Photo: Getty

It’s a summer Olympics year and we couldn’t be more excited. Gymnastics are by far the most interesting of all the sports (at least for us)–we love watching a bunch of powerhouse women make their bodies do superhuman things. We got to chat with one such wonder woman, 2008 Beijing Olympian–and hopefully a member of the 2012 Olympic team–gymnast Alicia Sacramone.

We had some very serious questions for Sacramone, which she was gracious enough to answer. Click through to find out why so many gymnasts wear hair scrunchies, the prevailing theory about eye makeup and leotards, why you won’t see crazy nail art on any Olympic gymnasts, and why Sacramone would love to become a designer.

Fashionista: What is your typical day like when you’re training?
Alicia Sacramone: Monday through Friday I’m in the gymnastics gym from 8:30 until around 11 or 11:30, and then two days a week I lift in the afternoons, and I throw in some cardio and rehab for my foot. [Ed. note: Alicia is recovering from an Achilles injury.] On the weekends occasionally, in all my spare time, I do some pilates as well.

How do you eat to support all that work? Do you have a nutritionist?
When I’m training really heavily and during competition season I try to shy away from dairy and gluten. It just really makes a difference in how I train, how I recover and how I rest. During my off time I’ll splurge every now and then and have some frozen yogurt or chocolate.

Do you have a certain go-to beauty look for competition? Everyone usually looks like they put some effort into their makeup.
You just kind of match your eye shadow to your leotard because that’s a big deal. You’ve gotta match!

Do you wear lipstick too? I’m trying to remember if I’ve ever seen a red statement lip on a gymnast.
Red lipstick makes me a little bit nervous. But I do try every now and then when I’m feeling really rambunctious.

Talk to me about competition hair. Is it not good to have hair flopping around?
It’s supposed to be very well put together, clean, slicked back—hair spray, gel, bobby pins, clips—we do the works. We have a number of hair elastics in our hair keeping it back and secure. It definitely is a process to make sure it stays up. I personally try not to use too much [hair spray]. I’m usually grabbing dinner after competition with my coaches or my agent and I want to be able to brush it out really quick and still have a real hair style.

Please explain to me why scrunchies are still a thing in gymnastics.