At the Sports Legends Dinner, Margaret Hoelzer was on one of many red carpets she’s been on since winning three medals in Beijing for swimming, and stopped by to talk to us about what she’s been up to since then. Hoelzer wants to work with children and reminded us that it’s possible to overcome any odds and make it as an Olympic athlete. She has just recently started discussing her history of being sexually abused when she was 5-years-old and how she would love to work with abused children one day, saying that children’s causes “effects over a quarter of the population, so it’s huge.”

CGG: Why was it important for you to come out tonight?
Margaret Hoelzer: It’s a great cause first and foremost. I’m a huge supporter of children. I’m trying to get into working with children and starting causes. So I’m here to learn and support a great cause, everything about it.

CGG: Has paralysis affected your life in any personal way?
MH: No not personally. Other than seeing the pain that others have gone through. I haven’t had any family members or anything.

CGG: We hear that you want to work with abused children when you finish school…are there any other causes you’re passionate about?
MH: Absolutely, I’ve just recently started talking about being sexually abused myself. Ideally I’d love to start a foundation one day. I just spoke at the National Children’s Advocacy Center, I work with them. I think that’s the only cause I can really handle right now. It effects over a quarter of the population, so it’s huge.

CGG: What advice would you have for young people trying to make it as professional athletes?
MH: Never give up. Dream big and most importantly, you can have something traumatic happen in your life, you can have really big obstacles but that doesn’t mean that you still can’t do something. Whether or not that’s in athletics or in the business world or whatever it is that goal is that you have to remember to keep taking the steps and you can get there.

CGG: What about kids that are looking to get involved in charity work?
MH: There’s local charities in every single neighborhood. So regardless of where you are, what you want to work with or where you’re from there’s so many different amazing causes in every city on some level and you know, you can do it at the bare minimum or you can try to do a whole lot more. It’s your choice.