Aly Raisman Earns Spot on US Olympic Gymnastics Team – Kveller
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Aly Raisman

Aly Raisman Earns Spot on US Olympic Gymnastics Team

Jewish gymnast Aly Raisman finally earned her spot on the U.S. Olympic gymnastics team this past Sunday at the SAP Center in San Jose, California. The 22-year-old is sometimes jokingly referred to as “Grandma,” because of her age. (Clearly, she’s so old, right?!)

When she heard her name announced, she joked that she’d live up to her name, stating:

“We were joking, I was like, ‘I really am going to live up to my grandma name because I’m going to have a heart attack before they announce the names.”

Over the course of the night, Raisman blew everyone away with her incredible routine that earned her a score of 15.25, which is higher than her 14.8 in Friday’s opening night of the Olympic Trials. Overall, Raisman earned third place with a 119.750 over the two-day, eight-rotation competition–which she secured with national team coordinator Martha Karolyi.

Raisman joins a spectacular team, comprised of Simone Biles, reigning Olympic all-around champion Gabby Douglas, Laurie Hernandez and Madison Kocian. Douglas said how happy she is to have Raisman on the team, stating:

“It’s just amazing because she’s so strong. To have her just lead this team, we’ve been there, and for us to be back on this road together is just amazing and kind of different because we were on the same team and now we’re on the same team again. It’s just a special bond.”

While Raisman is often joked about being an elder, 19-year-old Biles said she’s grateful for Douglas and Raisman, because they know the drill:

“It’s very important they’re on the team to support us and we can go to them because they know exactly what it’s like.”

After a brief stint in “Dancing With The Stars,” Raisman returned to compete in March 2015–because of this, she noted how nervous she was this time around:

“It was such a relief because it was so nerve-wracking. I was so nervous this competition.

“If I can make an event final, that’s great. But right now I’m just really focused on being a good captain and also just making sure we do a good job in the team final.”

We can’t wait to see how she performs in the upcoming Olympics, along with her teammates.


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