--- title: Shawn Johnson Says USA Failed Olympic Gymansts in Video description: The 2008 Olympian posted an emotional video supporting for her teammates and gymnasts who were abused by Larry Nassar, and criticized USA Gymnastics. canonical: https://time.com/5115028/shawn-johnson-says-usa-gymnastics-failed-athletes-video/ author: Alice Park article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2018-01-23T19:01:25.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-08-04T08:05:54.674Z og:title: Olympic Medalist Shawn Johnson Says USA Gymnastics Failed og:description: The gymnast wants USA Gymnastics to "protect little girls as human beings" og:url: https://time.com/5115028/shawn-johnson-says-usa-gymnastics-failed-athletes-video/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltde093bcdab65f2d0/6988d9b9bc6cfc69913e2a3c/time-logo.jpg?branch=production og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: TIME og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Olympic Medalist Shawn Johnson Says USA Gymnastics Failed twitter:description: The gymnast wants USA Gymnastics to "protect little girls as human beings" twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltde093bcdab65f2d0/6988d9b9bc6cfc69913e2a3c/time-logo.jpg?branch=production --- # Olympic Medalist Shawn Johnson Says USA Gymnastics Has Failed Their Athletes > Sponsored content. 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The Brief is available free at time.com/newsletters, where readers can select it along with any of TIME's other six newsletters. There is no subscription required to receive it. #### Is The Brief free? Yes. The Brief is a free daily email newsletter from TIME. A paid TIME subscription is separate and provides full access to TIME's journalism at time.com/subscribe-agent. #### Who writes The Brief? The Brief is led by editor Richard Hall and draws on reporting from TIME's newsroom. Every edition is assembled by TIME editors rather than generated automatically. ## Video: Ally Raisman's Testimony at Larry Nassar's Sentencing [Watch (HLS stream): Ally Raisman's Testimony at Larry Nassar's Sentencing](https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/0HUJGmiw.m3u8) (1:09)  _Published 2018-01-19. Former Olympic gymnast Ally Raisman reads her testimony at the sentencing hearing of former team doctor Larry Nassar._  by [Alice Park](https://time.com/author/alice-park/)  ## Alice Park Senior Correspondent Jan 23, 2018 7:01 PM UTC  by [Alice Park](https://time.com/author/alice-park/)  ## Alice Park Senior Correspondent Jan 23, 2018 7:01 PM UTC In a video [posted to her youtube channel](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dAyg7C2-mjQ&feature=youtu.be), Olympian Shawn Johnson East said she was “disgusted” over the reports of sexual abuse that gymnasts experienced by team doctor Larry Nassar. In the nearly six minute segment, Olympic gold medalist Johnson, first expressed support for the [women providing victim impact statements at the sentencing hearing for Nassar](http://time.com/5104855/larry-nassar-gymnastics-sentencing-hearing/). Nassar pleaded guilty to several counts of criminal sexual conduct in Michigan state, and could receive up to a life sentence in prison. --- > “” --- Johnson then leveled criticism at USA Gymnastics, which she blames for failing to protect the athletes and address complaints against Nassar, and saying that if she had a daughter, she would not encourage her to pursue gymnastics under the current organization. --- > “” --- Four of the five members of the Fierce Five 2012 Olympic team have revealed that they were abused by Nassar — [Raisman](http://time.com/5020885/aly-raisman-sexual-abuse-usa-gymnastics-doctor-larry-nassar/), [Wieber](http://time.com/5110013/jordyn-wieber-larry-nassar-sexual-abuse/), [Gabby Douglas](http://time.com/5034498/gabby-douglas-aly-raisman-larry-nassar-abuse/), and [McKayla Maroney](http://time.com/4987066/mckayla-maroney-metoo-molested/), along with 2016 Olympic all-around champion [Simone Biles](http://time.com/5103550/olympic-champion-simone-biles-was-sexually-abused-by-team-doctor/). In a lawsuit filed against USA Gymnastics, Maroney also says that [organization had paid her](http://time.com/5074524/usa-gymnastics-paid-mckayla-maroney-sex-abuse/) as part of a confidentiality agreement to not discuss her sexual abuse allegations against Nassar in public. More than 120 former and current gymnasts have given victim impact statements at Nassar’s sentencing hearing, detailing abuse that went on at all levels of of the sport for decades before he was allowed to “retire” from USA Gymnastics in 2016. ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/5115028/shawn-johnson-says-usa-gymnastics-failed-athletes-video/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/5115028/shawn-johnson-says-usa-gymnastics-failed-athletes-video/"},"headline":"Olympic Medalist Shawn Johnson Says USA Gymnastics Has Failed Their Athletes","datePublished":"2018-01-23T19:01:25.000Z","dateModified":"2026-08-04T08:05:54.674Z","description":"The 2008 Olympian posted an emotional video expressing support for her teammates and gymnasts who were abused by Larry Nassar, and strong criticism of USA Gymnastics","url":"https://time.com/5115028/shawn-johnson-says-usa-gymnastics-failed-athletes-video/","keywords":["Newsfeed","olympics","Gymnastics","Simone Biles","Aly Raisman","larry nassar"],"thumbnailUrl":"","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Alice Park","jobTitle":"Senior Correspondent","url":"https://time.com/author/alice-park/"}],"articleSection":"","image":[],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/tag/time-section-newsfeed/","name":"Newsfeed"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/5115028/shawn-johnson-says-usa-gymnastics-failed-athletes-video/","name":"Olympic Medalist Shawn Johnson Says USA Gymnastics Has Failed Their Athletes"}}]},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"VideoObject","name":"Ally Raisman's Testimony at Larry Nassar's Sentencing","description":"Former Olympic gymnast Ally Raisman reads her testimony at the sentencing hearing of former team doctor Larry Nassar.","thumbnailUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/v2/media/0HUJGmiw/poster.jpg?width=720","uploadDate":"2018-01-19T18:32:18.000Z","contentUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/0HUJGmiw.m3u8","embedUrl":"https://time.com/5115028/shawn-johnson-says-usa-gymnastics-failed-athletes-video/","duration":"PT1M9S","potentialAction":{"@type":"SeekToAction","target":"https://time.com/5115028/shawn-johnson-says-usa-gymnastics-failed-athletes-video/?jw_start={seek_to_second_number}","startOffset-input":"required name=seek_to_second_number"}}] ```