Now earlier this week, Alicia Sacramone "officially" announced her retirement. It's for real this time.
Alicia, who has been an elite gymnast for over 10 years,has served as team captain for the USA in Beijing and has been a steady leader on the USA Gymnastics scene.
She tried to make the 2004 Olympic team and was not chosen for the team. In 2008, she was selected for the team going to Beijing. After Beijing, the silver medalist retired in 08 and 09, then came back in 2010 and won herself a World Championship gold on the vault. Her goal was to come back in London and erase the bad memory of a fall in the team final in Beijing and to bring home an Olympic gold medal. In 2011 at the World Championships in Tokyo, she ruptured her Achilles tendon while warming up on the floor exercise. The team won the gold medal, giving a medal to Alicia by default since she was on the team roster, giving her a tenth world championship medal making her the US gymnast with the most World Championship medals, edging out Shannon Miller and Beijing teammate, Nastia Liukin who each have 9 world championship medals.
In 2012, Alicia presented strong showings on the balance beam and vault, but was not selected for the team going to London. She hinted at her retirement over Twitter after the trials saying "I leave the sport with no regrets." She "officially" announced her retirement earlier this week. Not really a surprise since she'd already said it in a not so cryptic manner.
She tried to make the 2004 Olympic team and was not chosen for the team. In 2008, she was selected for the team going to Beijing. After Beijing, the silver medalist retired in 08 and 09, then came back in 2010 and won herself a World Championship gold on the vault. Her goal was to come back in London and erase the bad memory of a fall in the team final in Beijing and to bring home an Olympic gold medal. In 2011 at the World Championships in Tokyo, she ruptured her Achilles tendon while warming up on the floor exercise. The team won the gold medal, giving a medal to Alicia by default since she was on the team roster, giving her a tenth world championship medal making her the US gymnast with the most World Championship medals, edging out Shannon Miller and Beijing teammate, Nastia Liukin who each have 9 world championship medals.
In 2012, Alicia presented strong showings on the balance beam and vault, but was not selected for the team going to London. She hinted at her retirement over Twitter after the trials saying "I leave the sport with no regrets." She "officially" announced her retirement earlier this week. Not really a surprise since she'd already said it in a not so cryptic manner.
At 25, Alicia is a woman in a sea of shiny vampire loving, Justin Bieber loving not quite ready for prime-time teenage girls. In Beijing, she was the oldest member of that Olympic team at 20. Alicia told Inside Gymnastics that she'd like to leave behind that as her legacy.
I hope I leave the knowledge that you don’t need to be [under] a certain age restriction to accomplish your dreams. I think things happened a little bit later on in life for me and I don’t want girls to get discouraged if they don’t make their first Olympics at 16. I think if they want to do it and they want to accomplish it, they should never give up on that
Thank you Alicia.
As for what the future holds, at one time, Alicia said she has a strong interest in fashion, but for the near future, she'd still like to be involved in gymnastics. She is still dating NFL second string quarterback, Brady Quinn. She is also finishing up her college education via Harvard extension courses, having transferred from Brown University. She is also co-owner of a company called Sole Impact that makes shock absorbing socks for athletes.
Here's to you, Alicia. Here is Queen to bid you a champion's farwell.
Alicia's medal record:
| Year | Event | AA | Team | VT | BB | UB | FX |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2002 | U.S. National Championships (junior) | 22 | 7 | ||||
| 2003 | U.S. National Championships | 14 | 4 | 3rd | |||
| 2004 | U.S. National Championships | 19 | 2nd | ||||
| Pacific Alliance Championships | 1st | 1st | |||||
| World Cup Ghent | 1st | 4 | |||||
| World Cup Birmingham | 1st | ||||||
| 2005 | U.S. National Championships | 4 | 1st | 3rd | 1st | ||
| World Championships | 3rd | 1st | |||||
| World Cup Ghent | 1st | 1st | |||||
| World Cup Paris | 1st | 6 | |||||
| American Cup | 1st | 2nd | |||||
| 2006 | U.S. National Championships | 5 | 1st | 6 | 8 | 1st | |
| World Championships | 2nd | 2nd | |||||
| World Cup Ghent | 2nd | ||||||
| 2007 | U.S. National Championships | 1st | 3rd | 3rd | |||
| World Championships | 1st | 3rd | 2nd | ||||
| 2008 | U.S. National Championships | 1st | 3rd | 2nd | |||
| U.S. Olympic Trials | 1st | 5 | 5 | ||||
| Olympic Games | 2nd | 4 | |||||
| 2010 | U.S. National Championships | 1st | 2nd | ||||
| World Championships | 2nd | 1st | 5 | ||||
| 2011 | U.S. National Championships | 2nd | 1st | 8T | |||
| World Championships | 1st | ||||||
| 2012 | U.S. National Championships | 1st | 3rd | ||||
| U.S. Olympic Trials | 2nd | 2nd |
Read Also
Inside Gymnastics: A Fond Farewell with Alicia Sacramone
Gymnast Alicia Sacramone Calls It A Career
Gymnast Alicia Sacramone Retires: ESPN
A note to my readers:
I realize that this story was announced far earlier in the week. I do have a full-time job, a husband and other things that need my attention and sometimes have to take priority. Since Alicia said she'd be retiring after the Olympic Trials, I didn't report this story right away. I apologize for the delay in putting this up.
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