Alicia Sacramone Faces Uphill Battle to Make Her Second Olympics

Alicia Sacramone was the captain of the 2008 gymnastics team and is currently clawing her way to her second Olympics. Injuries are extremely common in the sport and will be a big part of Sacramone's challenge.

Sacramone is an amazing athlete and gymnast who is competing with a plethora of young, rising talent this year for her spot. The Olympic team seems to be pretty much set, with three of the spots taken by Jordyn Wieber, Aly Raisman and Gabby Douglas.

She will be competing for the final spot with Elizabeth Price and Kayla Ross as John Powers of the Boston Globe reports. The Brown alum's competition is talented and top notch, but that's not the only thing she is battling against in the trials.

She's also battling an Achilles injury that she sustained just eight-and-a-half months ago. When asked about the injury by the Associated Press, her response was (via The Sporting News):

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"I would have been like, 'Oh, you tore your Achilles when? Good luck with that," Sacramone said.

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And she has been having amazing luck with her ankle. She has been able to come in and do the vault and balance beam, two events that are based on great balance and something that a bad Achilles would have the most effect on. 

The vault has always been Sacramone's best event and she registered good scores of 15.700 and 15.375. She has to excel on the vault in order to literally vault herself into the competition.

If her Achilles injury is fully healed and she can place high enough in the balance beam and vault, there is no reason to not have her on the team. However, Sacramone is also 24, which is old for a world-caliber gymnast.

Her injury will hold her back from her true potential, but if she can win a spot at the trials despite her injuries and rising competition, Sacramone will show the same kind of fortitude that led her to be selected as the 2008 captain. And in that respect, she should be the 2012 captain if she is on the team.