no idea how hard it would be to get to the Olympics.
But I think that's one of the best things about being a kid,
is that there is no dream that's too big.
It's very hard to describe how incredible it is to make the Olympic team.
It's the biggest competition of your life.
[female announcer] Aly Raisman, here,
who has really become the leader for this team.
[Aly] On top of that, I was voted to be team captain.
It was really an honor to be the captain.
[male announcer] Just one pass.
Just one pass.
Hit it and you're in.
Watch Aly Raisman's face,
right as she sticks it.
And she knows it. Right there. She knows it.
[female announcer] Look at that shot. They have been a team from start to finish.
[male announcer] Get the gold medals ready.
-[screams] -[audience cheers]
[Aly] When we won the team gold at the 2012 Olympics,
I was really emotional. I was crying.
And I was very proud of the fact that I was able to lead my team.
And they were also incredible teammates to me too.
It's an amazing experience when all of your dreams are coming true
and all of your hard work has paid off.
After the London Olympics,
I had this obsession to compete in the 2016 Olympics.
It is very rare to come back for a second Olympics,
but I was very determined to get there.
[male reporter] What about making a comeback, is it tough?
I still feel like I have more to give in this sport.
It's kind of like a gut feeling.
So, regardless of what happens, I know that I'll do the best that I can.
[male announcer] Aly Raisman of Team USA
is trying to make it back to the Olympic Games.
It's one of the most daunting things a gymnast can try and do.
[Aly] The World Championships are extremely crucial
to be able to compete at the Olympic Games.
At the 2015 World Championships, I just did not feel like myself at all.
I felt really insecure,
and I just kept doubting myself.
[crowd groans]
I was so upset and so mad at myself
and only focusing on what I was doing wrong.
[male commentator] Yeah, she was just devastated.
After day one, she said,
"I feel like I just want to go die in a hole.
I feel like I let my team and my coaches down."
Called it the worst meet of her entire life.
[Aly] This had never happened before.
It just was too much for me.
After the 2015 World Championships,
I came back home and had a little bit of time before the next training camp
to self-reflect
and realize that I was putting so much pressure on myself
that it totally backfired.
I felt like I forgot why I loved gymnastics in the first place.
Don't lose the right hand.
You're losing the right hand and you're turning the right hand backwards.
It took me really, really struggling
and really having one of the worst competitions of my life
to realize there is such thing as working too hard
and pushing yourself too much and wanting it too much.
And so I decided to just compete for myself
and not push myself to the point where it's not fun anymore.
And it really helped me be the best that I could possibly be
at the 2016 Olympics.
[crowd cheering]
[man] USA! USA!
[male commentator] She said, "On this comeback, I've worked so hard.
Harder than if I had had no success."
[woman on PA] On floor exercise...
[male announcer] This has been her destiny.
- [crowd cheering] -[male commentator] Gold for Team USA.
I worked really hard to get to that moment.
And I realized that the harder days are what's gonna make you stronger.
And it made me feel absolutely amazing,
especially knowing that you are impacting generations to come.
Dear Aly, I started gymnastics when I was six years old.
By the time I was 11, I was training 25 hours a week
and loved every second of it.
[cheering, applause]
I couldn't wait for the next meet and chance to perform.
But sometimes life has other plans for you.
Mine certainly did.
When I was 12, I was diagnosed with acute myeloid leukemia
and immediately started chemotherapy to prepare for a bone marrow transplant.
But the day before my transplant, my situation became much worse.
My left leg had become dangerously infected.
The doctor told me and my family that they had no choice but to amputate.
I couldn't imagine a life with just one leg.
But my doctor told me it was either my leg or my life.
I was devastated,
but I knew I didn't have a choice.
The recovery was so difficult.
After the amputation, I felt a little lost.
But a call from my coach changed everything.
She said, "I've never taught a one-legged gymnast before,
but I'm willing to try if you are."
Returning to the gym with a prosthetic leg was challenging.
My leg didn't work the way it used to.
And there were so many days where I would try a skill
only to land in a heap on the floor.
[exhales]
Gymnastics used to come so naturally to me.
And now, I was having to break movements down
to their most basic elements just to try them.
I was tested in ways I could never have imagined
and had to fight through a lot of frustration.
All this happened right as the Summer Olympics were starting.
I watched with my family as you did incredible things,
reminding me how strong we are as gymnasts.
Aly, you defied all the odds as you threw yourself in the air
doing passes that only a few people in the world could even attempt.
If you could do that, I knew that I could defy the odds too.
You motivated me and renewed my excitement about gymnastics.
I was in the gym almost every day,
figuring out the mechanics of my new leg with my teammates,
seeing what worked and what didn't.
Falling a lot, but getting back up over and over.
I started competing again
and learned to love the challenge of discovering new ways to do skills.
[male reporter] No need for a handicap category for Kate.
She's happy to be judged the same as the two-legged gymnasts
at the Illinois State Championship meet.
