Aly Raisman will not return to gymnastics for a Tokyo Olympic bid, according to a report.
“I plan to be in Tokyo to cheer everyone on,” Raisman said, according to People magazine.
The report follows spring 2018 news that Raisman, who last competed at the Rio Olympics, said she probably would not return to competition at all, according to In Style magazine. Raisman’s agent has not confirmed or denied the reports.
Raisman, 25, would be ending her Olympic career as one of the most successful, dependable and admirable gymnasts in U.S. history, captaining both the 2012 and 2016 gold-medal teams as the oldest member.
She earned three medals at each Olympics, finishing one medal shy of Shannon Miller‘s career record of seven for a U.S. Olympic gymnast. Simone Biles has five.
Fittingly in 2012, the suburban Boston native clinched the U.S.’ first Olympic team title since 1996 by performing the last routine on floor exercise. Two days later, Raisman experienced her toughest Olympic moment, missing out on an all-around medal via tiebreaker.
She rebounded with a balance beam bronze and a gold on floor exercise, much to the delight of parents Lynn and Rick, who went viral during the Games for their nervous reactions to watching their oldest of four children compete. Raisman called the floor finale “the routine of my life.”
She took two years off from competition after London, then made her third world championships team in 2015. By the 2016 Olympic Trials, she was considered a lock for the five-woman team. She and Gabby Douglas became the first women in 16 years to make multiple U.S. Olympic gymnastics teams.
Rio marked Raisman’s best international meet. She helped the U.S. to repeat team gold, then finished second to Biles in the all-around and on floor exercise.
Turns out, Raisman’s last meet came 20 years after her Olympic inspiration. Though Raisman was only 2 at the time, Lynn taped the Magnificent Seven’s team title. Raisman watched it for the first time at age 8. It became daily viewing.
Two weeks after Rio, Raisman said she planned to return to the gym in 2017 ahead of a competitive comeback for 2020.
“I took a full year off in 2012. I’m going to do the same thing, take a year off, and then I’ll begin training again,” Raisman said then. “I thought I was in the best shape of my life in 2012. It’s even better now. So I’m excited to see what will happen in 2020.”
Everything changed in November 2017, when Raisman released her autobiography, “Fierce,” and came forward as a Larry Nassar sexual abuse survivor.
The Associated Press reported that a 2020 Olympic comeback seemed “trivial” compared to Raisman’s new calling as an advocate for abuse survivors and taking on organizations and individuals at fault.
“This is the focus,” Raisman said then, according to the AP.
She filed a lawsuit against the U.S. Olympic Committee and USA Gymnastics in March 2018, claiming they “knew or should have known” about Nassar’s abusive patterns.
Biles is the only Rio 2016 team member to compete at the elite level since Rio.
Laurie Hernandez, the Rio balance beam silver medalist, plans to return to competition in 2020 for a Tokyo bid. Hernandez last competed in Rio.
Douglas, the 2012 Olympic all-around champion, has not ruled out a return, according to NBC’s affiliate in Dallas-Fort Worth last weekend.
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