“I remember her saying, ‘Next year I’ll be down on the floor,’ ’’ her mother Lynn said.
Not only was her driven daughter on the floor in 2009, she qualified for the national team. In 2010, the Needham native made the world squad and came home with a silver medal. Last year, she won worlds gold as the de facto leader of a rookie bunch and vaulted into the front rank of contenders for the US team for this summer’s Games in London.
“It’s kind of unbelievable where she came from,’’ said her mother.
If the 17-year-old Raisman stays healthy - no guarantee in a mid-air sport with no safety nets - she has an excellent chance to earn a place on the most difficult women’s Olympic team to make in domestic history.
Besides her gold-medal teammates - all-round champion Jordyn Wieber, McKayla Maroney, Sabrina Vega, Gabrielle Douglas, and Beijing medalist and clubmate Alicia Sacramone - all but one member of the 2008 team is back, most notably Nastia Liukin and Shawn Johnson, who finished 1-2 in the all-around.
The talent pool is so deep that the squad named to last summer’s Pan American Games, where USA Gymnastics usually sends the junior varsity, included three former world champions in Johnson, Chellsie Memmel, and Bridget Sloan.
“It’s going to be a really big challenge because there are so many newcomers and so many of the girls from the 2008 Olympics,’’ Raisman acknowledged. “It’s going to be a fight to get on that team, but whoever is on it, it’s going to be an amazing team.’’
Yet Raisman has the résumé to earn a place at Olympus, particularly with the team roster reduced from six to five. She competed in three of the four events (all but uneven bars) in the ’11 worlds team competition, finished fourth in the all-around and balance beam, and earned a bronze on the floor.
“I don’t like to have favorites, but I always want to differentiate between the girls who have the dedication,’’ said national team coordinator Martha Karolyi. “I see Aly as one of the important components of the Olympic team if everything continues to go in the same direction.’’
Tight schedule