[woman] Come on, Kate!
[male reporter] The gym goes quiet.
Kate swings up to the high bar and lands a flip like a pro.
-Nice job! -[applause]
It turns out I could do gymnastics with just one leg after all.
Aly, because of you, I'm back in the gym still doing the thing I love,
the thing I refuse to give up on.
[crowd cheering]
[male announcer] And the USA romping away with team gold.
[woman on PA] Alexandra Raisman!
When I was little, watching the Olympics,
I thought these Olympic athletes are these perfect people
and nothing ever goes wrong with their perfect lives,
but that's not the world that we live in.
Shocking allegations tonight against the former head physician
of the US Women's Olympic Gymnastics Team,
accused of sexually assaulting young girls in his care.
Nassar came in with a sunny personality,
and he used that trust to disguise sexual assault as medical treatment.
[Aly] I reported my abuse before the 2016 Olympic Games.
USA Gymnastics told us that the FBI would handle it,
but nothing happened.
I felt like they were sweeping things under the rug.
We kept reaching back out, saying, "What's going on?"
And they didn't explain anything to any of us.
We were all told to keep this quiet.
I just don't think people understand how hard it is
to go through a traumatic experience, to be abused,
and to report your abuse
and then they do nothing.
[male news anchor] We begin tonight with a major development.
Fifty-three-year-old Dr. Larry Nassar was hit with 22 criminal charges,
accused of sexually assaulting nine girls.
And he has many more accusers.
[female reporter] Nassar pleaded guilty to multiple state charges
of child sexual abuse.
As part of that agreement,
the Michigan court invited all of his accusers, nearly 150 women...
I was ashamed.
...to speak at his sentencing.
[Aly] I was terrified to come forward.
Sexual abuse is very hard to process on your own,
let alone when everyone knows about it.
So I just was not ready to share my story publicly with everyone.
[female bailiff] All rise.
[camera shutters clicking]
He betrayed my trust,
took advantage of my youth
and sexually abused me hundreds of times.
Sexual abuse is so much more than a disturbing physical act.
It changes the trajectory of a victim's life.
[Aly] Watching the many other young women speak,
I realized I was not alone.
Just to have that support and connection
and a willingness to make a difference together
was very inspiring and very empowering at the same time.
Aly Raisman will be the next, um, survivor you hear from.
I realized that I wanted to be there.
- Good morning. Thank you for being here. - Good morning. Thank you.
Larry, you do realize now that we,
this group of women you so heartlessly abused over such a long period of time,
are now a force and you are nothing.
The tables have turned, Larry.
We are here, we have our voices, and we are not going anywhere.
You were trusted by so many
and took advantage of countless athletes and their families.
Over those 30 years, when survivors came forward,
adult after adult--
many in positions of authority-- protected you.
In fact, many adults had you convince the survivors
that they were being dramatic or had been mistaken.
This is like being violated all over again.
1997 was the first report of abuse.
The ripple effect of that one person who ignored that report
affected hundreds and hundreds of people over 20 years.
Larry, you should've been locked up a long, long time ago.
But I am here to tell you that I will not rest
until every last trace of your influence on this sport has been destroyed
like the cancer it is.
After I finished speaking,
I could barely eat or I could barely sit up 'cause I was just so exhausted.
It took everything out of me.
But I also felt very empowered.
Thank you. Thank you so much.
-Thank you. -[applause]
At the time, it didn't occur to me
that by sharing my story and being honest about what I was going through
that I could be helping other people.
Dear Aly, I started teaching gymnastics classes at a nearby gym when I was 18.
I loved my students to death.
They were like my little sisters.
We'd watch videos of you and the rest of the team.
You were our favorite.
[cheers, applause]
So when we learned about the Nassar case,
we were heartbroken.
Then our own nightmare happened.
One day I walked into the gym and saw someone had ransacked our space.
I called 911, only to find out
that the owner of the gym had been arrested on child pornography charges.
[male reporter] A once-trusted gymnastics coach
charged with child pornography possession
following the discovery of two hidden cameras
in his Wind Lake Gymnastics Center.
I felt sick to my stomach.
Gymnastics had always made us feel safe and strong.
And I feared that my girls would stop doing the sport that we all love so much.
It was hard enough for me.
I can't imagine being ten years old
and finding out that your coach was secretly taping you.
These were my girls.
I loved them, and I felt like I was letting them down.
After that gym closed, my girls found a new gymnasium.
But we were still having trouble moving on.
I thought of everything that you had been through
and the strength that you carried moving forward.
So I decided to write to you.
Amazingly, you responded.
You made me feel heard and understood.
You told me that our abuse does not define us.
We destroyed all of our gear from our old gym.
We've come out of this experience stronger together.
Because of you,
I confronted the man that took so much from us.
He was sentenced to 17 years in prison
and 30 years of extended supervision.
Your story reaffirms that we are not alone.
We are not victims.
We are survivors.
