Needham-native Aly Raisman Gets Candid About Her Retirement From ...

(WHDH) — Needham-native and two-time Olympian Aly Raisman opened up about life after gymnastics in a recent interview with The New Yorker.

Despite retiring from the sport in 2020, Raisman still has a lot to say about the current state of gymnastics.

“I don’t enjoy doing gymnastics like I used to, and, to be honest, I feel there’s still a lot of people in the sport that I don’t think are good people,” she said.

Raisman went on to speak about the 2020 Olympics and her concerns for the mental health of athletes in Tokyo.

“It’s devastating to think about working so hard and then not being able to compete when you’re so close,” she said.

The 27-year-old was the captain of the gold medal-winning gymnastics team in 2016 and continues to be an advocate for athletes.

“Sometimes athletes don’t know how bad it is until they start going into normal life and they see how they can be treated so much better,” she continued.

Raisman was one of the gymnasts who publicly testified about the sexual abuse she suffered at the hands of Larry Nassar, the disgraced former physician from the national team.

Earlier this month, a report from the Justice Department revealed delays in the FBI’s initial investigation. Raisman says that this is unacceptable.

“I feel like there are still so many unanswered questions,” she said. “Until there is a full understanding of what happened and who was involved, and how this was allowed to go on for so long, we can’t have any confidence in a new USA Gymnastics or confidence that the culture has changed.”

Nassar was accused of molesting more than 200 young woman and is serving what amounts to a life sentence in prison.

Despite dozens of resignations within USA Gymnastics, Raisman says that is not enough.

“When I think about USA Gymnastics, I think it’s just, like, rotten from the inside out. It’s not a good organization,” she added.

Raisman went on to say a return to the sport is unlikely as she continues to figure out what’s next.

“There’s something to be said about that fear of defining yourself by the sport, and so I’m just trying to work on figuring out who I am outside of gymnastics,” she said. “For the first time in my life, I have more of a social life.”

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