"I was very hard on myself" - Aly Raisman explains how OCD helped her succeed in gymnastics

Retired American artistic gymnast and mental health advocate Aly Raisman recently opened up about how her OCD for being perfect in her training helped her become one of the most successful gymnasts. Raisman is a six-time Olympic medalist.

Raisman was a leading figure in US gymnastics back in the day, serving as captain of her national side twice at the London Olympics in 2012 and the Rio Olympics in 2016. Under her leadership, the American team won gold medals in the team events at both games. In addition, Raisman earned an individual gold in the floor exercise and a bronze in the balance beam at the London Olympics, while securing two individual silvers in the floor exercise and the individual all-around events in Rio.

Furthermore, the 30-year-old found the same success at the World Championships as well, where she earned a total of two golds, one silver, and one bronze across her three appearances. After years of dominance on the world stage, the American retired from competitive gymnastics in January 2020.

On October 18th, Aly Raisman shared insights into her gymnastics journey during her appearance on the NOCD YouTube channel for an episode of Get to Know OCD. She revealed that her perfectionism and OCD in training contributed to her success for years.

"I think for me where it stands out is not wanting to leave the gym unless I felt like I did five routines as well as I could, and if I had done ten routines on beam and I fell on one of them, that's the one that I fixated on, which I think was very challenging because I was very hard on myself. I think it's this feeling of always striving to be better and better all the time," she said. [42:00 onwards]

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"I’m going to feel anxious and I might not know why" - When Aly Raisman shared her thoughts on mental health

Aly Raisman pictured at the 2018 Massachusetts Conference For Women (Source: Getty)

In December 2023, during her appearance on Chrissy Rutherford’s podcast, I’m Fine, You? Aly Raisman reflected on her thoughts on mental health and said that her realization of the idea of the impermanence of constant happiness or sadness has helped her a lot.

"I think one of the biggest realizations I’ve had is kind of let go of this idea that maybe one day I’ll feel really happy all the time, or one day everything’s going to be fine," she said. "That has really helped me, realizing that there are going to be days where I wake up and I’m just going to feel blah, or I’m going to feel anxious and I might not know why." (as quoted by Sports Illustrated)

Aly Raisman added that taking a day at a time and allowing yourself to simply be on tough days can make a significant difference.