IMO with Michelle Obama and Craig Robinson

Take the Little Wins with Aly Raisman

February 4, 2026

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  • Olympic gymnast Aly Raisman found that the intense pressure and outdated nutrition advice during her elite career led to trauma and body image struggles, which she is actively working through in therapy now. 
  • The camaraderie among teammates, like Aly Raisman and Simone Biles admitting their nervousness before the 2016 all-around final, is crucial for managing the extreme stress of elite competition. 
  • Aly Raisman's current role commentating college gymnastics has been a healing experience, allowing her to re-engage with the sport while focusing on a more human, supportive perspective for young athletes. 

Segments

Pre-Competition Nerves Shared
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(00:00:00)
  • Key Takeaway: Elite gymnasts like Aly Raisman and Simone Biles share vulnerability by admitting mutual nausea and nervousness before a major final, reinforcing team support despite individual competition.
  • Summary: Before the 2016 all-around final, Aly Raisman and Simone Biles acknowledged feeling sick and nervous to each other. They decided to face the pressure together, emphasizing that even competitors can feel like a team in critical moments. This shared vulnerability helped them manage the intense stress.
Ralph Lauren Olympic Gear Chat
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(00:00:42)
  • Key Takeaway: Ralph Lauren outfits the U.S. Olympic and Paralympic teams, and the authentic team gear, like the sweater Aly Raisman received, maintains the brand’s high quality.
  • Summary: The hosts briefly discussed their Ralph Lauren attire, noting the brand’s long-standing role in designing Team USA’s Olympic outfits. Aly Raisman confirmed the authentic Olympic sweater she received was very comfortable and shared the same quality as standard Ralph Lauren items. The gear was described as very Americana.
Aly Raisman’s Gymnastics Origin Story
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(00:02:16)
  • Key Takeaway: Aly Raisman’s lifelong dedication to gymnastics began at age two, solidified by watching the 1996 Atlanta Olympics at age eight, which sparked an immediate, certain desire to compete.
  • Summary: Raisman started gymnastics with mommy and me classes at age two, and her parents were surprisingly protective against over-training, often pushing back against coaches. The pivotal moment was watching the 1996 Olympics at age eight, where she vividly decided she would go to the Olympics and win the floor event. Her parents’ initial disbelief at age ten was later corrected with full support.
Early Training Intensity and TOPS
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(00:11:16)
  • Key Takeaway: By age eight, Aly Raisman was training intensely, participating in the Talent Opportunity Program (TOPS) which tested the strongest young gymnasts nationally to gain exposure to top coaches.
  • Summary: At eight years old, Raisman began training for the TOPS program, which involved rigorous conditioning tests for the top gymnasts aged 8 to 11. Making the A team (top 20) was a major goal, requiring extra training to impress national team coaches. This early dedication shows the extreme commitment required from childhood.
Michelle Obama’s Olympic Experience
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(00:12:43)
  • Key Takeaway: As First Lady, Michelle Obama hosted the entire U.S. Olympic team at the White House after every Olympics to thank them for their service.
  • Summary: Michelle Obama shared her excitement about watching the Olympics, particularly track and field, which she felt she had an outside chance of competing in. She recalled the thrill of attending events and meeting the athletes. Hosting the entire Olympic team at the White House was a highlight of her time in office.
Hating Drills and Body Image Pressures
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(00:15:00)
  • Key Takeaway: Elite gymnastics required performing intensely difficult, disliked skills like the press handstand, and around age 14, Raisman faced pressure to lose weight despite being naturally thin.
  • Summary: Raisman detailed the difficulty of the press handstand, an exercise requiring lifting the hips from a straddle position to a handstand repeatedly without touching down. She noted that as she got older, the pressure to lose weight began, even though she was already very thin. This pressure was compounded by a lack of formal nutrition education.
Impact of Outdated Nutrition Advice
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(00:19:19)
  • Key Takeaway: Coaches held an old-school belief that eating less or restricting water intake improved performance, leading to athletes like Raisman competing malnourished, exhausted, and dehydrated.
  • Summary: Raisman explained that coaches often believed restricting food or even water intake was beneficial for performance, especially during puberty when bodies naturally change. She realized this led to her muscles cramping due to malnourishment and exhaustion, highlighting a systemic failure to properly fuel elite athletes. She stressed the importance of unlearning the habit of blindly trusting authority figures in power.
Challenging Body Standards in Gymnastics
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(00:23:06)
