2003–04 At the 2003
National Championships, Sacramone placed 14th in the all-around, won a bronze medal on
floor exercise, and placed fourth on
vault, earning a spot on the national team. Later that year, she participated in her first international competition as a senior, the Massilia Gym Cup in
Marseille, France, where she placed fourth on floor and ninth on vault. In 2004, Sacramone helped the U.S. win a team gold medal at the
Pacific Alliance Championships in
Honolulu and won the individual vault title. Her performances caught the attention of the media, which began to mention her as a contender for the American team at the
2004 Olympics in
Athens. However, at the 2004 U.S. Nationals, an error-filled performance dashed her hopes of an Olympic berth. Although she tied with
Mohini Bhardwaj for the silver medal on the vault, she finished in 19th place overall and did not qualify to the Olympic Trials. She also injured her back and required time off to recover. Sacramone continued competing in late 2004 as a member of the national team and was assigned to several international meets, including the Pan American Individual Event Championships, where she won the vault and floor exercise titles. At the World Cup Finals in
Birmingham, England, she attracted media attention again when she upset reigning Olympic vault champion
Monica Roşu of
Romania to take first place on the event.
2005–06 At the 2005 National Championships, Sacramone won the individual titles on floor and vault, scoring a 9.9 on floor, and placed third on the balance beam and fourth in the all-around. She was named to the American team, along with
Nastia Liukin and
Chellsie Memmel, for the 2005 World Championships in
Melbourne, Australia, where she won a gold medal on floor and placed third on vault. She also defended her World Cup vault title. Sacramone continued to compete for the U.S. team in 2006 and participated in the World Championships in
Aarhus, Denmark, where she won a silver medal with the American squad and an individual silver on the vault. She defended her vault and floor titles at that year's U.S. Nationals. During her first year at Brown, she broke the school's records for the highest scores in the all-around, vault and floor exercise. She was named ECAC Rookie of the Year and swept the Ivy League Classic, becoming the first gymnast to win the all-around and all four events, and posting the highest all-around total ever recorded at the competition. She qualified as an individual on the floor exercise for the NCAA National Championships, the second Brown gymnast ever to do so, but did not advance beyond the preliminary round. During the preliminary round at the World Championships, Sacramone qualified for the event finals on floor and vault and contributed to the top-qualifying position of the American team. She also posted a score on beam that would have been high enough to qualify her to the beam final. However, due to an
International Federation of Gymnastics rule allowing only two athletes per country to participate in each event final, Sacramone was unable to compete for a beam medal, because teammates Liukin and
Shawn Johnson qualified ahead of her. In the team final, she competed on vault, beam and floor, earning scores of 15.750, 15.600 and 15.325, respectively. When the American team faltered after a difficult beam rotation, in which two gymnasts made major errors, Sacramone gathered the team for a pep talk to refocus them for floor. The American team earned 184.400 points overall, which was good enough to secure the gold medal ahead of China and Romania. In event finals, Sacramone received a bronze medal for her vault performance and a silver on floor behind Johnson. She was visibly upset by her performances, and fought back tears after floor and during the flower and medal ceremonies. Both the Brestyans and the U.S. National Team Coordinator,
Márta Károlyi, suggested that Sacramone forgo NCAA competition during the 2007–08 season to concentrate on her preparations for the 2008 Olympics. She competed well at the National Championships in Boston and the
Olympic Trials in Philadelphia, and on July 19, she was named to the U.S. team for Beijing. At the Olympics, Sacramone performed on three events in both the qualifying and team final rounds of competition. In the team final, Sacramone posted a 15.675 score on vault but fell on both floor (14.125) and beam (15.1). Sacramone herself took responsibility for the results, saying, "It's kinda hard not to blame myself." Teammate
Bridget Sloan also said in an interview, "We've all made mistakes. It's just really hard to see her go and leave these Olympics knowing that she thinks it's her fault. It is definitely not, and we've all been encouraging her very much." Individually, Sacramone placed third on vault in the preliminary round of competition and qualified to the individual final on that event. In the vault final, she placed fourth behind
Hong Un Jong,
Oksana Chusovitina and
Cheng Fei. She also placed fourth on beam in preliminaries behind
Li Shanshan of China, Liukin and Johnson, but did not advance to the eight-person event finals due to the "two per country" rule. After the Olympics, Sacramone confirmed her retirement in February 2009 during an interview at a
Boston Bruins game.
2009–10 On August 6, 2009, Sacramone announced her return to training for elite competition. Her comeback was slowed, however, after shoulder surgery earlier that year. On July 24, 2010, Sacramone competed in the
CoverGirl Classic. She placed first on both beam and vault, not competing on floor or bars, and was named
USA Today's Athlete of the Week. At the National Championships in August, she again performed only on vault and beam. She placed first on vault (her fifth national title on that apparatus) and second on beam. She was also named Sportsperson of the Year. At the
World Championships in October, Sacramone won a gold medal on the vault and a silver medal in the team competition. That gave her nine world medals, and tied her with Liukin and
Shannon Miller for the most world medals by an American female gymnast at that time.
2011 Early in 2011, Sacramone signed a deal with
Under Armour to supply her with competitive apparel for domestic competitions. In July 2011, she added floor exercise to her competitive repertoire at the CoverGirl Classic in
Chicago. Competing on three events, Sacramone won gold on vault, tied for gold on beam with
Jordyn Wieber, and won the bronze on floor (13.9). At August's National Championships in
St. Paul, Minnesota, she won the balance beam title with a two-night score of 30.1. She placed second to
McKayla Maroney on vault (30.6) and tied with
Hallie Mossett for eighth place on floor exercise (27.35). After participating in two selection camps at the
Karolyi Ranch in
New Waverly, Texas, she was named to the
World Championships team. While training for the World Championships in
Tokyo, Sacramone
tore her Achilles tendon. She returned to the U.S. immediately for surgery. However, the team kept her name on the roster, and she was given a gold medal despite not competing. This gave her the most World Championships medals of any female American gymnast, with ten.
2012 Sacramone qualified for the 2012 Visa National Championships. She placed first on vault and third on balance beam. At the Olympic Trials, Sacramone placed second on vault and balance beam, but was not named to the Olympic team. "I leave this sport with no regrets," she posted on her Twitter feed shortly after the team was selected. ==USA Gymnastics Strategic Lead==