5 compelling things we learned from Aly Raisman’s new book ‘Fierce’
The two-time Olympic gymnast and Needham native chronicled the ups and downs of her career in the book, out Tuesday.
Aly Raisman can now add author to her long list of accomplishments. Raisman’s book, Fierce: How Competing for Myself Changed Everything, hits shelves Tuesday. In it, the Needham native and Olympic champion chronicles her love for her sport and delves into both her struggles and victories over the course of her career, from her “Mommy and me” gymnastics classes in Newton to standing on the podium in Rio at the 2016 Olympics.The two-time Olympian also reveals the alleged sexual abuse she says she endured at the hands of USA Gymnastics doctor Larry Nassar, who began treating her when she was 15. The disgraced doctor is in prison in Michigan after pleading guilty to federal child porn charges in July. He has pleaded not guilty to separate criminal sexual conduct charges and is being sued by more than 100 women in civil court who allege he sexually assaulted them, saying it was “treatment.” Here are five noteworthy things from Raisman’s book.
1. Even Aly Raisman couldn’t get out of taking gym class in high school.
Aly Raisman competes on the balance beam.
In 2011, as a senior in high school, Raisman was ratcheting up her training for the 2012 Olympics. The gymnast said she realized the “only way” she could train the way her coaches Mihai Brestyan and Martha Karolyi wanted her to was to take all of her classes online.
“Fortunately, almost all the core classes I needed to earn my high school diploma had been completed, leaving only the English and elective credits left to take,” Raisman wrote.
Among those electives was physical education, which Raisman said her principal had assured her would be fulfilled by her gymnastics. But a new principal changed things.
“The head of the physical education department compared the request to waive PE to someone singing in the shower and asking for chorus credit (ouch!),” Raisman wrote. “The principal backed her up.”
Raisman said she “swallowed her frustration” and signed up to take a physical education independent study along with the other classes she had to take online when she wasn’t at the gym training in the mornings and afternoons.
“I have to say, I took great satisfaction picturing Mihai forcing the principal to do endless chin‐ups and leg lifts,” Raisman said. “I was pretty sure he had never met a high school gym teacher like Mihai.”
2. Her mom once said she was glad she’d never have to watch her daughter at the Olympics.
Rick and Lynn Raisman made headlines for the way they acted while daughter Aly Raisman, captain of the women’s gymnastics team, competed on the uneven bars.
Raisman recounted how, in 2004, she was glued to the television watching as Carly Patterson became the first American woman to win Olympic gold for the all-around title since 1984. Her mother, Lynn, who was herself a high school gymnast, watched with her.
“My mom let out a sigh as Carly stuck the dismount,” Raisman wrote. “‘I’m so nervous and I don’t even know her. Her mom must be a wreck.’ Mom laughed. ‘Thank goodness I’ll never have to go through that.’”
The now 23-year-old said her 10-year-old self was scandalized and told her mother, “I’ll be at the Olympics someday. Don’t you think I can do it?” Her mom quickly said she believed her daughter could make it to elite stage, but Raisman made note of the exchange.
“I tease her now that the video of her being nervous at the Olympics went viral as payback for thinking I was deluded!” she wrote.
https://www.instagram.com/p/BW8Yja6l4Q_/?hl=en&taken-by=alyraisman
3. Kids keep her “humble.”
Children attending Exxcel Gymnastics & Climbing summer camp in Newton watch a live stream of the USA gymnastics team winning gold in the 2012 Olympics on July 31, 2012. Gold medal winner Aly Raisman trained as a little girl at Exxcel Gymnasium.
The gymnast recounted how a 4-year-old named Anna, whose family owns a house near the Raismans’ on Cape Cod, demanded to know why there were photos of the Olympian all over Brestyan’s gym. Raisman wrote that the girl told Brestyan that he should put up photos of her instead of the gold medalist.
Later, after the Rio Olympics, Anna told Raisman she didn’t understand why the gymnast was famous.
Referencing an Olympic-themed show at Brestyan’s gym at the end of each year, the girl told Raisman, “I don’t really think the Olympics are that big of a deal. My friend and I already did the Olympics and we’re only six.”
4. She once got a serious pep talk from David Ortiz and her brother.
Olympic gymnast Aly Raisman puts a medal on David Ortiz #34 of the Boston Red Sox before throwing out a ceremonial first pitch before a game against the Kansas City Royals on Aug. 26, 2016 at Fenway Park in Boston.
On Christmas Eve in 2015, Raisman and her brother, Brett, headed to Red Sox slugger David Ortiz’s house for a small holiday get-together. At dinner, Raisman said Big Papi asked how she was doing. Raisman explained she was recovering from a partially torn ligament in her ankle, which she injured as she pushed herself to prepare for the Rio Olympics. The six-time Olympic medalist confessed to Ortiz that she “didn’t feel confident anymore,” adding that the younger gymnasts moving up below her were “all better” than her.
Raisman said Ortiz told her, “You have to use the moment and not let it use you.”
Her brother, who had been listening, chimed in, telling his sister that she needed to control what she could, no more and no less.
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5. A conversation she was a part of may have played a significant role in Larry Nassar’s firing by USA Gymnastics.
Aly Raisman training for the 2012 Olympics at Brestyan’s Gymnastics on Jan. 12, 2012.
Raisman wrote that, over the years, she and her USA teammates discussed the “weird” treatments they received from the team doctor and how the treatments made them uncomfortable.
“I feel like if it wasn’t okay he would’ve already been fired,” Raisman wrote that one girl said during a conversation among gymnasts. “Someone would have said something it it was wrong.”
Raisman said she didn’t know it at the time, but a female coach overheard that conversation and reported it to a USA Gymnastics official.
“Alarm bells went off in her head,” Raisman wrote. “And then she did the right thing: She spoke up.”
Even before publicly sharing her experience with Nassar, Raisman has been a vocal critic of the way the national gymnastics organization handled the allegations against him. Now, Raisman says she’s not going to stop speaking out about her experience until the organization makes significant changes.
Fierce: How Competing for Myself Changed Everything by Aly Raisman; Little, Brown Books for Young Readers; $13.28
