Olympian sheds clothes for ESPN The Magazine

Taking her team to gold at the 2012 Summer Olympics in London, then captain of the U.S. women's gymnastics team, Aly Raisman is once again being honoured.

Joining a host of other female athletes for ESPN The Magazine's annual Body Issue, Raisman poses for a tasteful pictorial on rings and on a balance beam, albeit entirely without her clothes.

What does the perfect physique of an athlete or more precisely a gymnast look like? "I don't think there is one" she says. Clearly keeping up with her workout regiment, Raisman adds her muscular physique is on the bulky end of the spectrum for gymnasts. You can tell by her poise, she's more than comfortable with her appearance.

Hailing from Needham, Massachusetts, at the summer games she also took home gold for her routine on the floor and a bronze for the balance beam.

Proud and upfront about her Judaism, many will recall her golden Hava Nagila performance in the 2012 finals, which had the crowd and audience watching at home, clapping along.


Raisman's rabbi, Keith Stern of Temple Beth Avodah in Newton Centre Massachusetts told the New York Post "Neither she nor her family explicitly sought to send a message. But it shows how very integrated her Jewish heritage is in everything that she does."

Hoping to qualify for the 2016 Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro, she'll then be 22 and the oldest member of the team. No doubt her fans will chomp at the bit to see her repeat.