Aly Raisman is one of the most successful Olympic gymnasts the USA has ever sent to the Olympic games. She competed at two Olympics, first in 2012 in London and the second in 2016 in Rio de Janeiro, and was a leading member of both the Fierce Five and the Final Five teams that went on to capture gold in both team programs that year. Simply put, she is one of the best in her sport and definitely helped win many gold medals.

Beyond that, Aly Raisman has been involved in a lot of other things outside the gymnastics world. In this list, we’ll look at some little known facts about Raisman, including time in front of millions of people at the Olympics and behind the scenes. Unlike some athletes at the Olympics, not a lot is known about her and she hasn’t parlayed her Olympics career into some massive success in film or television, but she has done very well for herself since competing.

16 Oldest Member On Team USA

At the old age of 22-years-old, Aly Raisman was the oldest member of the 2016 Gold Medal winning Team USA. The team included Simone Biles, 19, Laurie Hernandez, 16, Madison Kocian, 19 and Gavvy Douglas, 20. The Final Five, as they were known, won the team event in Rio de Janeiro.

15 Team Captain

While Simone Biles got all the attention for winning four gold medals, it was Aly Raisman who was the team captain and led them into the 2016 Olympic Games. It wasn’t her first time at an Olympics and being the oldest, she was the perfect choice to be the leader of the team.

14 Her Nickname

During the Rio Olympics, Aly Raisman got herself a nickname by her team. She was known as ‘grandma’, because she would tell the other, younger girls, to keep it down and go to bed on time and pretty much was the mother figure they needed. Simone Biles is credited with calling her grandma.

13 Six Medals At Olympics

While everyone focuses on the team event, Aly Raisman is a very accomplished gymnast and has won six total Olympic medals over two Olympic Games. She won gold in 2012 in London in the team and floor exercise, as well as a bronze in the beam, and earned silver medals in all-around and floor in 2016.

12 She Was On Dancing With The Stars

Aly Raisman took her gymnastic skills to the ballroom floor on Season 16 of Dancing With the Stars. She partnered with two-time champion Mark Ballas, but they finished fourth place overall. She did earn a perfect 30 score in Week 9 during the semi-finals for her Rumba.

11 A Well-Tuned Performance

During her floor final routine at the 2012 Olympics, Aly Raisman performed to the tune of ‘Hava Nagila’, and she dedicated her performance to the 11 Israeli Olympians who were lost in the 1972 Summer Olympics in Munich. She is proud of her heritage and made a big statement on the world stage.

10 She Loves Dogs

Like many young women, Aly is a lover of dogs and has three of them of her own. Their names are Magic, Coco and Gibson and they star a lot in her Instagram pictures. The white dogs even get some FaceTime with Raisman when she is away from them long-term so they don’t miss her too much.

9 A Body Issue

In 2015, Aly Raisman exposed herself in the ESPN Body Issue. But it’s not that kind of magazine, but rather, it shows off the strength of athletes and the muscles they need to have to compete. The issue also included Dallas Friday, a pro wakeboarder, Odell Beckham Jr, an NFL player, and Kevin Love, an NBA player.

8 She’s A Model

A lot of athletes turn to a career of endorsements after they are done and Aly Raisman is no different. She became a model for the clothing line Aeropostale and was part of their 2016 Back-To-School campaign for the brand, with some comfortable clothing. She was even able to show off how to do the splits while wearing jeans.

7 She Has Her Own Socks

The gold medal-winning Raisman also has her own line of socks. She partnered with FEAT, which is a lifestyle brand that makes stylish socks and completed her own designs, which included a pair that showed her stressed-out parents, a play on the viral video that went worldwide of her parents stressing during her performance.

6 She’s An Angel Recruit

In 2019, Aly Raisman made her film debut when she had a cameo appearance in the reboot of Charlie’s Angels as an Angel recruit. So far, it’s her own television or film role, as she has focused more on fashion than moving into a film star role later in her career.

5 Girls Like You

In 2018, she also made a cameo appearance in the Maroon 5 song “Girls Like You”. The song featured Cardi B, and the video featured a lot of women making cameos including Gal Gadot, known as Wonder Woman, Jennifer Lopez, Chloe Kim, Mary J. Blige, Elizabeth Banks, Ellen and Danica Patrick.

4 Cover Photo

In 2012, Raisman and the women’s Olympic team were featured on the front of Sports Illustrated’s magazine. This is a huge deal because it was the first time an entire Olympic team had been featured on the magazine’s cover. And rightfully so, considering how much attention they were getting going into the London Olympics.

3 Finished High School Online

It’s hard to understand that gymnasts at the Olympics are very young and most of them are not done school yet. In 2012, when she was training for the London Olympics, Aly Raisman was finishing up high school still and she had to complete her senior year online so she could continue to train.

2 Inspired By 1996 Olympics

What got Aly Raisman into gymnastics was the 1996 Olympic team. Raisman has said numerous times in interviews that she had a VHS tape of the team finals from 1996 and that she watched it every single day. She started gymnastics at age 2 and was excelling by 8-years-old, on her way to becoming an Olympic athlete herself.

1 Successful Model

Raisman turned her fame from the Olympics into a successful modeling career and has appeared twice in the Sports Illustrated swimsuit issue, doing so in 2017 and 2018, just after she won gold at the 2016 Olympics. She wants to go after a career in fashion, so modeling seems like a good step towards that.