Olympic Medalist Shawn Johnson Says USA Gymnastics Has Failed Their Athletes

Know I am praying for you, I love you. You have experienced some of the worst evil in the world and to know you guys have a voice and you are standing up for so many people — just know you are my heroes.

Knowing that USA Gymnastics has failed their athletes so terribly disappoints me and makes me so incredibly angry. The fact that any of this has ever happened shows that USA Gymnastics has failed as a governing body to protect the athletes that it supports and claims to care about.

This video is so hard for me to make. We have tried to shoot this countless times and I have ended up in tears, I have been angry, I’ve been confused. Just because there are so many words, and so many experiences that I have gone through…I love these girls so…sorry I’m getting really emotional… I love these girls so much and the fact that a system that is supposed to protect children has failed them so bad is so wrong.

And to see the videos of Aly [Raisman] and Jordyn [Wieber], these girls that I grew up with and love so much, have to face this man, a man that has violated them in the worst way possible is just disgusting.

If you want to gain the trust of the world, if you want to gain the trust from coaches and from parents, and make little girls feel comfortable again, you need to change the system completely. I think USA Gymnastics for a very, very long time has focused on nothing but winning gold medals that they have overlooked the simple and most important fact that the people they are dealing with are minors and are children; and do not have the capabilities to stand up for themselves or speak for themselves.

As pertains USA Gymnastics, every single procedure, rule, guideline, rulebook you’ve ever made needs to be thrown out the window and redone. I think gymnastics is the best sport in the entire world. But if I had daughter right now I wouldn’t put her in it. It makes me really sad. Because I can’t even trust USA Gymnastics. The organization I have trusted my entire life has failed miserably and I don’t know how to fix it except for start over, start over completely.

Until we protect these little girls as human beings, instead of protect them as gymnasts just to make sure they get gold medals, we aren’t going make any progress is meaningful.

I want to end this by saying if you have ever experienced anything like this, if anybody has ever violated you, violated your trust, I know it’s probably the most terrifying thing in the world but you need speak up not just for yourself but to protect others involved. Know that there are people around you that love you, want to protect you, and if you need anyone to talk to, or don’t have anyone, we are here. Know we’re praying for you, we love you and I know some very very strong powerful voices are leading change for USA Gymnastics. I will stand with them to see a change in USA Gymnastics and to protect those that are currently involved, have been involved or will be involved in the future. This is something I very passionate about. I love you guys, I support you. I stand with you and we desperately need change. We need to rewrite the book. And we need to make sure this never happens again.