Abuse victims honored for their courage

In a powerful moment at Wednesday night’s ESPYs, more than 100 survivors who suffered sexual abuse at the hands of former USA Gymnastics and Michigan State doctor Larry Nassar took the stage at Staples Center to a rousing standing ovation from the athletes, celebrities and others in attendance.

Sarah Klein, the first known victim of Nassar in the early 1990s, addressed the crowd first, followed by former Spartans softball player Tiffany Thomas Lopez and three-time Olympic gold medalist Aly Raisman.

Raisman — who delivered a scathing statement at Nassar’s sentencing hearing in January — began her speech Wednesday by listing the years in which the then-victims spoke out about their abuse — cries for help that fell on negligently deaf ears.

All the survivors were honored with the Arthur Ashe Courage Award.

“1997. 1998. 1999. 2000. 2004. 2011. 2013. 2014. 2015. 2016,” Raisman said. “These were the years we spoke up about Larry Nassar’s abuse. All those years, we were told, ‘You are wrong. You misunderstood. He’s a doctor. It’s okay. Don’t worry. We’ve got it covered. Be careful. There are risks involved.’ The intention? To silence us in favor of money, medals and reputation.

“But we persisted. And finally, someone listened and believed us.”