Aly Raisman

Alexandra Rose Raisman (born May 25, 1994) is an American retired artistic gymnast and two-time Olympian.

Raisman was born on May 25, 1994, in the Boston suburb of Needham, Massachusetts, to Lynn, a former high school gymnast, and Rick Raisman.

She has three younger siblings: Brett, Chloe, and Madison.

Raisman is Jewish with roots in Romania.

She attributes her initial love for the sport to the "Magnificent Seven", the gold medal-winning U.S. women's team at the 1996 Summer Olympics, whose performances she watched on VHS.

She trained at Exxcel Gymnastics and Climbing until age ten, when she moved to Brestyan's American Gymnastics Club under coaches Mihai and Silvia Brestyan.

Raisman began competing as an elite gymnast in 2009.

She competed at the American Classic in San Diego, where she placed tenth in the all-around.

Then in July, she competed at the U.S. Classic in Des Moines, Iowa, and placed twelfth in the all-around.

At the National Championships in Dallas, she won the bronze medal in the all-around.

She made her international debut at the Pan American Championships in Aracaju, Brazil.

She helped the American team win the gold medal, and she placed third in the all-around.

In the event finals, she won gold medals on the vault and floor exercise.

Raisman made her senior debut at the American Cup in Worcester, Massachusetts.

She placed second behind Rebecca Bross with an all-around score of 58.900.

Later that month, she competed at the City of Jesolo Trophy in Jesolo, Italy, and won the all-around gold medal.

At the Pacific Rim Championships in Melbourne, she helped the American team win the gold medal and placed second in the all-around competition.

In the event finals, she placed seventh on uneven bars, second on balance beam, and second on floor exercise.

In July, Raisman placed fifth at the U.S. Classic in Chicago.

She then competed at the National Championships in Hartford, Connecticut, and placed third in the all-around.

She also placed third on the balance beam and on the floor exercise.

In October, Raisman competed at the 2010 World Artistic Gymnastics Championships in Rotterdam.

In the team finals, she competed on the vault, balance beam, and floor exercise, and helped the American team win the silver medal by only 0.201 points behind Russia.

She then placed thirteenth in the all-around final after struggling on the uneven bars.

She finished fourth in the floor exercise final, missing out on a medal by 0.050 points.

In March, Raisman placed third at the American Cup in Jacksonville, Florida, behind Jordyn Wieber and Aliya Mustafina.

Later that month, she placed third in the all-around at the City of Jesolo Trophy and helped the American team win the gold medal.

She also won bronze on the vault and gold on the balance beam and floor exercise.

In July, she won the all-around at the U.S. Classic in Chicago and debuted her Amanar vault.

She then competed at the National Championships in Saint Paul, Minnesota, and placed third in the all-around.

Raisman was also a member of the gold-winning American teams at the 2011 and 2015 World Championships, and the World bronze medalist on floor exercise in 2011.

She was captain of both the 2012 "Fierce Five" and 2016 "Final Five" U.S. women's Olympic gymnastics teams, which won their respective team competitions.

At the 2012 Olympics in London, she won gold medals in the team and floor competitions, as well as the bronze medal on the balance beam, making her the most decorated American gymnast at the Games.

She is also a two-time national champion on floor exercise (2012, 2015), the 2012 national champion on balance beam, and a five-time medalist in the all-around at the national championships (silver in 2016, bronze in 2010, 2011, 2012, and 2015).

Raisman graduated from Needham High School in 2012, after completing her senior year via online classes while training for the Olympics.

At the 2016 Olympics in Rio de Janeiro, she won a gold medal in the team event, making her and teammate Gabby Douglas the only Americans with back-to-back team gold medals.

Raisman also won silver medals in the individual all-around and on the floor exercise.

She is the third-most decorated American gymnast in Olympic history behind Shannon Miller and Simone Biles, with six Olympic medals.

In 2016, she said, "I take a lot of pride in being able to not only represent the U.S.A, but also the Jewish community everywhere."

Raisman began gymnastics when she was eighteen months old.