Aly Raisman

Image by Getty
Captain of America’s Olympic Gymnasts
Aly Raisman tumbled into victory this August after helping Team USA nab an Olympic gold medal in women’s gymnastics.
The 22-year-old Massachusetts native also took home two silver medals of her own, pulling in second for her floor routine and all-around floor competition. With six medals to her name, Raisman is now the second most decorated Olympic gymnast in America.
Shiny accolades aside, Raisman provided a very gleeful Twittersphere with endless hilarious gifs of her anxious parents sitting by the sidelines, swerving, bobbing and muttering to themselves while they watched her routines. No, really, it’s worth a watch.
In the months that followed Raisman’s sweeping wins, she threw out the first pitch at a Red Sox game, arranged a date with a hunky football player and competed in an epic lip sync battle.
She also remains cemented as a darling within the Jewish community, all thanks to a 2012 floor routine she performed to a very traditional song.
“When I chose the music when I was 16, turning 17, I didn’t really realize the impact choosing ‘Hava Nagila’ for my floor music would have on my life after the Olympics,” she said. “I’ve been able to connect with the Jewish community all over the world.”
What’s up next for Raisman? After her whirlwind series of successes, this gymnast is getting some much deserved R&R.
“While it’s really cool, I definitely need to catch up on my sleep,” she said.
The Forward is free to read, but it isn’t free to produce

I hope you appreciated this article. Before you go, I’d like to ask you to please support the Forward.
Now more than ever, American Jews need independent news they can trust, with reporting driven by truth, not ideology. We serve you, not any ideological agenda.
At a time when other newsrooms are closing or cutting back, the Forward has removed its paywall and invested additional resources to report on the ground from Israel and around the U.S. on the impact of the war, rising antisemitism and polarized discourse.
This is a great time to support independent Jewish journalism you rely on. Make a Passover gift today!
— Rachel Fishman Feddersen, Publisher and CEO
Most Popular
- 1
Opinion My Jewish moms group ousted me because I work for J Street. Is this what communal life has come to?
- 2
Opinion Stephen Miller’s cavalier cruelty misses the whole point of Passover
- 3
Opinion I co-wrote Biden’s antisemitism strategy. Trump is making the threat worse
- 4
Opinion Passover teaches us why Jews should stand with Mahmoud Khalil
In Case You Missed It
-
Culture Jews thought Trump wanted to fight antisemitism. Why did he cut all of their grants?
-
Opinion Trump’s followers see a savior, but Jewish historians know a false messiah when they see one
-
Fast Forward Trump administration can deport Mahmoud Khalil for undermining U.S. foreign policy on antisemitism, judge rules
-
Opinion This Passover, let’s retire the word ‘Zionist’ once and for all
-
Shop the Forward Store
100% of profits support our journalism
Republish This Story
Please read before republishing
We’re happy to make this story available to republish for free, unless it originated with JTA, Haaretz or another publication (as indicated on the article) and as long as you follow our guidelines.
You must comply with the following:
- Credit the Forward
- Retain our pixel
- Preserve our canonical link in Google search
- Add a noindex tag in Google search
See our full guidelines for more information, and this guide for detail about canonical URLs.
To republish, copy the HTML by clicking on the yellow button to the right; it includes our tracking pixel, all paragraph styles and hyperlinks, the author byline and credit to the Forward. It does not include images; to avoid copyright violations, you must add them manually, following our guidelines. Please email us at [email protected], subject line “republish,” with any questions or to let us know what stories you’re picking up.