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Needham Gymnast Returns Home Before Heading To London Olympics

BURLINGTON (CBS) –Aly Raisman was flocked by many of her young admirers as she returned home to her Burlington gym on Tuesday.

WBZ NewsRadio 1030's Carl Stevens Reports.

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Raisman of Needham recently secured her spot on the US Women's Gymnastic Olympic Team after competing in the Olympic trials in San Jose. She is thrilled about going to London this summer.

"I'm so excited to go to London, I can't wait. I'm so honored and I have been working for this my whole life so I can't believe that it actually came true. It's still so surreal to me and I am so excited," said Raisman.

Raisman said everything has happened so fast it's almost unbelievable that she's going to the Olympics, but it is something she has worked very hard for.

"It was so exhausting every morning getting up and every night going to the gym and training until about 9 o'clock, but it was so worth it and I'm so happy. It just feels so amazing that all my hard work paid off," Raisman said.

Young girls at the gym, like 11-year-old Taylor and 12-year-old Kyra, look up to the hard-working Raisman.

"We always see her work hard and sometimes she has bad days, but even if she's in tears, she's still working as hard as she can," said Kyra.

Raisman is setting a golden example for all of these young girls and she offers them advice to help them reach their goals.

"Without the bad workouts you wouldn't know what a good workout is that's how you feel that feeling of accomplishment, so never give up and just always try to have fun with it and enjoy it," explained Raisman.

Raisman plans to continue to work hard until the London Games and said she has a few simple goals she'd like to achieve once she gets there.

"I just want to go out there and do the best that I can for team USA and just work as hard as I can and hopefully bring home some medals for my country," said Raisman.

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