Aly Raisman: What's Next for Surprise Olympic Gymnastics Star?

The fun isn't over yet for Team USA star Aly Raisman.

The gymnast has had a whirlwind of an Olympic journey and it just never seems to slow down for her.

Raisman went from sitting in the shadow of Jordyn Wieber and Gabby Douglas to the center of the spotlight as the top American all-around finisher in the preliminaries, to an Olympic team gold medalist, to a young lady snubbed by controversy as she lost out on the bronze medal due to a tiebreaker rule.

She has a busy day of events tomorrow with the balance beam and floor exercise finals. Floor is her best shot for the gold medal as she has one of he highest start values in the field. If she hits, it’s going to be tough for anyone else to beat her.

The big question is: what’s next for Aly Raisman after the Olympics?

She will spend three months after the Olympics participating in the 2012 Kellogg's Tour of Gymnastics Champions, where she will travel around America performing in front of audiences. No competition this time around though, it’s simply a fun showcase of skill and talent.

Raisman recently graduated from high school and is ready to start looking at colleges. As her mother explained in an interview with the Huffington Post, Aly no longer qualifies for a gymnastic scholarship. She turned professional and won't be competing on the college level:

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Aly has decided to go professional, which she is very excited about, but that means she won't be able to compete in gymnastics in college. When she first started looking at colleges, she thought she wanted to go to a school where she could compete. Aly will go to college, but she now has to refocus on what she wants to do in college and select a college based on that.

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Even though she is the oldest on the team at 18 years old, it doesn’t seem like Raisman is ready to give up gymnastics quite yet. She has the opportunity to compete to win prize money and secure various endorsements.

Despite missing out on the bronze all-around medal, being a member of the gold-medal team gives her lots of opportunities for sponsorships and she could secure even more if she can nab a gold medal on floor.

Perhaps she could also have a leadership role in 2016 or be some form of coach or announcer. She also has expressed interest into pursuing some type of fashion design, so maybe she will pick a college based on that.

I doubt that any of the gold medalists are going to stray far from gymnastics in their future—it’s in their blood.

Raisman is no exception to that.