“I had so much trauma from certain parts of my gymnastics career” - Aly Raisman opens up about ‘needing space’ from the sport after retirement 

“I had so much trauma from certain parts of my gymnastics career” - Aly Raisman opens up about ‘needing space’ from the sport after retirement

Aly Raisman is one of America's most decorated gymnasts, and she recently opened up on her life post retirement. Where other athletes struggle to fill the void once they call time on their sporting career, the gymnast detailed feeling the opposite when she walked away from gymnastics.

Raisman first rose to fame in 2012 as part of the ‘Fierce Five’ that competed at the London Olympics. There, as team captain, she led the US to the team gold. Individually she won the floor exercise title and finished with a bronze on the balance beam. Four years later, the 30-year-old helped the US to yet another team gold, while claiming a silver on the floor individually.

Post the Rio Olympics, Aly Raisman stopped competing without announcing her retirement. In 2017, she came forward as one of the survivors of sexual abuse at the hands of former team physician Larry Nassar.

Now, in a conversation with BBC’s Katty Kay, the American opened up about her life after retirement. She spoke about how other athletes struggled with finding purpose and post Olympic depression, she found that needing space from gymnastics gave her traumatic experiences with the sport.

“It's interesting because I know that so many athletes struggle with what to do next, I think for me it was almost the opposite. I think I had so much trauma from certain parts of my gymnastics career that I just needed space from the sport.”

“I was surprised how quickly I got used to not doing gymnastics but I think now I'm like still trying to find things that give me that same spark or that same feeling of accomplishment that I had when I was training, but I didn't experience that like post Olympic depression that I know so many people do but I did experience hard times from other things.”

Aly Raisman on finding purpose post her gymnastics career

While Aly Raisman may not have found her way immediately after stepping away from gymnastics, the American opened up about how advocating for athletes safety and mental health helped her rediscover her purpose in life.

“When I started to talk more openly about athlete safety or mental health it gave me a totally different purpose and like I didn't feel that once I finished gymnastics that I was done you know, and so I feel really grateful for that,” she told Katty Kay in the same interview.

She went on to add that while her accomplishments as an athlete were important, she hoped that people would remember her for her activism outside the gym.

“Obviously winning medals is really exciting and wonderful but I do hope when people look back at my career they also hopefully remember that I help make athletes safer and I encourage people to prioritize their mental health.”

After opening up about her experience with sexual abuse at the hands of Larry Nassar, Aly Raisman went on to file a lawsuit against USA Gymnastics and the USOC in 2018. Three years later, she released a documentary titled ‘Aly Raisman: Darkness to Light’, which focused on her healing from the sexual abuse.