  • Key Takeaway: Despite being told she and Simone Biles had the ‘wrong body’ for gymnastics, their combined 11 Olympic medals proved that diverse body types can achieve excellence in the sport.
  • Summary: Raisman recalled an article supporting her and Biles after they mentioned being told their bodies weren’t right for gymnastics, noting their success proved otherwise. She emphasized that gymnastics is beautiful because there is no single ‘right’ way to perform skills, and body dysmorphia is a serious issue fueled by societal standards. She advocates for women to stop criticizing their natural bodies.
Olympic Competition Realities
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(00:25:14)
  • Key Takeaway: The Olympic competition environment is overwhelming due to unfamiliar equipment and massive crowds, requiring athletes to use mental tricks, like focusing on familiar broadcast faces, to simulate smaller meets.
  • Summary: The first moments in the arena are jarring because every piece of equipment feels different, and the lights can be disorienting. Raisman initially tried to convince herself few people were watching, but the reality of the crowd and cameras was overwhelming. She coped by focusing on familiar NBC broadcast faces to treat the Olympic stage like a regular U.S. championship meet.
The Two-Per-Country Rule Stress
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(00:27:08)
  • Key Takeaway: Qualification for Olympic finals is highly dependent on one good day due to the ’two per country’ rule, which can prevent a third-ranked American athlete from advancing even if they are world-class.
  • Summary: Qualification for event finals is crucial, as an off day can eliminate an athlete from all individual opportunities, regardless of their world ranking. The ’two per country’ rule means that if three Americans rank in the top three spots, the third-ranked athlete is excluded from advancing. This rule creates devastating emotional situations, especially when teammates are also roommates.
Finding Joy Amidst Pressure
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(00:28:28)
  • Key Takeaway: Athletes find small joys, like eating in the cafeteria or trading pins, to bring levity and communication to the highly stressful and nerve-wracking Olympic environment.
  • Summary: Gymnasts, being serious due to their long competitive season, still found fun moments, such as enjoying the cafeteria and seeing athletes from other sports. Aly Raisman loved pin trading as a way to communicate internationally when language barriers existed. These small activities served as necessary anchors to bring joy amidst the high-stakes environment.
Reframing Success and Silver Medal Pride
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(00:31:04)
  • Key Takeaway: After taking time off, Aly Raisman shifted her mindset from trying to beat Simone Biles to feeling immense pride in winning the silver medal, recognizing that second place to someone in her league is a massive achievement.
  • Summary: After returning from a year off, Raisman realized the pressure to beat Simone Biles was unsustainable and potentially harmful. She reframed her perspective, deciding to be proud of earning the silver medal, which felt like ‘first place’ given Biles’s dominance. This shift allowed her to detach her worth from winning gold and celebrate her accomplishments authentically.
Post-Retirement Trauma Work
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(00:36:37)
  • Key Takeaway: Aly Raisman experienced the ’two deaths’ of elite athletes—retirement and emotional fallout—and is currently using exposure therapy to process trauma related to her career and subsequent triggers.
  • Summary: Raisman felt uniquely ready to retire due to burnout but struggled with PTSD and separating the trauma from the positive aspects of gymnastics for a long time. Exposure therapy involves repeatedly confronting triggering memories, such as reading a journal entry about a traumatic event, to manage overwhelming anxiety and nausea. This ongoing work is essential for her to process past experiences and feel healthy.
Taking Little Wins and Self-Compassion
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(00:43:43)
  • Key Takeaway: In the face of ongoing mental health struggles, prioritizing personal life means celebrating small victories, like being able to eat dinner without nausea, and giving oneself permission to rest.
  • Summary: Raisman has learned to prioritize her personal life, celebrating small achievements like managing to eat dinner without feeling nauseous as significant wins. She validates that tough days are normal and encourages listeners to give themselves permission to rest, watch TV, or engage in activities that bring calm and joy. This self-compassion is key to navigating difficult emotional periods.
Advice for Grief and Hope
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(00:44:16)
  • Key Takeaway: When facing cumulative grief and setbacks, the advice is to practice self-kindness, focus on daily joys, and explore internal feelings rather than waiting for external definitions of happiness like marriage or family.
  • Summary: The advice given to the listener facing loss is to treat oneself with the kindness reserved for loved ones and allow for tough days. It is crucial to give permission to focus on small joys daily rather than fixating on what is missing. Listeners should explore how they want to feel internally, rather than adhering to narrow societal definitions of success like marriage, while continuing to live fully.