Chellsie Memmel

Chellsie Memmel
Chellsie Memmel performs on the balance beam at the 2008 U.S. National Championships in Boston
Personal information
Full name	Chellsie Marie Memmel
Country represented	United States
Discipline	Women's artistic gymnastics
Level	Senior International Elite
Gym	M-n-M Gymnastics
Head coach(es)	Andy Memmel
Medal record Gymnastics Summer Olympics 2008 Beijing Team competition World Championships 2006 Aarhus Team competition 2005 Melbourne All-around 2005 Melbourne Uneven bars 2005 Melbourne Balance beam 2003 Anaheim Team competition 2003 Anaheim Uneven bars

Chellsie Marie Memmel (born June 23, 1988 in West Allis, Wisconsin) is an American gymnast. She is the 2005 World All-Around Champion, making her the third American woman, after Kim Zmeskal and Shannon Miller, to become World Champion in the All-Around. She is also a World Champion on the uneven bars (2003) and as part of the U.S. team (2003). She is a member of the United States' 2008 Olympic women's gymnastics team.

With a total of seven World and Olympic medals, Memmel is tied with Dominique Dawes and Shawn Johnson as the fourth most decorated U.S. female gymnast in history behind Shannon Miller (16), Nastia Liukin (14), and Alicia Sacramone (8).

Technique and skills

Eponymous skills

Memmel has two skills named after her: a double turn with leg fully extended in a "Y" on floor and a piked barani on beam.

Memmel is also the third woman in the world to complete a Dos Santos, an Arabian double front in the piked position.

Signature Skills

As of June 2008, Memmel often competed the following skills on the following apparatuses.

Uneven Bars: Hindorff to Pak transition, stalder Shaposhnikova, Tkachev, Luo (jam to handstand) to a double front dismount.

Floor Exercise: double Arabian in the piked position (called a "Dos Santos" after Brazilian gymnast Daiane Dos Santos); double layout; two and a half twist to front layout; double twist; double pike; Memmel turn. Memmel has commented that she would like to upgrade the double twist to a tucked double Arabian.

Balance Beam: piked Barani, standing Arabian, Illusion turn, double pike dismount.

Coaching history

Both of Memmel's parents are former gymnasts and coaches, and they co-own M and M Gymnastics. When Memmel began the sport she was coached by her parents, but as she became older they chose to send her to Jim Chudy of Salto Gymnastics. After the 2004 Olympics, Memmel asked her father, Andy, if he would coach her again. She is now coached by Andy Memmel and Laurie Glazer at M and M Gymnastics.

Career

Early career (before 2003)

Chellsie Memmel began gymnastics as soon as she could walk. Both of her parents were gymnastics coaches and they encouraged her to play around in the gym and taught her basic gymnastics. When she was 8 years old they realized she would be better off working with a coach who had more expertise so they had her work with Jim Chudy of Salto Gymnastics.

She began competing as an elite in 2000.

2003 season

Memmel began competing as a Senior International Elite gymnast in 2003. She placed third at the National Podium Meet and American Classic. She was invited to compete at the Pacific Challenge, a tri-meet with Canada and Australia. At that competition, she won the All-Around.

At 2003 U.S. Nationals, Memmel was coming off of a hamstring injury which had limited her training time. She made mistakes during her floor routine and placed tenth in the all around. At the Worlds Selection Camp several weeks later, Memmel was selected to the Pan-American Games team, but not for the World Championships.

Memmel won the all-around and the uneven bars at the Pan-American Games. She won a total of five medals overall. During this time, the gymnasts who had been chosen for the World Championships team were dealing with injuries and illnesses( Ania Hatch hurt her knee, Amanda Postell had a severe case of the flu and Courtney Kupets severly hurt her Achilles. At the time, Memmel was the third alternate to the World Championships, after Samantha Sheehan(although not userd) and Terin Humphrey. Marta Karolyi, the National Team Coordinator, selected Memmel to compete at the World Championships. Memmel flew from the Pan American Games directly to the World Championships.

Memmel led the American team in the team preliminaries, finishing second in the world as an individual and qualifying first among all Americans to the all-around competition. In the team finals, Memmel was the only American selected to compete in every event. The U.S. team won its first team gold medal at the World Championships. They won this medal without fielding a full team, competing with only five gymnasts in the team finals instead of six.

On the day of team finals, Memmel earned the highest all-around score in the world and was now a favorite for All-Around gold. She became an individual World Champion on the uneven bars, tying with teammate Hollie Vise.

2004 season

In 2004, Memmel competed at the American Cup and placed third place behind Carly Patterson and Courtney McCool. At this time, she was considered a lock for the Olympic Team, along with Carly Patterson. During a training camp in April, Memmel broke the metatarsal in her foot while training a piked barani on beam. Memmel was unable to compete at Nationals or at the Olympic Trials.

She petitioned for a chance to compete at the Olympics Selection camp, but she was not able to compete there to the best of her abilities. The head of the Olympic selection committee, Marta Karolyi, told Memmel not to train floor exercise or vault, but rather to focus on bars and balance beam, her stronger events. Memmel did as she was told. At the end of the selection, Memmel was named as one of the alternates to the U.S. Olympic team.

After the Games, Memmel won the uneven bars at the 2004 World Cup Final.

