Chellsie Memmel

Chellsie Memmel
— Gymnast —
Memmel performing on the balance beam at the 2008 USA Gymnastics National Championships in Boston
Personal information
Full name	Chellsie Marie Memmel
Country represented	United States
Born	June 23, 1988 West Allis, Wisconsin
Height	5 ft 2.5 in (159 cm)[1]
Weight	119 lb (54 kg)[1]
Discipline	Women's artistic gymnastics
Level	Senior International Elite
Gym	M&M Gymnastics
Head coach(es)	Andy Memmel
Retired	November 14, 2012[2]
Medal record Gymnastics Representing  United States Olympic Games 2008 Beijing Team World Championships 2003 Anaheim Team 2003 Anaheim Uneven Bars 2005 Melbourne All-Around 2005 Melbourne Uneven Bars 2005 Melbourne Balance Beam 2006 Aarhus Team World Cup Final 2004 Birmingham Uneven Bars Pan American Games 2003 Santo Domingo Team 2003 Santo Domingo All-Around 2003 Santo Domingo Uneven Bars 2003 Santo Domingo Balance Beam Pacific Rim Championships 2006 Honolulu Team 2006 Honolulu All-Around 2006 Honolulu Balance Beam 2006 Honolulu Floor Exercise
Spouse(s)	Kory Maier

Chellsie Marie Memmel (born June 23, 1988) is a retired American artistic gymnast. She is the 2005 world all-around champion (the third American woman, after Kim Zmeskal and Shannon Miller, to win that title) and the 2003 world champion on the uneven bars. She was a member of the United States women's gymnastics team at the 2008 Olympics.^[3]

With a total of seven World Championship and Olympic medals, Memmel is tied with Shawn Johnson as the seventh most decorated U.S. female gymnast, behind Simone Biles (19), Shannon Miller (16), Nastia Liukin (14), Alicia Sacramone (11), Aly Raisman (10) and Dominique Dawes (8).^[4][5]

Career

Early career

Chellsie Marie Memmel was born in West Allis, Wisconsin, to Andy and Jeanelle Memmel. Both of her parents were gymnastics coaches, and they encouraged her to play around in the gym and taught her basic skills. When she was eight years old, she started training with Jim Chudy at Salto Gymnastics.

She began competing at the junior elite level in 2000.

2003

Chellsie became a senior international elite gymnast in 2003. She placed third at the National Podium Meet and the American Classic, and was invited to compete at the Pacific Challenge, a tri-meet with Canada and Australia. At that competition, she won the all-around.

At the 2003 U.S. National Championships, Chellsie was coming off of a hamstring injury that had limited her training time. She made mistakes during her floor exercise routine and placed tenth in the all-around. At a national team selection camp several weeks later, she was chosen to compete at the Pan American Games, but not at the World Championships.

She won four medals at the Pan American Games, including gold in the all-around and on the uneven bars.^[6] During this time, the gymnasts who had been chosen for the World Championships team were dealing with injuries and illnesses: Annia Hatch tore her ACL, Ashley Postell had the flu, and Courtney Kupets tore her Achilles tendon. Chellsie was an alternate to the World Championships, along with Samantha Sheehan and Terin Humphrey, and National Team Coordinator Márta Károlyi chose her and Humphrey to step in and compete. Chellsie flew from the Pan American Games in Santo Domingo directly to the World Championships in Anaheim, California.

Chellsie led the American team in the preliminary round at Worlds, qualifying to the all-around final in second place, and first among her teammates. In the team finals, she was the only American to compete on every event, and had the highest all-around score. The U.S. finished on top, winning the country's first team gold medal at the World Championships,^[7] despite competing with only five gymnasts instead of six.

In the event finals, she became a world champion on the uneven bars, tying with teammate Hollie Vise.

2004

In 2004, Chellsie competed at the American Cup and placed third, behind U.S. teammates Carly Patterson and Courtney McCool. During a national team training camp in April, she broke a metatarsal bone in her foot while training a piked Barani on balance beam, and she was unable to compete at the National Championships or the Olympic Trials.

