Alicia Sacramone

Infobox Gymnast
gymnastname= Alicia Sacramone


imagesize=
caption= Alicia Sacramone performs on the balance beam at the 2008 U.S. National Championships in Boston, MA.
fullname= Alicia Marie Sacramone
nickname=
country= USA
formercountry=
birthdate= birth date and age|mf=yes|1987|12|03
birthplace= Boston, Massachusettscite web|url=http://results.beijing2008.cn/WRM/ENG/BIO/Athlete/1/221731.shtml|title=Alicia Sacramone's official 2008 Olympics biography|publisher=Beijing Olympic Committee|year=2008|accessdate=2008-08-12]
hometown= Winchester, Massachusetts
deathdate=
deathplace=
height= height|ft=5|in=1
discipline= WAG
level= Senior International
natlteam=6 (2002-2008)
club= Brestyan's American Gymnastics
gym=
collegeteam=Brown University
headcoach= Mihai Brestyan
assistcoach=Sylvie Brestyan
formercoach=
choreographer=
music=Santa Maria (Gotan Project)
eponymousskills=
retired=
medaltemplates=

Alicia Marie Sacramone (pronEng|əˈliʃə ˌsækɹəˈmoʊni)(born December 3, 1987) is an American artistic gymnast. A member of the U.S. National Team, she is the 2005 World Champion on floor exercise, the 2008 U.S. National Champion on vault, and a seven-time medalist at the World Artistic Gymnastics Championships. At the 2008 Beijing Olympics, she won a silver medal competing for the USA in the artistic gymnastics team all-around competition.

Sacramone began gymnastics at the age of eight, began competing in the elite ranks in 2002 and joined the U.S. national team in 2003. Since 2005 she has been a key member of the U.S. team, and has won two World Championship titles and seven World Championships medals in total. Shannon Miller and Nastia Liukin are the only American gymnasts to hold more World Championships medals than Sacramone; 1970s gymnast Kurt Thomas also has seven.cite web|url=http://www.nbcolympics.com/gymnastics/news/newsid=138473.html#personality+puts+sacramone+front|title="Personality puts Sacramone in front"|publisher=Associated Press|date=2008-06-17|accessdate=2008-07-20] Sacramone has also become known as the "spiritual and social leader" of the U.S. gymnastics team, frequently rallying and supporting her teammates and offering advice in stressful situations.cite web|url=http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/olympics_blog/2008/06/dont-mess-with.html|title="Don't Mess with Alicia"|publisher="Los Angeles Times"|date=2008-06-20|author=Pucin, Diane|accessdate=2008-07-20] cite web|url=http://www.nytimes.com/2008/07/18/sports/olympics/18gymnastics.html?_r=1&ref=sports&pagewanted=all&oref=slogin
title=Sacramone Is Still Waiting for That Call|publisher="New York Times"|date=2008-07-18|author=Macur, Juliet|accessdate=2008-07-20]

Background and family

Sacramone was born on December 3, 1987 in Boston, Massachusettscite web|url=http://www2.usa-gymnastics.org/bios/athletebios.php?id=307019|title=Alicia Sacramone's current national team biography|publisher=USA Gymnastics|year=2008|accessdate=2008-07-20] to parents Fred, an orthodontist, and Gail Sacramone.cite web|url=http://web.archive.org/web/20050210200949/http://www.usa-gymnastics.org/athletes/bios/s/asacramone.pdf|title=Alicia Sacramone's 2004 USAG biography|publisher=USA Gymnastics|year=2004|accessdate=2008-07-20|format=PDF] She is of Italian descent.cite web|url=http://www.insidegymnastics.com/content/show/newsarticle.aspx?articleid=109&zoneid=1|title=Inside Chat with Alicia Sacramone|publisher="Inside Gymnastics"|date=2007-07-22|accessdate=2007-12-29] Sacramone has an older brother, Jonathan, who is 5 1/2 years her senior.

Early career

Sacramone began studying dance at the age of three and started training gymnastics five years later, at age eight, in 1996.cite web|url=http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2007/writers/em_swift/09/09/worlds/|title=What we learned: U.S. women amazingly deep; men aren't bad, either|publisher="Sports Illustrated"|date=2007-09-09|author=Swift, E.M.|accessdate=2007-12-29] She began her gymnastics career with Romanian coaches Mihai and Silvia Brestyan at Gymnastics and More club and continued to train with them after they opened their own training facility in Ashland. The Brestyans still serve as Sacramone's coaches.cite web|url=http://web.archive.org/web/20030201214415/http://www.usa-gymnastics.org/news/2003/jan31-03amclassic.html|title=American Classic bounds into Boston March 14-16|publisher=USA Gymnastics|date=2003-01-31|accessdate=2008-07-20]

