11-02-2025
Olympic gold medal gymnast Aly Raisman to talk mental health in West Palm Beach
Aly Raisman is USA Women's Gymnastics royalty. She is the third-most decorated American gymnast ever and was the two-time captain of the Olympic gold medal-winning USA Women's Gymnastics teams at the 2012 Olympics in London (the so-called 'Fierce Five') and 2016 Olympics in Rio de Janeiro (nicknamed the 'Final Five').
She won three gold medals and six medals in all at her two Olympics, as well as two gold medals at World Championships competitions in 2011 and 2015.
Equally — if not more — importantly, in 2017 she played a pivotal role in helping to bring to justice former USA Women's Gymnastics team physician Dr. Larry Nassar, coming forward as one of the most prominent victims of his decades-long sexual abuse of hundreds of athletes he treated ― the vast majority of whom were teenagers and pre-teens.
Her efforts also led to a transformation in how USA Women's Gymnastics is run — empowering athletes to have a bigger say in the organization's policies and decisions.
But perhaps her most important role — as a tireless advocate for awareness regarding mental health, sexual abuse and body positivity — is the one she's leaned into since her official retirement from gymnastics in 2020.
And she'll be bringing that advocacy to West Palm Beach on Sunday as the keynote speaker at Alpert Jewish Family Service of Palm Beach's 21st Annual No Excuse for Abuse Evening at the Kravis Center for the Performing Arts.
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'We are honored to welcome world-renowned gymnast, sexual abuse survivor and advocate Aly Raisman to our 21st Annual No Excuse for Abuse Evening,' said Marc Hopin, CEO of Alpert Jewish Family Service. 'This event highlights our unwavering dedication to excellence in human services, including domestic abuse prevention, mental health support, suicide awareness, and more. Aly's voice will amplify our message and broaden our reach.'
A compelling and personable speaker, Raisman has explained that she knew early on that her athletic career would come with a slew of mental health challenges.
She says she suffers from obsessive-compulsive disorder, commonly referred to as OCD, and in a subjective individual sport like gymnastics, her perfectionist tendencies were only exacerbated.
Though she didn't recognize it as a disorder at the time, Raisman's OCD first showed up during her childhood as a competitive gymnast.
'I definitely was superstitious, where I did things that would make me feel more comfortable, or I felt like I had to do something — otherwise I wouldn't compete well,' she said in a recent interview with the OCD advocacy organization NOCD. Raisman didn't realize that the rituals she was performing were deeper than just a superstition.
Even today, years removed from competition, she said she still finds that the disorder manifests itself in her daily life, albeit in different ways.
'I'm not superstitious anymore, but I do have things where if I plug in a curling iron, I'm worried, did I turn it off? If I cooked something, did I turn the oven off?' she explained. While many people may ask themselves those questions occasionally, for someone with OCD those questions can turn into unrelenting thought loops that can hijack daily activities.
She also finds that her OCD flares up when she is talking to groups about important topics, such as mental health and abuse awareness.
'When I talk about really serious things, I tend to overthink what I said,' she explained. 'I want to make sure I didn't offend somebody, or maybe say something that's going to trigger someone else.'
This kind of negative thought loop often makes her second-guess her interactions and worry about them long after they're over, thus leading to rumination and self-doubt.
But Raisman has not let that deter her from engaging, and she will be delivering her important message again Sunday night in West Palm Beach.
Another of Raisman's goals is to help bring conversations about abuse to the forefront. As she explained at a 2023 appearance at Duke University, she 'felt that USA Gymnastics was sweeping a lot of things under the rug, and I didn't feel it was right. I had no idea how much support I would receive or how much support so many of my teammates and other brave people who spoke out would get.'
She explained that she wants to 'normalize those conversations because … there are a lot more people than we realize that are struggling.'
Indeed, it was helping others who were struggling in silence with their own inner demons that spurred her into her current advocacy role.
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'I have found there are a lot of people who are suffering in silence and don't have a support system. They may not even have one person they can go to ask for help,' she told NOCD. 'I just realized the more that I started to share, the more people could relate to my experience, and it helped me feel less alone.'
Now 30 and the author of two books — her autobiography 'Fierce: How Competing for Myself Changed Everything' and the children's book 'From My Head to My Toes' — Raisman knows she is, and forever will be, a work in progress when it comes dealing with mental health challenges.
In June she wrote in an online essay that she was 'still learning who I am.'
And as she'll share on Sunday night, she's okay with that — and hopes everyone who hears her speak will give themselves the same grace when dealing with their own personal struggles.
What: Alpert Jewish Family Service of Palm Beach's 21st Annual No Excuse for Abuse Evening
When: 6:15 p.m. Sunday, Feb. 9
Where: Kravis Center for the Performing Arts, 701 Okeechobee Blvd. in West Palm Beach
Tickets: $300
Info: 561-713-1944
This article originally appeared on Palm Beach Post: Olympic gymnast Aly Raisman in West Palm Beach to talk mental health