2005 season

Memmel began the 2005 season at the American Cup, which did not have an All-Around competition that year. She won the uneven bars competition and placed third on beam.

She placed fourth in the All-Around at the U.S. Classic. She won the silver medal in the All-Around at the U.S. Championships behind Nastia Liukin. Memmel was named to the team for the Pan-American Games, where she won the All-Around title and the individual gold medals on beam and uneven bars.

Memmel was named to the 2005 World Championship team, along with teammates Nastia Liukin, Alicia Sacramone, and Jana Bieger. At Worlds, Memmel won the all-around title by 0.001 over Liukin.

Memmel's win made her the third American woman, and the first since 1994, to win the All-Around at the World Championships. At the 2005 World Championships, Memmel also won the silver medals on balance beam and uneven bars.

After her success at the 2005 Worlds, Memmel decided to go pro, thereby giving up her NCAA eligibility.

2006 season

Memmel began 2006 by competing at the Pacific Alliance Championships, where she tied in the All-Around with Nastia Liukin.

Memmel injured her shoulder while training an overshoot at the Pacific Alliance Championships. She decided to not compete at the U.S. Classic in 2006 to protect her shoulder. Two weeks later, she competed watered down routines at the U.S. Championships, where she placed 4th in the All-Around. She was named to the 2006 World Championships team.

At the 2006 World Championships, Memmel was still dealing with her injured shoulder. The U.S. did well in qualifying. Memmel qualified first for the all around finals and also qualified to the uneven bars and floor event finals as well. Memmel fell on her Hindorf release move on bars in the second rotation. On the balance beam, Memmel was able to steady herself from falling off beam when she landed a front tuck with one foot completely off the beam.

Memmel's fall from the uneven bars reaggravated her shoulder injury from earlier in the year, and Memmel was left with a tear in her shoulder. Memmel later withdrew from the all-around competition and from event finals.

2007 season

Memmel was still recovering from her shoulder injury in August, 2007, when the Nationals were held. She competed on the floor exercise on the first day of the U.S. Championships.

After the success of the 2007 World Team in Stuttgart, Memmel decided to make her all-around comeback at the Good Luck Beijing International Invitational, a test meet for the Olympic Games. The gymnasts competed in the same arena and on the same apparatuses that would be used at the Olympics. Memmel placed fifth in the all-around and third on beam, where she performed new skills including a front aerial to prone mount. Her uneven bars routine did not qualify her for event finals.

Following the Beijing test event, Memmel traveled to the Toyota Cup in Toyota City Japan where she won the gold medal on floor exercise and the silver on balance beam. After her first All-Around competition in a year, Memmel said, "I'm not all the way back yet -- my floor was basically the same, but there are a few more things I want to add.... For the routines that I did, I'd say I was competing at about 80 percent. But in the gym, I'm at 90. My shoulder is good. My ankle is healed."

2008 season

In 2008, Memmel continued to work on perfecting her beam and floor routines while also raising the difficulty on her uneven bars routine. In May, 2008 she competed at an international competition along with other gymnasts who had not competed earlier in 2008 and wanted to prove their Olympic readiness to Márta Károlyi.

In June, Memmel competed in the U.S. National Championships, placing third behind Liukin and Johnson in the all-around. Memmel did well on uneven bars and balance beam, and competed a new, upgraded floor routine which included the Dos Santos skill she had competed in earlier years.

At the U.S. Olympic Trials held two weeks after Nationals, she again performed well on bars and beam, and received a standing ovation for her floor exercise routine on the final night of competition. Memmel was named to the selection camp where the U.S. Olympic Team would be chosen.

Memmel was named to the 2008 Olympic Team at the selection camp in New Waverly, Texas. Despite giving herself whiplash and having to stop in the middle of her first routine, the floor exercise, Memmel competed on beam later that day. On the final day of the selection camp, Memmel nailed a bars routine and landed a double twisting yurchenko for the first time in competition since 2006.

On August 3rd, 2008, it was announced by USA gymnastics that Memmel had injured her ankle during training in Beijing. It was announced that the injury was not major, and she is still expected to compete, though she will be limited to one event: uneven bars. Later on, however, it was revealed that the injury was not in fact a sprain, but a broken bone, covered up as a sprain. Even with this injury, Memmel competed on the uneven bars in the team qualification round but fell. At the team finals, she also performed on the uneven bars, that time a clean routine.

Personal life

Memmel was rumored to be dating San Francisco Giants Third Baseman Ryan Rohlinger however Rohlinger stated in San Francisco Chronicle that "It isn't true," Rohlinger said, "I don't even know her." Not that he is opposed to the rumor becoming true. "I think it would be fun to meet her because she's an Olympic medalist and she's from my home state," said Rohlinger.

Memmel has just purchased her first home in West Allis, Wisconsin, a three bedroom ranch.

Endorsements

Chellsie Memmel appeared in a Johnson & Johnson commercial.

She participated in a Vogue photoshoot with Annie Leibovitz along with other World medalists and Olympians Shawn Johnson, Nastia Liukin, and Alicia Sacramone.

External links

• Official website
• Chellsie Memmel at the International Gymnastics Federation
• Chellsie Memmel at USA Gymnastics
• 595 at Team USA (archived)
• Chellsie Memmel at About.com
• M and M Gymnastics