She petitioned for a chance to compete at the Olympic team selection camp, but was not able to perform to the best of her abilities. She was named as an alternate to the U.S. team for the 2004 Olympics.

Later in the year, Chellsie won the uneven bars title at the 2004 World Cup Final.

2005

Chellsie began the 2005 season at the American Cup, which did not have an all-around competition that year. She won the uneven bars title and placed third on beam.

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

Chellsie was named to the 2005 World Championships team, along with Liukin, Alicia Sacramone, and Jana Bieger. At Worlds, she won the all-around title by 0.001 over Liukin.^[8] This made her the third American woman, and the first since 1994, to win the all-around at the World Championships. She also won silver medals on balance beam and uneven bars.

After her success at the 2005 Worlds, Chellsie decided to turn professional, thereby giving up her NCAA eligibility.

2006

Chellsie began 2006 at the Pacific Alliance Championships, where she tied with Liukin in the all-around. She injured her shoulder while training an overshoot at the competition, and decided not to attend the U.S. Classic. Two weeks later, she competed watered-down routines at the National Championships, where she placed fourth in the all-around.

At the World Championships, Chellsie qualified first for the all-around finals and also made the uneven bars and floor event finals. In the team final, she fell on her Hindorff release move on bars, re-aggravating her shoulder injury, and faltered on the balance beam when she landed a front tuck with one foot completely off the beam. She withdrew from the all-around and event finals because of her injury.

2007

Chellsie was still recovering from her shoulder injury in August 2007, when the National Championships were held. She competed only on floor exercise on the first day of the competition, and did not compete at the 2007 World Championships.

She made her all-around comeback at the Good Luck Beijing International Invitational, a test meet for the 2008 Olympic Games in which the gymnasts competed in the same arena and on the same equipment that would be used at the Olympics. Chellsie placed fifth in the all-around and third on beam, where she performed new skills, including a front aerial to prone mount. She did not qualify to the uneven bars final.

After the Beijing test event, Chellsie competed at the Toyota Cup in Toyota, Japan, where she won the gold medal on floor exercise and the silver on balance beam.

2008

In June 2008, Chellsie placed third in the all-around at the National Championships, behind Liukin and Shawn Johnson. She competed a new, upgraded floor routine that included the Dos Santos skill she had competed in earlier years.

At the U.S. Olympic Trials, held two weeks after Nationals, she performed well on bars and beam, received a standing ovation for her floor routine on the second night of competition,^[9] and was named to the Olympic team selection camp at the Karolyi Ranch in New Waverly, Texas. At the camp, despite giving herself whiplash and having to stop in the middle of her floor routine, she competed on beam later the same day. On the final day of the selection camp, she landed a double-twisting Yurchenko vault for the first time in competition since 2006. She was named to the Olympic team along with Johnson, Liukin, Samantha Peszek, Sacramone, and Bridget Sloan.

On August 3, 2008, USA Gymnastics announced that Chellsie had suffered a minor ankle injury during training in Beijing^[10] and would compete only on the uneven bars.^[11] She fell in the preliminary round but performed a clean routine in the team finals.^[12] Later, it was revealed that she had competed on a broken ankle, a more serious injury than previously disclosed.

2011

On July 23, 2011, Chellsie returned to competition at the U.S. Classic in Chicago, where she won the silver medal in the all-around with a total score of 56.95.^[13] She placed fourth on floor (13.65) and fifth on balance beam (14.7), and tied with Bridgette Caquatto for fifth on vault (14.2).^[14]

At the National Championships in Saint Paul, Minnesota, in August, Chellsie earned the silver medal on balance beam with a two-night score of 30.^[15] She finished night one of the competition in third place all-around (57.35), with a first-place finish on beam (15.25).^[16] On night two, she slipped to an eighth-place finish in the all-around (109.85)^[17] after she dislocated her shoulder during her bars routine and did not finish the routine.^[18]

She took part in two Worlds selection camps at the Karolyi Ranch, but, as in 2003, she was named to the Pan American Games team instead of the World Championships team.^[19] She subsequently withdrew from the Pan American Games team to continue rehabbing her injured shoulder.^[20] Soon after her return from the second selection camp, she underwent surgery to repair a torn biceps tendon near her right shoulder.^[21][22]

