In anticipation for the upcoming World Championships in China, we thought it would be fun to take a look back at one of the USA’s most successful elite gymnasts - Alicia Sacramone. After collecting her tenth World Championship medal in 2011, Alicia became the most decorated US gymnast in the history of the World Championships.

Part of Alicia’s success at Worlds can be attributed to her being named to a total of five USA teams. Below are some highlights from Alicia’s past performances on the World Championship stage.

2005 - Melbourne

2005 was a big year for Alicia, mainly because she had just dealt with the blow of not making the Olympic team the year prior. Many considered her to be a strong contender for the 2004 Athens team, but due an unfortunately weak performance at Nationals that year, she had not even been invited to the Olympic Trials.

She came back strong in 2005, however, and was named to the USA Worlds team. There was no team competition, but Alicia’s highlight came with her winning the gold medal on Floor, beating Nastia Liukin by just over a tenth of a point. She also took home the bronze medal on Vault.

2006 - Aarhus

2006 marked Alicia’s first year at Brown University, though she still maintained her elite training at Brestyan’s and was named to the USA Worlds team once again. This time, Alicia’s highlight came in the team competition, where Alicia helped the USA win the silver medal, scoring over 15.00 on Vault, Beam and Floor. She also brought home an additional silver medal from the Vault final, finishing behind Cheng Fei.

Somewhat surprisingly, no one from the USA, including Alicia, qualified for the Beam final that year. It was also surprisingly that Alicia did not qualify for the Floor event final - she scored below 15.00 in the qualifying round, below many of her competitors, including her teammates Chellsie Memmel and Jana Bieger.



2007 - Stuttgart

2007 was a remarkable year for Alicia, particularly due to the strong leadership role she took on for the USA team at World Championships in Stuttgart. Alicia won the silver medal on Floor and the bronze medal on Vault that year, but her highlight definitely came in the team competition. She contributed very high scores for the team on beam, floor and vault, but she also gave her teammates an important pep talk that is still remembered years later. During the team’s rotation on beam, both Nastia Liukin and Shawn Johnson suffered unusual falls, putting the team in second place behind China before the final rotation. Before advancing to floor, the team’s final event, Alicia huddled the team together, encouraging them to forget about the performance on beam and re-focus on floor, stating emphatically that “floor is our event.” The combination of a sub-par performance from China and solid performances from Shayla Worley, Shawn Johnson and Alicia herself guaranteed the USA a gold medal.


2010 - Rotterdam

The World Championships in Rotterdam were the first for Alicia following her performance at the Olympics. She had briefly retired, but decided to return to competition in 2009. She began competing in national meets in 2010 and was named to the USA World Championship team following successful performances on Vault and Beam at Nationals.

Once again, Alicia helped lead the team to a medal, securing the silver in the team competition. But her highlight this year was more of a personal one. For years she had been celebrated as one of the best vaulters in the world, and at Rotterdam, she finally managed to secure a gold medal for her performance at event finals.

The two medals won by Alicia in 2010 put her up in the ranks with the greats - nine total World medals tied her with Nastia Liukin and Shannon Miller as the most ever won by a US gymnast.



2011 - Tokyo

Alicia was named to her fifth and final Worlds team in 2011, after an impressive performance at Nationals that year, where she won the Beam title. Unfortunately, Alicia suffered a devastating injury during training in Tokyo, tearing her Achilles tendon. She was therefore unable to compete and had to return back to the US immediately to undergo surgery, however she was never officially removed from the roster of the Worlds team. The USA’s team gold medal win thus secured Alicia’s tenth World medal. Despite her winning a medal being slightly controversial, her teammates agreed with the decision, with Aly Raisman being quoted as saying the team won the gold for Alicia.

With the upcoming World Champions in China next week, it will be interesting to see if Worlds veterans Simone Biles and Kyla Ross can add to their medal count and get that much closer to one day tying Alicia’s record.


Related:
Worlds Spotlight: Aliya Mustafina 
Worlds Spotlight: Larisa Iordache 
Worlds Spotlight: Yao Jinnan
2014 Worlds Nominative Team Lists
2014 USA Worlds Team