Sacramone entered the elite ranks in 2002, placing seventh in the all-around and sixth on the vault in the junior division at that year's U.S. Classic competition. At the 2002 U.S. National Championships, she placed 22nd, but achieved a seventh place finish on the balance beam. [cite web|url=http://web.archive.org/web/20020816162812/http://www.usa-gymnastics.org/events/2002/champs/jrwomen2.txt|title=Scores from 2002 Nationals|publisher=USA Gymnastics|year=2002|accessdate=2008-07-20] Her results improved immensely the next year, when she placed 14th in the all-around and won a bronze medal on the vault at the 2003 U.S. Nationals, earning a spot on the U.S. National gymnastics team. Sacramone also participated in her first international competition in 2003, the Massilia Cup in France, where she placed fourth on the floor exercise and ninth on vault.

enior career

2004

In 2004, Sacramone earned a spot on the American team for the important Pacific Alliance Championships in Hawaii. She contributed several scores to help the team to a gold medal finish and won the individual vault title. Sacramone's strong performances caught the attention of the media, who began to consider her a legitimate contender for the American team at the 2004 Olympics in Athens.cite web|url=http://starbulletin.com/2004/04/17/sports/story1.html|title=Matching Jewelry|publisher=Honolulu "Star-Bulletin"|date=2004-04-17|author=Wen, Grace|accessdate=2007-12-29]

However, at the 2004 U.S. Nationals, an error-filled performance dashed Sacramone's hopes of an Olympic berth. Although she tied with Mohini Bhardwaj for the silver medal on the vault, [cite web|url=http://web.archive.org/web/20040619230408/http://intlgymnast.com/events/2004/usa-nationals/results_sr_women_ef.html|title=WAG event final results, 2004 Nationals|publisher="International Gymnast"|year=2004|accessdate=2008-07-20] she finished in 19th place overall and did not qualify to the Olympic Trials. She also suffered an injury to her back and required time off to recover.

Sacramone continued competing in late 2004 as a member of the U.S. national team, and was assigned to several international meets, including the Pan American Individual Event Championships, where she won the vault and floor exercise titles. [cite web|url=http://web.archive.org/web/20041211182201/http://www.usa-gymnastics.org/athletes/athletenews/2004/an-dec04.html|title=1st Pan American Event Championships|publisher="Athlete News," USA Gymnastics|date=2004-12-05|accessdate=2008-07-20] At the World Cup Finals in Birmingham, England, Sacramone attracted media attention again when she upset reigning Olympic vault champion Monica Roşu to take first place on the event.

2005–2006

At the 2005 U.S. National Championships, Sacramone won the individual titles on floor and vault, scoring a 9.9 on the latter event, and placed third on the balance beam and fourth in the all-around. She was named to the American team for the 2005 World Championships in Melbourne, Australia, where she won a gold medal on floor and placed third on the vault. She also defended her World Cup vault title successfully in 2005, winning the event at both the World Cup qualifier in Ghent and the finals in Paris.

Sacramone continued to compete for the U.S. team in 2006, participating in the 2006 World Championships in Aarhus, where she won a silver medal with the American squad and an individual silver on the vault. She defended her vault and floor titles at that year's U.S. Nationals.

In September 2006, Sacramone enrolled in Brown University and joined the school's gymnastics team. During the 2006-2007 season, she juggled a full NCAA competition schedule with her elite training at Brestyan's. She was the first female American gymnast since Kelly Garrison in the late 1980s to combine full-time university studies and NCAA competition with elite gymnastics.cite web|url=http://www.usatoday.com/sports/olympics/summer/2007-08-14-busygymnast_N.htm|title=Double-duty gymnast sets bar high|publisher="USA Today"|month=August | year=2007 |author=Garcia, Marlen|accessdate=2007-12-29]

During Sacramone's first year with the Brown Bears, she broke the school's records for the highest scores in the all-around, vault and floor exercise. She was named ECAC Rookie of the Yearcite web|url=http://brownbears.cstv.com/sports/c-gym/spec-rel/042707aaa.html|title=Sacramone's Gymnastics Season Comes to an End at 2007 NCAA Championships|publisher=Brown Gymnastics|date=2007-04-27 |accessdate=2007-12-29] and swept the Ivy League Classic, becoming the first gymnast to win all five events and posting the highest all-around total ever recorded at the competition.cite web|url=http://brownbears.cstv.com/sports/c-gym/recaps/022607aab.html|title=Bears place fourth at Ivy League Classic|publisher=Brown Gymnastics|date=2007-02-26 |accessdate=2007-12-29] She qualified as an individual on the floor exercise for the NCAA National Championships, the second Brown gymnast ever to do so, but did not advance beyond the preliminary round.

