Aly Raisman is a retired American gymnast who has six Olympic medals to her name. Hailing from Massachusetts, Raisman began gymnastics when she was only 18 months old.
Raisman credits the 'Magnificent Seven,' — the 1996 US Olympic women's gymnastics team that won the first-ever gold medal for the USA in a women's team competition in Atlanta — for instilling her passion for gymnastics.
Raisman spent most of her life training to compete at the highest level in gymnastics, for which she left her school in junior year only to be home-schooled later.
She graduated from Needham High School. She competed in the 2012 London Olympics, where she won two gold medals in team and floor exercise and one bronze medal in balance beam.
Raisman also competed at the 2016 Rio Olympics and displayed a phenomenal performance. She won a gold medal in the women's team event and two silver medals in the all-around and floor exercise events.
Following her success at the Olympics, she received congratulatory messages from Colton Underwood, who played for the Oakland Raiders.
He recorded a video message for Raisman, congratulating her and expressing his interest in taking her out if she ever was in town. The couple stepped out together at a Sports Illustrated event a few months later.
They dated for a brief period from 2016 to 2017. However, in April 2021, Underwood publicly came out as gay on the American network Good Morning America.
Aly Raisman is currently single and has recently launched her new book 'From my head to my toes'.
"We have our voices, and we are not going anywhere" - Aly Raisman testifies during Larry Nassar's investigation
Aly Raisman testified to the allegations against Larry Nassar along with other American gymnasts including Simone Biles, Gabby Douglas, Jordyn Wieber, and McKayla Maroney.
Nassar had been the team doctor for 18 years with the USA gymnastics team. In 2016, he was charged with sexually assaulting 265 young female gymnasts. He was then sentenced to 60 years in prison on December 7, 2017.
Aly Raisman fearlessly read her statement in court, facing Nassar himself, for around 13 minutes.
"Larry, you do realize now that we, this group of women you so heartlessly abused over such a long period of time, are now a force, and you are nothing," she said.
"We are here. We have our voices, and we are not going anywhere. I am here to face you, Larry, so you can see I have regained my strength, that I am no longer a victim. I am a survivor," she added.