2012

Chellsie underwent a second surgery on her shoulder in February and resumed training shortly thereafter to try to make the 2012 Olympics team. She competed only on balance beam at the U.S. Classic, and fell twice, scoring an 11.95. The selection committee declined her petition to compete at the National Championships.^[23]

On November 14, 2012, Chellsie announced her retirement from gymnastics.^[24]

Personal life

Memmel married Kory Maier, a mechanical engineer, in August 2013. On August 11, 2014, Memmel announced on her Twitter account that they were expecting their first child. On February 5, 2015, she gave birth to a boy, Dashel Dean Maier.^[25]

Routines and skills

Eponymous skills

Apparatus	Name	Description	Difficulty	Notes
Floor Exercise	Memmel Turn	Double turn with leg fully extended in a "Y"	D	Also referred to as a double Y turn

Competitive routines

Memmel performed the following skills in competition (difficulty values from the 2005–08 Code of Points)

Vault

Double-twisting Yurchenko (2005–06; 5.8 difficulty); 1.5-twisting Yurchenko (2003, 2007–09; 5.5 difficulty); full-twisting Yurchenko (2011; 5.0 difficulty)

Uneven Bars

Jump to mount on high bar; kip, cast to handstand (KCH) (B) + clear hip circle to Tkatchev (Hindorff) (E) + Pak salto (D); KCH (B) + stalder Shaposhnikova (Chow) (D) + overshoot to handstand (D) + stalder shoot up to high bar (Ray) (C); KCH (B) + toe-on circle (C) + giant 1/1 (C) + Tkatchev (D); KCH (B) + giant 1/2 (B) + jam to handstand (Luo) (E) + tucked double front dismount (D). 7.0 difficulty.

Balance Beam

Stoop to rear support mount (A); split jump (A) + wolf jump (A); piked Barani (front layout 1/2, takeoff from two feet) (Memmel) (E); switch split leap (C) + back tuck (C); standing Arabian (F); illusion turn (D); front tuck (D) + back handspring step-out (B) + layout step-out (C); front aerial walkover (D); free aerial cartwheel (D); round-off (B) + double pike dismount (E). 6.8 difficulty.

Floor Exercise

Round-off + back handspring + piked Arabian double front (Dos Santos I) (F); round-off + back handspring + double layout (F); double turn with leg held in split (Memmel) (C); switch split ring leap (C) + split leap 1/1 (C); round-off + back handspring + back layout 5/2 (D) + front layout (B); straddle jump 3/2 (C); round-off + back handspring + back layout 2/1 (C); round-off + back handspring + double pike (D). 6.3 difficulty.

Competitive history

Year	Event	Team	AA	VT	UB	BB	FX
2000	American Classic		7
	Puerto Rico Cup		1st		2nd	1st	1st
	USA vs. France	1st	2nd
2002	American Classic (Junior)		10			4	8
	USA/Belgium	1st	1st	3rd	1st	2nd	1st
	International Gymnastics Championships	1st			3rd
	Podium Meet					9	4
	U.S. Classic (Junior)		4		9	3rd	3rd
	USA Gymnastics Championships (Junior)		3rd		5	3rd	2nd
	USA/Mexico Friendship Competition	1st	3rd				2nd
2003	American Classic		3rd		1st	1st
	Pacific Challenge (USA/CAN/AUS)	1st			1st
	National Podium Meet		3rd	5	5		2nd
	USA Gymnastics Championships		10		7	6
	Pan American Games	1st	1st		1st	3rd
	World Championships	1st	8		1st	6
2004	American Cup		3rd
	Pan American Individual Event Championships				1st	1st
	World Cup Final				1st
2005	American Cup				1st	3rd
	USA/SUI	1st		1st	2nd	3rd
	USA/GBR	1st			1st
	Pan American Championships	1st	1st		1st	1st
	U.S. Classic		4	7	3rd	2nd	14
	USA Gymnastics Championships		2nd		2nd	2nd	3rd
	World Championships		1st		2nd	2nd
2006	Pacific Alliance Championships	1st	1st			1st	2nd
	USA Gymnastics Championships		4		5	4	3rd
	World Championships	2nd
2007	U.S. Classic			5
	Good Luck Beijing International Tournament		5			3rd	3rd
	Toyota Cup					2nd	1st
2008	Friendship International Exchange		3rd		1st	5
	USA Gymnastics Championships		3rd		2nd	4	4
	Olympic Trials		3rd		2nd	2nd	2nd
	Olympic Games	2nd
2009	USA Gymnastics Championships					8
2011	U.S. Classic		2nd	5	6	5	4
	USA Gymnastics Championships		8			2nd	6
2012	U.S. Classic					21

