Alicia Sacramone Clinches Record 10th Medal

Alicia Sacramone has earned a record 10th medal at the world gymnastics championships, despite having not even set foot on the floor.

As we reported last week, Sacramone was sent back to the United States to recover from surgery on a torn Achilles. Yet she will receive a gold gong now the U.S. women beat Russia for its third women’s team title at the championships.

The medal means Sacramone, the 2008 Beijing Olympics captain, will break the American record for most world medals – a feat she previously shared with Shannon Miller and Nastia Liukin.

The United States team scored 179.411 points, snatching a narrow victory over defending champs Russia – the gap between the two teams was just 4 points. China, the Olympic champion, was third, while Romania, traditionally a gymnastics powerhouse, was fourth.

Team-mate Aly Raisman, who trains with Sacramone back home, had this to say:

“Alicia is here with us in spirit, and we all knew that her heart was here. We did it for her. She deserved the gold medal and we are really happy that we got it for her. […] She just told me she knew we were going to rock it and we were going to do amazing.

Raisman also revealed she received advice and best wishes from Sacramone via text message. Sacramone also distributed a message to the team on Twitter:

“Words can’t describe how proud I am of all of you!”