Amazing comeback from Achilles injury.
Hitting her 2 apparatus as well or better than the Olympians. Ranked 2nd on both Vault and Beam. Likely the Olympic Vault Champion IF Maroney was not competing.
Leadership.
Not choosing Alicia Sacramone as a “replacement athlete” seems crazy.
Couldn’t they have named 9 women instead of eight?
Aunt Joyce speculates that Alicia will be asked on to the training squad if any of the selected 8 gymnasts goes out with injury.
Bleacher Report – US Olympic Gymnastics Trials: Why Alicia Sacramone Must Be Named to Team USA
21 comments ↓
Agree totally.
It is crazy to me that she was not named! Top two on two events! We need a rule like the men that allows people to qualify based on their finishes on two events. I know everyone thinks we are so deep on beam but I besides Aly there is no one I am sure can go up there and hit. Everyone else is unpredictable (gabby) or never gets their connections and won’t at the olympics without big improvements (Jordan and Kyla) and we certainly don’t want Maroney to do beam. Any of these girls could go down on vault at any time. Ross, weiber and Aly have all had numerous scary landings. Seems like a horrible idea to leave the number two vaulter and Beamer at home.
Finnegan over Alicia is a head scratcher for me. Alicia beat Finnegan on beam at trials. (At Nationals Finnegan had only a .1 advantage after 2 days of competition.) Price is proving to be stronger than Finnegan on floor, so I don’t think her inclusion for that event is justified either. And certainly Alicia’s strong vault potential for both TF and EF should be considered.
I was shocked at this decision. She had an amazing comeback in such a short amount of time! I sure would have put her on the team, not just an alternate but a team member. USA Gymnastics did her such a disservice.
When I look at it by which athletes would replace whom in case of injury, I see this:
Jordyn: most critical is replacing her bars in TF. I’d call up Li. VT lineup becomes Raisman, Douglas, Maroney. BB Douglas, Ross, Raisman. FX Maroney, Douglas, Raisman.
Aly: I think this is the hardest athlete to replace with the current replacement athletes. This is where I would use Alicia as third Beamer AND third vaulter (Rudi is more consistent than Douglas’s Amanar). FX Maroney, Douglas, Wieber. With existing alternates, it’s a toss up between Price (VT, maybe FX if will score better than Maroney) and Finnegan (maybe BB if more likely to stay on than Douglas, maybe FX if will score better than Maroney).
Gabby: Anna Li. Maroney goes on FX.
Kyla: Anna Li. Necessary but a bit dicey because Douglas will have to go on beam.
Maroney: Price to VT.
@Katie, totally agree. Aly is difficult to replace with the current alternate options, and frankly, she was lucky to escape her vault last night without an injury. That Amanar scares the pants off me.
Alicia did an amazing job. I hope now that people will remember her for her Olympic trials performances and her many medal-winning world championship performances. By score and placement, Alicia deserved to be included, and I was saddened but not surprised that she was left off. I don’t think there is ANYTHING Alicia could have done to convince Marta to name her as team member or reserve, because as great as Alicia’s been, Marta was never going to trust her to deliver beam or floor at the olympics. Alicia’s performance was nothing more than a brilliant exhibition in Marta’s way of thinking.
Marta does not forget, sadly. Remember in Athens, she smoked out Courtney McCool on Day 2 after she gave a couple of tentative performances. And just a *couple*–she was absolutely lovely on bars. But Marta didn’t care. A shame as I think McCool might’ve calmed down on Day 2.
Katie is exactly right! Where does Finnegan fit in? Not really anywhere over Alicia. Marta is ridiculous if she holdingthe Beijing fall against Alicia.
Someone on AJ mentioned that maybe this was taryn being loyal to the Fongs.
I think the reason Alicia wasn’t named to the team was simply due to the fact that Marta knows she won’t be competing anymore after the Olympics. Sort of like a forced early retirement. I know it doesn’t make sense, but that’s the only reason I can come up with for not naming her as a reserve. I think Alicia makes more sense as a reserve than one event Li.
