Gymnasts Disappoint? What You Might Not Know About Alicia Sacramone and Women's Gymnastics

The headline flashed across the screen this morning when I sat down with my coffee: "Phelps Makes History; Gymnasts Disappoint." I shook my head, remembering last night's US gymnastics performance. Not because of the so-called disappointment, but because I have seen the training gymnasts like Shawn Johnson, Nastia Liukin, and Alicia Sacramone have undergone in order to perform at the Olympic level. I am filled with sadness for the US women's gymnasts, realizing that suddenly Olympic silver equals disappointment in the eyes of couch coaches.

The women's gymnasts quest for Olympic gold started off on the right foot, with strong vaults by Shawn Johnson, Alicia Sacramone, and Bridget Sloan. In fact, after the first rotation, we watched the US team head in confident that they could overcome China, who they already lead. Though they trailed China slightly after their performance on the uneven bars, the girls went into the balance beam and the floor exercise confident that their strongest gymnasts could lead them to victory. Shawn Johnson and Nastia Liukin were pulling in some of the strongest performances for the US women's gymnastics team.

Instead, though mediocre beam performances by China left the door open for the US gymnastics team to take the lead back, a fall from the beam by Alicia Sacramone visibly shook the girls. They went into the floor exercise over a point behind China, but hopeful that they could overtake on this last rotation.

Sadly, that wasn't to be for the US women's gymnasts. Alicia Sacramone, visibly shaken by her balance beam snafu, fell on a tumbling pass during her floor exercise. Even strong performances by the women's gymnastics team's rocks, Shawn Johnson and Nastia Liukin, couldn't bring them back. Sacramone blames herself, though the team overall wasn't quite strong enough to win the gold.