Raisman, Aly << RAYZ muhn, AL ee >> (1994-…), is a United States gymnast. She won two gold medals at the 2012 Summer Olympic Games in London, England, and one gold medal at the 2016 Summer Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. Raisman became known for her complex, competitive floor routines and for her leadership in team competition.
Raisman was named captain of the U.S. women’s team for her first Olympic Games in 2012. That team became only the second U.S. women’s team to win gold in the team event. The 1996 team was the first. Raisman also earned a gold medal in the floor exercise and a bronze medal in the balance beam. Her three medals were the most for an American gymnast in the 2012 games. Raisman then took a yearlong break from gymnastics, competing on the television dance competition show “Dancing with the Stars” in 2013. She also designed a line of gymnastics leotards and socks.
In 2016, at the age of 22, Raisman captained her second Olympic team. Raisman’s age—considered advanced for a competitive gymnast—and compassionate leadership earned her the nickname “Grandma Aly” among her teammates. That team also won the gold medal in team competition. Raisman won silver medals in individual all-around competition and the floor exercise. She became the first American gymnast to medal in floor exercise in back-to-back Olympic Games.
Alexandra Rose Raisman was born on May 25, 1994, in Needham, Massachusetts, a suburb of Boston. She began training in gymnastics at the age of 2. At the 2009 Junior Pan American Championships, she won international gold medals in the team competition, vault, and floor exercise. She went on to win several medals nationally and at World Championships in 2010, 2011, and 2015. She wrote an autobiography, Fierce: How Competing for Myself Changed Everything (2017).
In the mid-2010’s, Raisman became one of more than 100 gymnasts and other women to reveal that they had been sexually abused by Larry Nassar, a former team doctor for USA Gymnastics, the U.S. national gymnastics federation. Nassar was sentenced to prison. Raisman and the other victims received the Arthur Ashe Courage Award for speaking up about the abuse.
