Alexandra Rose Raisman Bio

Alexandra Rose Raisman (born May 25 April 1994) is a retired American artistic gymnast and two-time Olympian. She was the captain of both the 2012 "Fierce Five" and the 2016 "Final Five" U.S. women's Olympic gymnastics teams, which won their respective team competitions.At the 2012 Olympics in London she was awarded gold medals in both floor and team events, and also the bronze medal on the balance beam, which made her the most recognized American gymnast at the Games. In the 2016 Olympics in Rio de Janeiro, she won a gold medal in the team competition, making her and her teammate Gabby Douglas the only Americans to have back-toback team gold medals. Raisman received silver medals for the individual all-around and floor exercise. Raisman won silver medals for the individual all-around and also for the floor exercise. She also is two-time champion of the national team on floor exercise (2012, 2015), the 2012 champion of the national team on balance beam and she has won five medals in the all-around at the national championships (silver in 2016, bronze in 2010, 2011, 2012, and 2015). She was inducted into the International Jewish Sports Hall of Fame in 2013. Raisman was the daughter of Lynn Faber who was the former gymnast from high school as well as Rick Raisman, on May 25 1994 in Needham. She has three younger siblings: Madison, Chloe and Brett. Raisman, who is Jewish she has said she takes great pride in the fact that she is able to represent the United States of America, but also the Jewish community all over the world. Raisman began gymnastics when she was 18 months. She credits her passion for gymnastics to the "Magnificent Seven", an American women's squad that took home the gold medal at the 1996 Summer Olympics. She trained at Exxcel Gymnastics and Climbing up to Level 8 before she went to Brestyan's American Gymnastics Club, where she was coached by Silvia Brestyan and Mihai Brestyan. Raisman was a graduate of Needham High School in 2012, after completing her senior year through online courses while training to compete in the Olympics.