"Gymnast floored by surprise penalty
Sacramone finds silver lining after performance setback" -
http://www.boston.com/news/local/articles/2006/10/29/gymnast_floored_by_surprise_penalty/
[quote]The gymnast and coach both knew of the rule and didn't think what she did qualified as a pause. More important, Sacramone had done the routine in multiple international competitions this year without incident. Even more frustrating is that two days before the controversy, the gymnasts performed preliminary routines for the judges to prevent any such mistakes.
"They said she is the cleanest routine and the best routine on the floor," said Brestyan, who said he had never seen a similar ruling in 30 years of coaching gymnastics. "They said she has the least deductions out of everybody else."[/quote]
UCLA vs. Brown University (she picked Brown):
[quote]For years, Sacramone had hoped to attend the University of California at Los Angeles, and as recently as last fall, she had committed to compete for the gymnastics powerhouse.
But last January, she visited the campus and came to a couple of realizations.
"It was just so far from home," said Sacramone, who had decided she didn't want to give up elite gymnastics. It would have been difficult to balance UCLA's training with her own elite workouts, so she decided to stay local and keep training with Brestyan, who has been her coach for about 10 years.
She plans to compete for Brown's gymnastics team, but it's not quite as intense as the UCLA program, so she can still train at Brestyan's gym every other day during the season.[/quote]
So Sacramone is still doing elite competition.
Started gymnastics at 8:
[quote]Sacramone didn't even take up gymnastics until she was 8 years old, while most elite gymnasts start at age 3 or 4. A dancer in ballet, jazz, and tap as a child, Sacramone has relayed those moves to the floor to earn a spot among the world's best -- an accomplishment she said has only recently sunk in.[/quote]
