In the day following the Olympic team finals, Sacramone was largely blamed for the American team's silver medal placement, and was the subject of negative commentary in media reports.[30][29] Sacramone herself took responsibility for the results, noting, "It's kinda hard not to blame myself."[29] However, several members of the gymnastics community, including UGA head coach Suzanne Yoculan, former Olympian John Roethlisberger and International Gymnast editor Paul Ziert, have noted that mathematically and logistically, Sacramone could not have been personally or exclusively responsible for the U.S. team's results.[28][31][32]
Ziert, in his analysis, noted that the Chinese team performed more difficult routines than the American gymnasts, giving then an A-score advantage of between 1.3 and 2.0 points before the competition even began. He also noted that Sacramone's overall scores in the team finals were 1.15 points lower than her total for the qualifying round, and that even with hit routines, the USA team would still have finished with an approximate 1.35 deficit to the Chinese.[31] Yoculan corroborated this analysis, noting on the night of team finals, "In the end, it was not the falls or mistakes of the U.S. team members that cost them the gold. It was the superior level of difficulty that the Chinese team had over the U.S. team. With this new scoring system in place, the team with more difficulty going in has more room for error. The Chinese team had over 2 points more in difficulty than the U.S. team. This advantage is hard to overcome."[28]
Sacramone has also received support from the American team. In one interview, teammate Bridget Sloan stated, "We've all made mistakes. It's just really hard to see her go and leave these Olympics knowing that she thinks it's her fault. It is definitely not and we've all been encouraging her very much."[33]