2007

At the 2007 U.S. National Championships, Sacramone competed on three events, choosing to skip the uneven bars. She defended her title on the vault, placed second on the floor exercise and third on the balance beam. Following Nationals, Sacramone was named to the American team for the World Championships in Stuttgart, Germany. [cite web|url=http://www.usa-gymnastics.org/news/2007/aug18-07-WomensWorldTeam.html|title=USA Gymnastics names U.S. Women’s Team for 2007 World Championships|publisher=USA Gymnastics|date=2007-08-18 |accessdate=2007-12-29]

During the qualifying round at the World Championships, Sacramone performed well, qualifying for event finals in floor and vault and contributing to the top qualifying position of the American team. Sacramone also posted a score on beam that would have been high enough to qualify her to the beam event final. However, due to the FIG rule only allowing two athletes per country to participate in each event final, and due to the fact that teammates Nastia Liukin and Shawn Johnson qualified ahead of her with higher scores, Sacramone was unable to compete for a beam medal. For the team final, Sacramone competed on vault, beam, and floor, earning 15.750, 15.600 and 15.325 respectively. When the American team faltered after a difficult beam rotation, in which two gymnasts made major errors, Sacramone gathered the team for a pep talk to refocus them for floor. The American team earned 184.400 points overall which was good enough to secure the gold medal ahead of the Chinese and Romanians. [cite web|url=http://www.usa-gymnastics.org/news/2007/pr-sep02-WomenAdvance.html|title=U.S. women advance to team finals, qualify for 2008 Olympic Games|publisher=USA Gymnastics|date=2007-09-02 |accessdate=2007-12-29] [cite web|url=http://www.usa-gymnastics.org/news/2007/pr-sep05-WomenWinTeamGold.html|title=U.S. women win team title at World Championships|publisher=USA Gymnastics|date=2007-09-05 |accessdate=2007-12-29]

In event finals, Sacramone received a bronze medal for her vault performance and a silver on floor behind teammate Shawn Johnson. [cite web|url=http://www.usa-gymnastics.org/news/2007/pr-sep09-ApparatusFinalsDay2.html|title=U.S. women win three more medals at 2007 World Artistic Gymnastics Championships|publisher=USA Gymnastics|date=2007-09-09|accessdate=2007-12-29] She was visibly upset by her performances, and fought back tears after floor and during the flower and medal ceremonies. [cite web|url=http://www.latimes.com/sports/olympics/la-sp-gym10sep10,1,5912173.story?coll=la-headlines-sports-olympics|title=World is at Johnson's feet|publisher="Los Angeles Times"|date=2007-09-10 |author=Pucin, Diana|accessdate=2007-12-29]

Both the Brestyans and the U.S. National Team Coordinator, Marta Karolyi, suggested that Sacramone forgo NCAA competition during the 2007-2008 season to concentrate on her preparations for the 2008 Beijing Olympics. In September 2007, Sacramone announced that she was "turning pro" and signed with an agent, forfeiting her remaining NCAA eligibility.

2008

In the 2007–2008 academic year, Sacramone continued to work with the Brown Bears gymnastics team as a volunteer assistant coach. She remains a student at Brown, majoring in sociology, but took the spring 2008 semester off to prepare for the Olympics. [cite web|url=http://www.boston.com/sports/articles/2007/09/27/sacramone_has_balancing_act_down/|title=Sacramone has balancing act down|publisher="Boston Globe"|date=2007-09-27 |author=Powers, John|accessdate=2007-12-29] [cite web|url=http://brownbears.cstv.com/sports/c-gym/mtt/sacramone_alicia00.html|title=Sacramone's official Brown University biography|publisher=Brown Bears Gymnastics|accessdate=2008-01-18] cite web|url=http://www.usatoday.com/sports/olympics/2008-06-03-sacramone_N.htm|title="Sacramone's love, commitment inspire others to succeed"|publisher="USA Today"|date=2008-06-03 |author=Garcia, Marlen|accessdate=2008-06-30]

Sacramone competed well at the 2008 U.S. National Championships in Boston and the Olympic Trials in Philadelphia. On July 19, she was named to the 2008 Olympic Team for Beijing.cite web|url=http://ap.google.com/article/ALeqM5hzZjs58I0K0pqW0p9cAJQRmB8P6wD9219NTO0
title="Four years later, Memmel, Sacramone make Olympics"|publisher=Associated Press|date=2008-07-19|author=Armour, Nancy|accessdate=2008-07-20]

