AP's Lindsey Anderson reports from Massachusetts that friends of Aly Raisman have long known she'd make a name for herself.

But even they didn't think it would be as big as this.

Her close friend Maddie McGill says the 18-year-old was voted "most likely to be on ESPN" in middle school.

"Someone asked me yesterday how it feels to know your friend is one of the most famous athletes, and it hadn't even hit me how everyone knows her now," McGill said.

"I don't think we realized how famous she was going to get."

In the Boston suburb of Needham, a sign outside Taylor's Accents Gifts says it all: "Congratulations Aly Raisman, Needham's Golden Girl."

Town Hall workers had a huge congratulatory banner hung on the building to honor the captain of the U.S. women's gymnastics team that captured gold.

Jack McQuillan, the owner of Taylor's, said: "Over the Russians and the Chinese and the Romanians ... is a little girl from Needham, Massachusetts, that's topped them all. She certainly put Needham on the map."

— Lindsey Anderson — Twitter http://twitter.com/L_M_Anderson

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