RIO DE JANEIRO _ Their athleticism may look smooth on the floor exercise, uneven bars and balance beam and achieved with the greatest ease on the vault.
But gymnast Aly Raisman talked about the hours of hard work in the gym to get that magical payoff, the heavy lifting rarely seen by the public. On Sunday, she reflected on her latest accomplishment with a rightful sense of pride, having qualified for the Olympic all-around event for the second time.
"It feels really good," said the 22-year-old Raisman, a member of the gold-winning U.S. Olympic team in 2012. "I've been working so hard. It's been a rough last year and a half just because it's been so hard in the gym.
"A lot of times people look at us here and they think it looks easy, but people that follow gymnastics, they know since I've been back it's taken me three years to finally compete in that vault.
"My vault is even better than it was in 2012. It's not something that comes overnight. I've literally been training three years to get it to that point."
There had been so much talk about the emergence of 16-year-old Laurie Hernandez, who finished second to Simone Biles at the Olympic trials in July. And how could anyone forget the reigning all-around Olympic champion Gabby Douglas?
The spiritual anchor of the team, Raisman, was almost lost in the shuffle. Making the all-around final meant more to her than she let on.
"It's awesome. It definitely was my goal," she said. "I think the media kept asking about it and I kept trying to downplay it because you don't want to add the extra pressure. It's something I obviously think about. It's exiting I get to compete with Simone."
