Aly Raisman is baring arms.
The television commentator and retired gymnast, who owns six Olympic medals including three golds, is ready to flaunt her biceps.
“When I was younger, I used to get made fun of for being too muscular,” she told Alexa at the Prabal Gurung spring 2025 runway show, held under the limestone archway near City Hall Park. “Literally, up until a few months ago, I would not wear tank dresses or tank tops or sleeveless things.”
“I sort of just had this moment, maybe it was around when I turned 30, where I’m just going to wear what I want to wear and not worry about what other people think or how my body looks in something,” explained the athlete, who rocked a crystal-studded black minidress with strappy sandals. “It’s just interesting and kind of crazy how being made fun of when I was in fifth grade sticks with you for so long! I’m letting go of all that stuff, so it’s been great!” she added. “It was kind of a big deal for me in Paris [at the Games] because I was showing off my arms.”
Raisman is up in arms about the Olympics gymnastics scoring controversy, which saw her friend Jordan Chiles originally place fifth in the individual artistic floor exercise, then win a bronze medal after her coach filed an inquiry over the difficulty score. However, after the Romanian team appealed the decision, Chiles was stripped of her medal since her inquiry was supposedly not filed within a minute after her final score was posted, as required.
The U.S. team then submitted new time-stamped video evidence that the inquiry had in fact been submitted in 47 seconds, but the Court of Arbitration for Sport said it cannot reconsider its decision. Now USA Gymnastics and the U.S. Olympic and Paralympic Committee are filing an appeal with the Swiss Federal Tribunal, the highest court in Switzerland.
“I think it’s so unfair what’s happening, and it’s not right,” exclaimed Raisman. “I love Jordan Chiles so much and I am so determined to help her in any way that I can. Fingers crossed and she deserves to have the medal.”
Raisman said she was confused by the timekeeping issue. “It makes no sense because according to the rules, it’s someone’s job to keep the time, so they’re not allowed to accept the inquiry unless it’s under the minute. So somebody who was taking the time accepted it, which means it was under that minute time frame. And then the judges admitted that they made a mistake with the scoring. I think there needs to be more transparency and answers and more accountability for how this happened. The IOC has given more than one medal before, so I’m not sure why they’re doing this,” she added.
“The whole thing is so devastating and so unfair. I can’t even imagine what this has been like for her but I’m so proud of her.”
Fashion fan Raisman admired plenty of sleeveless day and evening looks on Gurung’s cobblestone runway, which the models navigated on high heels while an orchestra played classical music. A gentle breeze turned the full skirts and long scarves into floaty works of art.