2008 Summer Olympics

At the Olympics, Sacramone performed on three events in both the qualifying and team final rounds of competition. In the team final, Sacramone posted a 15.675 score on vault but fell on both floor and beam, incurring 1.70 points in deductions.cite web|url=http://www.nbcolympics.com/gymnastics/resultsandschedules/rsc=GAW400101/index.html
title=Team final scores|publisher=NBC Olympics|date=2008-08-12|accessdate=2008-08-13] cite web|url=http://olympics.blogs.nytimes.com/2008/08/12/analysis-of-the-womens-gymnastics-team-final/?ref=sports
title=Analysis of the Women’s Gymnastics Team Final|publisher="New York Times"|author=Yoculan, Suzanne|date=2008-08-12|accessdate=2008-08-13]

In the day following the Olympic team finals, Sacramone was largely blamed for the American team's silver medal placement, and was the subject of negative commentary in media reports. [cite web|url=http://www.azcentral.com/arizonarepublic/sports/articles/2008/08/12/20080812spt-olywgym.html|title=Sacramone falls cost U.S. women in gym final|publisher=Arizona Republic|author=Metcalfe, Jeff|date=2008-08-12|accessdate=2008-08-14] cite web|url=http://sports.espn.go.com/oly/summer08/gymnastics/columns/story?id=3532681|title=Team final results should not define Sacramone|publisher=ESPN.com|author=Alyssa Roenigk|date=2008-08-13|accessdate=2008-09-01] Sacramone herself took responsibility for the results, noting, "It's kinda hard not to blame myself." However, analysts in the gymnastics community, including University of Georgia head coach Suzanne Yoculan, former Olympian John Roethlisberger and "International Gymnast" editor Paul Ziert, noted that the American team started the competition at a difficulty point deficit to the Chinese and that mathematically, Sacramone could not have been personally or exclusively responsible for the U.S. team's results.cite web|url=http://www.intlgymnast.com/olympics/ziert/608.html|title=Ziert Alert: Alicia, It's Not Your Fault|publisher=International Gymnast|author=Ziert, Paul|date=2008-08-13|accessdate=2008-08-14] cite web|url=http://www.nbcolympics.com/video/player.html?assetid=0813_jralicia_ja152&channelcode=sportga|title=Don't throw Alicia under the bus (video commentary)|publisher=NBC Olympics|author=Roethlisberger, John|date=2008-08-13|accessdate=2008-08-14] Sacramone also received support from the American team. In one interview, teammate Bridget Sloan stated, "We've all made mistakes. It's just really hard to see her go and leave these Olympics knowing that she thinks it's her fault. It is definitely not and we've all been encouraging her very much." [cite web|url=http://www.wthr.com/Global/story.asp?S=8833999&nav=9Tai|title=Hoosier gymnasts weigh second-place finish|publisher=WTHR Indianapolis|author=Tiernon, Anne Marie|date=2008-08-12|accessdate=2008-08-14]

Individually, Sacramone placed third overall on vault in the preliminary round of competition and qualified to the individual event final on that event. In the vault final, Sacramone placed fourth, just out of the medals.cite web|url=http://www.nbcolympics.com/gymnastics/resultsandschedules/rsc=GAW002101/index.html|title=Vault event final scores|publisher=NBC Olympics|date=2008-08-17|accessdate=2008-08-17] . She also placed fourth overall on beam in preliminaries, but due to the "two per country rule," and the fact that teammates Shawn Johnson and Nastia Liukin placed higher on the event, did not advance to the event final. [cite web|url=http://www.nbcolympics.com/gymnastics/resultsandschedules/rsc=GAW499000/standings_apparatus.html
title=Team qualifying round apparatus scores|publisher=NBC Olympics|date=2008-08-10|accessdate=2008-08-13]

Other achievements

In June 2008, Sacramone and her teammates Shawn Johnson and Nastia Liukin became the first female athletes ever to be signed as CoverGirl spokesmodels. [cite web|url=http://news.moneycentral.msn.com/provider/providerarticle.aspx?feed=PR&date=20080626&id=8831219|title=CoverGirl Flips for USA Gymnastics|publisher=PR Newswire|date=June 26, 2008|accessdate=2008-06-30] Sacramone is also a member of Team 24 Fitness and serves as a spokeswoman for the fitness company. [cite web|url=http://www.businesswire.com/portal/site/google/?ndmViewId=news_view&newsId=20080501005370&newsLang=en|title=24 Hour Fitness Announces Partnership with Six U.S. Olympic Hopefuls for Beijing 2008 Olympic Games|date=May 1, 2008|accessdate=2008-07-20]

Competitive history

References

External links

*fig|id=5846|name=Alicia Sacramone
*USAGymnasticsName|id=307019|name=Alicia Sacramone
*
* [http://www.time.com/time/specials/packages/article/0,28804,1819129_1819134_1825747,00.html "Alicia Sacramone"] , n°25 on "Time"’s list of "100 Olympic Athletes To Watch"