User blog comment:Toadetterocks/Story Behind Your Avatar/@comment-2219055-20120319131601

My avatar is Alicia Sacramone, an Olympic and World Championships gymnast. And she has one hell of a story. *ahem*

Alicia was 16 the year of the 2004 Athens Olympics, which made her age eligible to make the team. However, she fell on balance beam at US Nationals, and didn't advance to the Olympic trials. But instead of quitting gymnastics, she kept training, determined to go to the Olympics four years later in Beijing.

In 2005, she represented the US at the World Championships. She won a bronze medal on vault and a gold medal on floor exercise. The following year, she was named captain of the American team that would compete at the 2006 World Championships, where she won a silver on vault and a silver with the team. In 2007, she was team captain again when they competed at the next World Championships. She won a gold medal with the team, a bronze on vault, and a silver on floor.

Alicia was named to the 2008 Olympic team as their top vaulter. The US's biggest competition was the Chinese team. However, she fell on balance beam and floor exercise during the team final, resulting in the US winning a silver medal on a night when the expectation was gold. Many people blamed Alicia for the loss of the gold medal. However, many gymnastics experts said that even if Alicia hadn't fallen on beam and floor, they still would have only won a silver medal. The reason being that the Chinese team had higher start values on the uneven bars. Alicia couldn't even redeem herself in the vault finals, as she finished in fourth place, outside the medals.

After the Olympics, Alicia retired from gymnastics. Then in early 2010, she announced she was making a comeback. She started off only competing on vault and balance beam. At the US Nationals, she placed first on vault and second on balance beam. She was named captain of the US team that competed at the 2010 World Championships. She won a team silver, and her first gold medal on vault. She also made the balance beam event final, and although she didn't medal, she had the highest execution out of anyone in the final.

In 2011, Alicia added floor exercise to her training. At the US Nationals, she placed first on beam, second on vault, and eighth on floor. She was named to the US team that competed at the 2011 World Championships. However, a few days before the competition began, she tore her Achilles tendon in a closed practice. She was flown back to the States immediately for surgery. The team won a gold medal in the team final. Since Alicia was named to the team before she was injured, she received a medal. She has 10 World Championship medals, more than any other American gymnast.

tl;dr: Alicia had a bad Olympics, retired, came back, became a World Champion in the first year of her comeback, and is now the most decorated American gymnast in World Championship history. She's my favorite American gymnast.