The next National Team Training Camp will take place this week, from October 23-27th at the Karolyi Ranch. Along with the 11 girls currently on the National Team, Aly Raisman is planning to attend, making it her first camp since before the Olympic Games in 2012. Aly will also be joined by Gabby Douglas, who delayed her return to competition after switching gyms earlier this year.

Raisman’s performance at the Olympics was nothing short of spectacular. In addition to helping the team to win the gold medal, she also won a gold medal on Floor Exercise and a bronze medal on Balance Beam. She also qualified for the All-Around competition, and just narrowly missed out on the bronze medal in finals, tying with Aliya Mustafina. Due to the FIG rules governing tie breakers, Aliya won the bronze medal, placing Aly in fourth place.

Since the 2012 Olympics, Raisman has been busy with charity work, endorsements, appearances, a few college classes, and, most notably, Dancing with the Stars, where she made it all the way to the Finals.

Following a much needed break from training, Raisman returned to Brestyan’s in summer 2013. Originally, she had intended to start competing again in 2014, beginning with Classics, but she pushed this out until after the World Championships in Nanning on advice from Martha Karolyi and Aly’s coach, Mihai Brestyan, determining that it would be best to take her comeback slowly. Raisman’s intentions now are to start competing in 2015.

So where does Raisman fit in the grand scheme of things? Having won the team gold medal at World Championships in Nanning, the USA team is clearly strong already, plus there are a number of both injured seniors and promising juniors on the rise, such as Lexie Priessman, Maggie Nichols, Rachel Gowey, Peyton Ernst, Bailie Key and Norah Flatley.

The biggest things Aly Raisman brings to the table are her experience and her consistency. She hasn’t just competed on the World stage before, she’s done it multiple times, including the Olympics, where she performed some of her best routines. Raisman has always been a calm competitor, taking on pressure without a sweat.



But her solid gymnastics cannot be ignored, either. Raisman’s strongest event is undoubtedly floor, where she won the gold medal in London with a staggering 15.600 score. USA has two very strong floor workers who are currently competing - Simone Biles (who won gold in Nanning) and MyKayla Skinner (who narrowly missed out on the Bronze). Kyla Ross was used in the team final in Nanning as the third competitor on floor, but it’s not her strongest event. This is where Aly can potentially fill a gap. As demonstrated in London, she has always performed with strong execution, but her potential difficulty level of 6.5 (the same as MyKayla Skinner) is what sets her apart. If she can reach the same difficulty level with her new floor routine, she’ll be a great asset to the team. It will be interesting to see if she’s working on a similarly legendary first pass as what she had in her old routine, a pass that totaled 1.2 points in difficulty and connection value alone.

Beam is also an event that Raisman has been consistently strong on. Again, this is another area where her high difficulty potential could help Team USA. Aly put up a 6.3 D-score at the London Olympics, bolstered by her dismount, a Patterson (double arabian) - a G-level element worth 0.7 points. If Aly can get all her difficulty back, this puts her in the ranks of Simone Biles, Rachel Gowey, Bailie Key and Norah Flatley, the only other US gymnasts who have been competing with a 6.0+ difficulty routine.

So, in summary, is there a place for Aly Raisman? Absolutely. It will be interesting to see how she performs at this upcoming camp and we’re looking forward to seeing her back in competition next year. Let us know what you think about Raisman’s return in the comments section below.

Related:
Aly Raisman Ready to Resume Training
Aly Raisman Hopes to Compete in 2014
Aly Raisman: I Should Have Four Olympic Medals
Aly Raisman Finished Fourth on Dancing with the Stars
Aly Raisman: More than an Olympic Champion