There’s no way Alicia falling off beam and on floor in Beijing is the reason she wasn’t named reserve. Alicia would have never been named to Worlds in 2010 & 2011 if Marta still held a “grudge” about that. Alicia hasn’t fallen off beam in competition SINCE team finals in Beijing. I think she’s more than proven herself on that event.
She did a great job. Alicia hit solid. But I believe her age, injury, and the need to pass the torch to the younger ones was the reason. At least Alicia can leave knowing she hit and was solid. She proved alot of people wrong. Maybe if she had floor. But great job Alicia.
I love her and was shocked she wasn’t chosen. I always hold my breath she does that mount. She proved, very early that she could hit it, why not than have tried a new mount or combo worth a similar amount? Then, no worries.
The beam fall in ’08 isn’t the problem it was the floor meltdown that came afterwards. Alicia couldn’t get it together. She melted down and you can’t do that. That is why not to trust her. But I don’t think that is the reason they kept her off the team. Vault is an area where we are very strong and beam is fine.
I love Alicia, but I can’t seriously think that Martha was holding her “melt-down” in 2008 against her. If that was the case how the heck did Gabby make Worlds and National Teams after her performance at 2010 Nationals. Gabby certainly has proved that she can do better, and Martha agrees. I think it came down to the weakness of USA on bars in its other team-members (Gabby excepted), and therefore the need for bars workers. Hence why Anna Li, someone who has fallen off bars it seems in more competitions than she has hit them in is on the team. I think had Alicia not torn her Achilles, or had been able to get a floor routine down in time, she would have been on that team over McKayla. All that being said, she is a champion, and she should walk away with her head held high. She came back faster than anyone could have believed, and not only hit 4 for 4 at both Nationals and Olympic Trials but added more difficulty too (connected mount on beam on Day 1). And she is a great representative of the love for the sport and everything that is good about gymnastics. I hope the ladies succeed in London, but if they don’t, I’ll always think it would have been a different story with Alicia.
Can we just change the name of the competition to the U.S. Olympic Auditions?
Love Alicia agree she should have been in the mix however all hope is not lost and i hope she still trains for a few weeks, as of not that long ago a person not named to the team or alt. was placed on the team when an injury happend, if someone goes down with an injury a spot will open up an it is possible that she is named later.
2nd i thought it was kinda weird and they were crazy for naming the 3 alter. they did but now i think its a smart idea.
Li–> back up incase we lose a bar score
Price and Finnegan likely team leaders for next 4 years and are now getting the same training as this years olympic team including going to london and training there which they will be around all the stars from all around the world and may help them for the next 4 years
She had her chance. time to move on. as far as “leadership”, just hit your sets and not a problem. The only one she needed to help was herself! no one else.
In a manner of thinking this is really a win-win… Alicia goes out on top to no fault of her own. She has nothing to prove as she did better than expected, with injury etc. On the team side, new girls are getting their “dream” turn to be on the Olympic team, and will contribute that experience in the next few years to team USA.
We already have 4 Amanars (at least) and as for beam, other girls have proven solid on beam and also have higher start values. I think if she had floor as an event she may have been named instead of Finnegan. Otherwise, I see it as a way to pass the torch and keep kids like Finnegan and Price hungry to train for the next Olympics.
“We need a rule like the men that allows people to qualify based on their finishes on two events. ”
The men have no such rules. The only automatic qualifiers were men who were top 2 AA and top 3 in 3 events. A guy could win the AA and not get an automatic berth.
In fact, if Sacramone was competing like the men, she would have probably competed UB. She could not be any worse on those than Dalton on PH or Ruggeri on SR.
Every guy did all six, with the exception of Mikulak (who would have in if he hadn’t been hurt).
The MAG team is mostly decided by a computer. I’m sure the women have something similar.
It was pretty straightforward for Alicia during the last few competitions: she would be one of the five selected or she wasn’t making the cut at all, not even as an alternate. Her experience, international results and even the way she is received by gymnastics fans might have encouraged the committee to avoid having her as second best, which is what she would’ve been if they named her an alternate.
I hope I’ve written this clearly.
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