Post-Olympic success has been sweet for Alicia Sacramone
By John Crumlish
ALTHOUGH Alicia Sacramone’s competitive career ended with what she deems a “
bittersweet” experience at the Beijing Olympics, she has tasted cool success in her post-Olympic
professional pursuits. The 21-year-old Sacramone plays a Dark Ages knight in Gatorade’s
“Quest for G,” a recent series of comedic television commercials in which she co-stars with
basketball player Kevin Garnett, baseball player Derek Jeter, sprinter Usain Bolt and others.
She also hosted TV segments during the National Basketball Association All-Star weekend
in Phoenix in February, where her interview subjects ranged from players to American Idol
winner Jordin Sparks. • The candor and confidence that helped make Sacramone a gymnastics personality continue to serve her well. Sacramone’s tally of seven world championship medals included a floor exercise gold in 2005 and a team gold in ’07.
Uncharacteristic falls on beam and floor in the Beijing team final hurt her, but the U.S.
team won silver, and Sacramone quickly shifted her focus to new opportunities outside of
competition. IG recently caught up with Sacramone in Los Angeles…
What exactly is G all about?
G is Gatorade’s new launch of their products,
and it’s basically that everyone wants to know
what G is about for an athlete. It’s about all the
hard work and motivation that pays off once
you get rewarded for your hard work. It’s all different things: how athletes feel about competitions, preparing, training, and the input and the
output that you get.
What is G about for you, personally?
For me, G was always that all the hard work I
put in would pay off in the end, and now,
working with Gatorade was one of my payoffs.
I did so much in gymnastics, so to come out of
it and have Gatorade represent me as one of
their athletes is a great thing.
THOMAS SCHREYER
How did you get involved in “The
Quest for G” commercials?
They called me up one day, randomly. I
was so excited and I said, “I’d love to!”
We went over to Spain for “The Quest
for G” commercials, which were so
much fun. I went there for four days,
and then came home, and the rest of
the shoot was in Boston. I had a blast
with that. They told me a bit about it,
and that it was going to be based on the
movie “Monty Python and the Holy
Grail.” I had seen the movie, so I had
an idea of what was going to go on. But
I didn’t know it was going to be that
crazy! They were all great. It was really
nice to bring together all different types
of athletes. We meshed really well and
had a lot of fun on the set. I’m basically
Kevin Garnett’s right-hand man [laughs].
When you were shooting the spots,
how did you keep a straight face?
It was so hard. We had so many out-takes in which we’d just be cracking up.
Alicia Sacramone, with eyes closed,
couldn’t hide her disappointment
during the Olympic medal ceremony
with teammates (from left) Shawn
Johnson, Nastia Liukin, Chellsie
Memmel, Samantha Peszek and
Bridget Sloan.
