Alicia Sacramone gets to the naked truth

The Olympic medalist dishes on why she's comfortable in her own skin

October 10, 2012|By Adam Lukach | RedEye

Alicia Sacramone has experienced pretty much everything in world-class gymnastics—good and bad. She was left off the 2012 U.S. Olympic team, cutting short her comeback from a torn Achilles tendon. But before that, she was captain of the American team that took silver at the Beijing Games in 2008.

Now retired from competition, the 24-year-old is part of the Kellogg's Tour of Gymnastics Champions, which hits the United Center on Sunday. But before that, she swung by the AT&T Michigan Avenue store Tuesday to meet and greet fans before Sunday's event. RedEye caught up with Sacramone on Tuesday to talk about posing nude, staying connected to gymnastics and unruly spectators.

You posed nude for ESPN The Magazine's Body Issue. Once it hit the stands, how did you feel about it?

Honestly I thought the photo came out better than I expected in my mind. I was like, "Oh Lord, I hope I don't look that bad." But I thought it came out beautiful, and I think part of the reason was that I was like, "I'm not going to look like this forever." I work really hard for my body, and it's something that I'm proud of, and it was very graceful and [a] very tastefully done photo, so I was very pleased with it.

Did you meet anyone else on the set or was it just you?