Quick Chat with Alicia Sacramone

The Olympic year is here! Subscribe or Renew now so that you don’t miss a single issue of Inside Gymnastics! Plus, subscribe for 3 years and receive a FREE poster of Nastia Liukin!

After the final night of competition at U.S. Championships Alicia Sacramone talked to the media about how she did in Boston and where she wants to go from there …

Q: When did you make the decision to just do the Yurchenko-full for your second vault in finals?

A: I didn’t make that decision, [my coach] Mihai (Brestyan) did. He was like, ‘No, uh-uh,’ (makes chopping gesture). And I was just like, ‘OK. Sounds good.’

Q: So, were your legs just tired?

A: Yep. They were pretty sore.

Q: It looked like you were playing to the crowd on your floor exercise—blowing kisses and waving.

A: Yeah. I just went out there and just had fun today and held nothing back. It was more for them.

Q: In finals, were you thinking about having stepped out-of-bounds on floor in prelims?

A: Oh yeah, I shortened my run a little bit.

Q: From where you started the year, are you where you want to be now?

A: I definitely feel like I’m where I want to be now. I haven’t peaked yet so, hopefully, I have it right, and I’ll peak right before the Olympic Games.

Q: What are you going to do between now and Trials?

A: Pretty much the same thing. Just train and stay healthy; keep up with conditioning. Maybe I won’t do the same numbers [of routines] but they’re going to have to be clean and consistent routines. No need for extra, sloppy ones.

A lot of sports med, and ice. Aleve and Advil are great (laughs)

Q: Fishing for an endorsement deal?

A: (laughs) I’m open!

Q: What do you need to show at Trials?

A: I clearly need to show some more endurance. I’m trying to add another pass in on floor and upgrade my vault, so I’ll be going back home and working on those. I just want to show I’m in better shape than I was here and go out there and have clean routines.

Q: How do you feel about your overall Championships performance?

A: The end result was good. I wanted to show that I was on my way to getting into shape for the Olympics; that I’ve been working. That’s pretty much what I needed to show: That I was on my way.

Q: What was competing in Boston like for you?

A: Oh, it was great. The hometown crowd behind you. The [fans] were so funny. The painted chests … It was great.

Q: Anything you think you still need to prove, or have you done enough?

A: I think, for this competition here today, I think I showed what I needed to show. Definitely for the Olympic Trials I need to kick it up a bit and upgrade my floor and my vault.

The Olympic year is here! Subscribe or Renew now so that you don’t miss a single issue of Inside Gymnastics! Plus, subscribe for 3 years and receive a FREE poster of Nastia Liukin!