Golden opportunity
Raisman seeks 2nd shot at Olympic glory
INDIANAPOLIS — Wednesday can be a terrible, horrible, no good, very bad day for Aly Raisman.
It’s a good thing for the Needham native that competition at this year’s U.S. Gymnastics Championships isn’t until Thursday and Saturday evening.
Raisman’s last training session before her first national championships since 2012 yesterday did not meet the three-time Olympic medalist’s expectations. But that might just be par for the course on that day of the week.
“Wednesdays I am always so dead. I’m so tired,” Raisman said with a laugh. “It drives Mihai (Brestyan, her coach) nuts. He says it is like a bad habit. By the time Wednesday comes around, I don’t even know my own name I’m so tired.”
Raisman’s day at Bankers Life Fieldhouse might not have been ideal, but her work effort as she prepared for her fourth national championships at the senior level was. When other gymnasts lost concentration and started to look toward the next apparatus, Raisman and her longtime coach Brestyan just kept at it, training skills over and over again.
After a rocky start on balance beam with several wobbles, she worked her flight series until the very last second.
Stepping next to floor exercise, where she is the reigning Olympic champion, she ran through exact points of her choreography long after the other gymnasts in her group had put on their sweats. And on vault, she had free reign as they took the rotation to rest.
That meticulousness is part of Raisman’s personality.
“When I compete, I feel confident, but sometimes I don’t always believe I can be the best,” Raisman said. “I think that’s something that comes with more and more training. I feel comfortable, I feel ready, but I’m always such a perfectionist that it is never enough.”
One Olympic team was not enough for the now 21-year-old Raisman, who considers success this weekend to be pivotal in her quest to land a spot on the U.S. team for the Rio Games. Results from this week will be a significant factor when national team coordinator Marta Karolyi and the selection committee determine October’s World Championships team.
Having a chance to get back in front of international judges is key for Raisman, who took a year off between winning her Olympic medals in London and returning to the gym.
“Making the world team is crucial to being able to compete at the Olympics, so I need to get that experience again,” Raisman said. “I was out for so much time, and I need to get back out there and compete more in front of international judges.”
She is eager to see how she stacks up against the world. Her competition this weekend, however, is eager to see how they stack up against Raisman and fellow returning 2012 Olympian Gabrielle Douglas. Karolyi is watching, too.
“For the returning Olympians, of course they are very accomplished girls, and they are presenting world class gymnastics. They give healthy competition to the girls who popped in in the new quadrennium,” Karolyi said.
While Raisman has upgraded her skills, it may not be enough to defeat reigning two-time national champion Simone Biles, who won July’s U.S. Classic against Douglas and Raisman by an overwhelming 2.4 points. That is where the maturity Raisman has developed since the London Games keeps her perfectionism in check.
“I am trying to just be a better version of myself than I was in 2012,” Raisman said. “I’m not saying I’m there yet, but hopefully by next year at this time, I’ll be there.”