Ex-Olympian Gymnast Narrates Her Individual Battles With “Pressure of Trying to Be Thinner” in an Ultra-Competitive World

Gymnastics is an extreme sport. It demands high perfection from all body-related factors. Aly Raisman is an ex-Olympic gymnast who has won three Olympic gold medals. She had a short but significant Olympic career. Along with a storied gymnastics career, she also has her battle scars, which she shared a while ago.

Back in April, Aly Raisman shared a childhood story, when her classmates would body-shame her. Through her story, she addressed the problem of body shaming.

The real-life struggles of Aly Raisman

Getting into the big leagues like the Olympics wasn’t something that was handed to Aly Raisman. She has put in a lot of hard work to achieve whatever she has.

“The pressure of trying to be thinner was such a big part, unfortunately, of my gymnastics career,” Raisman added, “I felt like there was so much pressure for me to be a certain size and it kind of always felt like my body wasn’t enough, that I needed to be thinner and thinner.” 

The sport of gymnastics demands perfection in everything when it comes to the body. This includes balance, strength, flexibility, agility, coordination, dedication, and endurance. All these factors made it hard for Raisman, especially in school. She was often bullied because she had huge arms.

Body shaming affected her mental health a lot. The gymnast was someone who always tried to become the best, but all these factors did hamper her journey.

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She retired in 2020, but even with a short-lived career, she has influenced a lot of people who go through the same problems as her.

Body problems in gymnastics

Gymnastics isn’t an easy sport to master. Aly Raisman also addressed how the sport has a complicated relationship with puberty. She wasn’t aware of it during her prime, but she tried to share it with the future gymnasts who are still in their teens.

The teenage years are a time when the body goes through several changes that might affect someone in gymnastics. Raisman even talked about how young girls aren’t given proper education about the sport and their changing bodies. The social stigma behind this made it worse.

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Do you agree with the points mentioned by Aly Raisman regarding body shaming? Let us know in the comment section.