How Many Olympic Medals Does Aly Raisman Have?
The following article contains references to sexual assault.
Aly Raisman is a two-time Olympic athlete. She was a member of the U.S. women's gymnastics team in 2012 in London and in 2016 in Rio, according to her bio on the official Team USA website. Raisman, who was born and raised in Massachusetts, started taking gymnastics in 1996, and quickly fell in love with the sport. "I was 2 years old when my mom put me in mommy and me classes. I always had a lot of energy so it was the perfect fit," Raisman previously told USA Gymnastics (via Biography). When she was just 10-years-old, Raisman kicked her training up to the next level. She began working with coaches Mihai and Sylvie Brestyan at the American Gymnastics Club, according to Biography, and by the time she was 14, she was competing "at an elite level."
Before heading to the 2012 Olympics, Raisman told ESPN that she was honored to be a part of Team USA. "Making the team is a dream come true. I am so honored and so excited to represent my country. It means the world to me," she said. At the age of 18, Raisman traveled across the pond with her "Fierce Five" teammates (Gabby Douglas, McKayla Maroney, Kyla Ross, and Jordyn Wieber), where she would make history. In 2016, Raisman would do it all over again, this time as part of the "Final Five" alongside Simone Biles, Gabby Douglas, Laurie Hernandez, and Madison Kocian.
So, how many Olympic medals has Raisman won? Keep reading to find out.
Aly Raisman has won a total of 6 Olympic medals
Aly Raisman has earned a total of six Olympic medals. In 2012, Raisman took home gold medals in both the team competition and floor exercise, and earned a bronze medal on the balance beam. According to NPR, Raisman is the first U.S. female gymnast to ever win gold on floor. She took to Twitter after her win to share her excitement with fans. "Wow what a day!!!!!! It was the perfect ending to an amazing Olympic experience. I loved every second of it, thank you everyone for the love," she tweeted. After the 2012 Olympic Games came to a close, Raisman took a short break before she got back to work.
According to the Washington Post, training for the 2016 Olympics looked a bit different for Raisman, who was 22-years-old at the time. "Gymnastics is one of those sports where it's still a little bit old school. But because the system works, they shouldn't change it. Every single day, you've got to train like six to seven hours...Going back to that mind-set, I think it's more mentally hard than physically hard," she told the outlet. She qualified for The Games nevertheless, and would go on to earn three more medals. She won a gold in the women's all around event, a silver in the individual all around, and a silver for her floor routine, according to the official Olympics website.
Aly Raisman retired from gymnastics in January 2020
In January 2020, Aly Raisman announced her decision to retire from gymnastics, according to the Daily Mail. "It's true, I'm not going to be competing in Tokyo," Raisman said in a statement that she posted to Instagram. "It's so hard to get my head around the fact I competed in the Olympics twice – the past 10 years have been such a whirlwind and I haven't really processed all that has happened and sometimes I wonder whether I ever will. I've lived a fast-paced life and sometimes I have to remind myself to slow down, unplug from technology and take the time to appreciate what I've experienced and learned," the statement continued.
These days, Raisman is enjoying her retirement. In the summer of 2021, she had been working at Camp Woodward in Pennsylvania as a program designer, according to USA Today. Raisman is fairly active on Instagram, and has been posting about the Larry Nassar case; Nassar is a former gymnastics coach who was sentenced to upwards of 175 years in prison on child pornography charges, according to NBC News. Raisman is one of the survivors in the case that has spoken out against Nassar, according to Time magazine.