References

1. "Chellsie Memmel". Sports Reference LLC. Retrieved 15 July 2014.
2. "Six-time World medalist, 2008 Olympic silver-medalist Memmel retires from competitive gymnastics". USA Gymnastics. 2012-11-14. Retrieved 4 December 2015.
3. "Olympians At Last." NBCOlympics.com. July 19, 2008. Accessed on July 19, 2008.
4. "USA Gymnastics: U.S. Medalists at World Artistic Gymnastics Championships"
5. "USA Gymnastics: U.S. Medalists at Olympic Games- Men & Women Artistic Gymnastics"
6. "Chellsie Memmel Biography". Retrieved 2008-08-13
7. "U.S. Olympic Team for gymnastics boasts 29 world medals, one Olympic medal". 2008. Retrieved 2008-08-13
8. "Women's Individual All-Around Final" (PDF). November 25, 2005.
9. Barron, David. "Memmel Closing in on Redemption." The Houston Chronicle. June 23, 2008. Retrieved on July 19, 2008.
10. :: USA Gymnastics :: Home Page ::
11. Injured Chellsie to compete on uneven bars at Olympics | Sports | Chron.com - Houston Chronicle
12. http://www.nbcolympics.com/gymnastics/news/newsid=207216.html#u+s+falls+short+china+wins+gold
13. Presenters Amanda Borden and Tim Daggett (2011-07-23). 2011 CoverGirl Classic. Universal Sports.
14. "2011 Cover Girl Classic Meet Results" (PDF) (Press release). USA Gymnastics. 23 July 2011. Retrieved 25 July 2011.
15. "2011 Visa Championships - Women Day 2 Beam Rankings" (PDF). Factsheet. USA Gymnastics. 20 August 2011. Retrieved 23 August 2011.
16. "Women – Senior Day One Results". Factsheet. USA Gymnastics. 17 August 2011. Retrieved 22 August 2011.
17. "Women – Senior All-Around Finals". Factsheet. USA Gymnastics. 20 August 2011. Retrieved 22 August 2011.
18. David Michaels (director) (20 August 2011). 2001 VISA Championships. NBC.
19. Amanda Turner (21 September 2011). "Wieber Leads US Women's Team to Tokyo". InternationalGymnast.com. Retrieved 23 September 2011.
20. "McLaughlin added to U.S. Women’s Gymnastics Team for 2011 Pan Am Games," press release, USA Gymnastics, September 23, 2011, http://usa-gymnastics.org/pages/post.html?PostID=8635&prog=, accessed 24 September 2011.
21. "Topic Galleries". Chicago Tribune.
22. http://www.gymnastike.org/article/7608-Chellsie-Memmel-Underwent-Shoulder-Surgery-is-recovering-nicely
23. Dwight Normile, "Memmel Giving It One Last Shot," article, internationalgymnast.com, 16 February 2012, http://www.intlgymnast.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=3126:memmel-giving-it-one-last-shot&catid=2:news&Itemid=166, accessed 6 March 2012
24. "Six-time World medalist, 2008 Olympic silver-medalist Memmel retires from competitive gymnastics". USA Gymnastics. 2012-11-14. Retrieved 4 December 2015.
25. https://instagram.com/p/yz7LRDxV8B/?modal=true

External links

• Chellsie Memmel at M&M Gymnastics
• Chellsie Memmel at the International Federation of Gymnastics
• Chellsie Memmel at USA Gymnastics
• Chellsie Memmel at the United States Olympic Committee