Sacramone’s 9.9

[Doug1233]

Have we ever discussed this in detail?

I mean, it was a great routine, but 9.9?!

There were at least 5 separate errors in that routine.

To start, the tuck jump double was not even a tuck.

She had clear landing faults on the Double Arabian, the Front Lay and the Gogean.

Even on grainy 2005 footage, I saw a leg separation the Full In.

Although I admit that Triple Full was fucking badass.

9.75, sure. It would have beaten or at least tied Ponor for Olympic Gold the prior year.

But 9.9?! No. And one judge gave a 9.95?!

 

[RedBirdie]

I remember the general consensus at the time (pre WWG!) was that was the ultimate in US Nationals scoring. Just so damn inflated, and for no good reason. Gave us all a good laugh.

 

[Passion]

USAG had rallied hard against the open ended code, and lost. This was the final domestic competition to use the 10 system.

Nostalgia and despair, if she stuck that front layout they would have thrown her a 10.

 

[arabiandoublefront]

I didn’t know that about USAG.

 

[Hatsumomo]

Neither did I.

 

[tsarinajen]

I recall some other events being pretty high. Didn’t Nastia go 9.8 on beam?

 

[CameliasFingerpaint]

To start, the tuck jump double was not even a tuck.

Name a more iconic duo than USAG Domestic Judges and crediting any and all dance elements.

 

[arabiandoublefront]

She did indeed.

 

[irichluck21]

Sacramone’s 9.9 was from Marta.

IIRC Marta wanted her for 2004 pretty badly, but Sac took herself out of the running by not finishing in the top 12 at Nationals. Rumor was that Marta wanted to personally invite her to Trials but USAG was not having it.

 

[RichardL]

It’s crazy how well Sacramone could’ve done in Athens after all was said and done. Too little too late in terms of consistency, which she more or less gained in the years to follow, 08 TF aside. But the fact that Bhardwaj took the space that could’ve been hers speaks volumes in retrospect (although I never would’ve put 04 Sacramone up on BB in TF).

 

[tsarinajen]

I guess Martha could have take Hatch and Alicia. I wonder if she would have. Given how things panned out… that could have been messy.

 

[RichardL]

Oh she definitely would’ve taken Sacramone if she’d done the Rudi at Trials. That was more valuable than Hatch. The more I think about it, it’s a toss-up who you’d take between Hatch and Bhardwaj with Sacramone going, but Sacramone made the bed for them by not making it to Trials.

These vaults later in the year won her the World Cup final. The whole “Marta is taking two vaulters!” narrative was always the narrative for Karolyi, and she wanted one of them to be Sacramone.

 

[Concorde]

Oh she definitely would’ve taken Sacramone if she’d done the Rudi at Trials. That was more valuable than Hatch. The more I think about it, it’s a toss-up who you’d take between Hatch and Bhardwaj with Sacramone going, but Sacramone made the bed for them by not making it to Trials.

I don’t think it’s that open and shut of a case for Sacramone. Despite performing the layout Rudi vault at 2004 Nationals, Sacramone was outscored by Hatch, and had the same score as Tricase and Bhardwaj on the first day of competition, which is significant when you consider that the double twisting Yurchenko vault only had a 9.8 SV. When you look at vault standings over both days of competition, Sacramone actually dropped to third, even after Hatch’s withdrawal from Day 2 of Nationals.

While Sacramone had a start value advantage when it came to vault finals, Marta would have prioritized the highest scoring single vault, which would give Hatch the edge. Hatch’s vaults were also much more dynamic and generally had cleaner landings. When you factor in her mistakes over the season on both beam and floor, it’s clear why another specialist like Bhardwaj could get the nod over Sacramone, even if Alicia had made it to Olympic Trials and the selection camp.

 

[Denn]

A few speculated at the time, but I don’t remember that either being the main theory or there being any evidence of Marta Karolyi favoring Sacramone.

And Hatch and Bhardwaj were always considered major contenders.

 

[RichardL]

If I remember correctly, Bhardwaj was the big surprise. Before Nationals, if you asked me whether Bhardwaj or Sacramone would make the Olympic team (if one of them was definitely going to), I would’ve for sure picked Sacramone. I think Yim getting injured messed up the plans in general, but being the first Olympics (of only two) with 6-5-3 really seemed to do a number on Marta’s calculations. The open-ended Code completely changed the approach.

 

[RichardL]

I mean just look at Marta in this video! There was a lovefest brewing.

 

[ArnoldRimmer]

Wasn’t there a mechanism for her to have petitioned to camp if she’d withdrawn from Nationals too, even if she’d done so during the competition?

 

[Passion]

Wasn’t there a mechanism for her to have petitioned to camp if she’d withdrawn from Nationals too, even if she’d done so during the competition?

Yes. That’s exactly what Marta told Annia Hatch and Sam Sheehan to do. All she had to do to petition to Trials was not compete four events both days. Once you had an 8-event score you placed where you placed and that was the end of it.

I don’t know where this rumor that Marta hardcore wanted Sacramone was. The rumors on GGMB at the time were that Marta was done with Sacramone after she bombed beam and floor on day 1 and wasn’t interested in her Rudi anymore. If she wanted Alicia at Trials so badly she could have just told her to pull out of Nationals and sent her straight there. It’s literally what she did with Hatch.

 

[MaryClare]

It’s nuts looking back, just how valuable a DTY was to Marta but could afford to leave 2 bars world champions at home.

I wonder if USAG were against the open ended code because they believed the US would be disadvantaged by it (I can’t see how they could think that) or was it more that they were against the abolition of the 10, because they feared what it would do for the sport’s marketability?

 

[Big_rock_show]

Can you imagine if the open-ended code would have been shot down and Biles would have had to compete under the perfect 10? Yikes.

ETA: IIRC, Sacramone’s consistency was the big question mark in 2004. She had the skill level and talent, but Marta couldn’t afford a potential fall in TF.