GYMNASTICS
Sacramone Is Toeing the Line
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Saturday, June 21, 2008
PHILADELPHIA, June 20 -- By her account, Alicia Sacramone's big toe went out of bounds during her floor routine Friday night at the women's gymnastics Olympic trials. Not her foot. Her big toe. Yet a flag from an official went up, and she was docked three-tenths of a point from her routine.
"It was brought to my attention," Sacramone said, "that I actually gave the woman with the flag death stares."
Indeed, that was the case. Sacramone, a 20-year-old from Winchester, Mass., who captained the U.S. team that won gold at the world championships last year, does not compete on uneven bars, and she needs to excel at her two best events -- floor and vault -- as well as deliver clean routines on the balance beam in order to earn a spot on the team when it is officially chosen next month. The deduction on the floor left her with a score of 15.4, fourth on the first of two days of competition.
Sacramone, though, immediately bounced back, attacking the vault. Her score of 15.9 was barely off the best in that event -- Shawn Johnson's 15.95.
"I was a little upset about it," she said. "It definitely motivated me to go in there and hit my vault."
After barely missing an invitation to trials in 2004, there was part of Sacramone that merely enjoyed competing.
"It definitely lived up to my expectations," she said. "I was pretty nervous coming in."
Worley Returns to Action
When Shayla Worley had to pull out of the national championships earlier this month because of a bad back, it had an effect on several of the other gymnasts.
"Just seeing her so down at championships really made all of us kind of sad," said Nastia Liukin, all-around runner-up at nationals. "She's always been a great part of our team -- very outgoing, and always cracking jokes. Without her there, it was kind of weird."
Worley, 17, returned to competition Friday, though she opted out of floor exercise. A member of last year's world championship team, she is trying to earn an invitation to next month's selection camp, when the final team will be determined. . . .
Corrie Lothrop of Gaithersburg stood eighth overall after Friday. Her vault score of 14.9 was seventh-best.