[Aly] Unfortunately we live in a world
where abuse is a lot more common than people like to believe.
Ninety percent of the time it is somebody that you trust.
I realize now more than ever
how many people can relate to what I've been through.
- Hi. How are you? - [woman] Good. How are you?
Good. Thank you. Who do you want me to make it out to?
- [woman] My sister Paige. - How do you spell that?
I just want to say thank you so much for coming out about your story.
It's encouraged me to come out about mine.
-Oh, thank you. -I really appreciate it.
I'm sorry to hear about that. How are you doing?
I'm doing fine. I mean, after coming out about it, I've become more okay with it.
[Aly] So many people want to share their stories with me of being a survivor.
So I take that responsibility very seriously.
[woman 2] I wanted to thank you for having a voice.
I have not been able to have a voice, so thank you.
- Everyone comes forward when-- - Gotta do it on your own time.
Yes, of course. So don't rush it.
Do whatever feels right for you and just focus on taking care of yourself.
And speaking with so many fans,
I've realized a lot of people don't feel heard.
A lot of people don't feel like--
When they share their voice and they share their story,
they are not listened to, and that's unacceptable.
And so when I speak publicly,
I'm not just speaking on behalf of myself or the gymnastics community,
but I'm also speaking on behalf of so many women and men
that are not believed, that are not listened to,
and so many people that are afraid to come forward.
[woman] Aly isn't just an Olympic athlete.
What she has done is what gymnasts are normally told not to.
She has spoken out, and she has challenged authority.
[applause]
[Aly] Abuse is a huge societal problem,
and that's because our society so often sticks up for abusers over survivors.
And so often, people don't want to get involved.
That's unacceptable,
and that also enables abusers to continue to get away with their abuse.
USA Gymnastics still treats me and my teammates like we're adversaries
when we're saying that we were abused while we were training.
I couldn't sit back and watch the organizations
continue to sweep it under the rug and act like nothing was happening.
It gives me anxiety
how many people out there do not do the right thing.
So I can't sit back and do nothing.
Now is such an important time for everyone to speak up.
The statistics of people that are actually sexually abused before the age of 18
is one in four girls and one in six boys.
My goal-- and this is a very big goal--
is to get everyone to understand the warning signs to stop a predator.
So I partner with Darkness to Light,
and that is a program to educate all adults
to prevent child sexual abuse.
I'm very determined to get as many people educated,
and it's not going to happen overnight.
We have a lot of work to do.
But things are changing, and we're all a part of that change.
Dear Aly, I'm a neurologist in training from Ontario.
When you started competing professionally, I was just starting medical school.
I admired the grit you showed in your gymnastics.
I felt like I related to you personally
because you also need a lot of grit in medical training.
Last year, when I was on pediatric rotation,
I received a call about a little girl
whose hip had been dislocated for six months.
Her hip bone was poking out of her skin
and her muscles were spastic due to a prior injury.
The physician was begging the parents to give consent to treat the hip injury,
but sadly, they refused.
So the doctor asked me for help in controlling her pain.
The little girl was also severely underweight.
Looking at her in so much pain actually made me feel nauseous.
To me, this was an obvious case of child abuse.
The doctors all knew something was wrong,
but each doctor pointed to another doctor to do something.
Sadly, I was no exception to this.
But no matter what I was doing,
all my thoughts were focused on that little girl.
It was then that I remembered my favorite gymnastics podcast
mentioning your partnership with Darkness to Light,
an amazing non-profit committed to training adults
to identify and prevent situations of abuse.
That evening, I took your Darkness to Light training online,
and I ended up calling Child Protective Services that same night.
It's just like you during the Larry Nassar case.
In life, you need to keep fighting till the right people listen.
Because I spoke up,
Child Protective Services got involved with the parents that next day.
And I recently found out that the young girl is doing much better.
Aly, you have renewed my faith in the merit of fighting for what's right
and that people with good intentions can make good change.
You have made me remember that there's ultimately a right thing to do.
[Aly] There is a whole army of survivors that will be fighting for change
until we can get to a point where people realize
that abuse is never ever okay.
We are so grateful that the ESPYs gave us another platform to share our story
and hopefully give other survivors the courage to share theirs too.
Whether you act or do nothing,
you are shaping the world that we live in, impacting others.
If just one adult had listened, believed and acted,
the people standing before you on this stage
would have never met him.
To all the survivors out there,
we may suffer alone
but we survive together.
Thank you.
[cheers, applause]
Everyone is a survivor of something.
The more that we can all encourage people to share their stories,
we will change things and make things better.
Thank you, Aly, for showing me that nothing is impossible.
You gave me the validation I needed to move forward
and the strength to support my girls.
We all have different passions in life.
And so, if every single one of us
focused on something that we want to see change,
the ripple effects of that could change the world.
Thank you for showing me that my voice can make a difference. Caroline.
Sincerely, Kate.
Sincerely, Sammie.