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	(1988-06-23) 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

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

References

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Chellsie Memmel.

• 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

World Champions in Artistic Gymnastics – Women's Team Competition
1934:  Czechoslovakia 1938:  Czechoslovakia 1950:  Sweden 1954:  Soviet Union 1958:  Soviet Union 1962:  Soviet Union 1966:  Czechoslovakia 1970:  Soviet Union 1974:  Soviet Union 1978:  Soviet Union 1979:  Romania 1981:  Soviet Union 1983:  Soviet Union 1985:  Soviet Union 1987:  Romania 1989:  Soviet Union 1991:  Soviet Union 1994:  Romania 1995:  Romania 1997:  Romania 1999:  Romania 2001:  Romania 2003:  United States 2006:  China 2007:  United States 2010:  Russia 2011:  United States 2014:  United States 2015:  United States
2003:  United States (USA), Terin Humphrey, Courtney Kupets, Chellsie Memmel, Carly Patterson, Tasha Schwikert, Hollie Vise

2008 USA Olympic Gymnastics Team (Bronze Medal – Men's Team, Silver Medal – Women's Team)
Men's artistic gymnastics athletes	Alexander Artemev Raj Bhavsar Joseph Hagerty Jonathan Horton Justin Spring Kevin Tan
Women's artistic gymnastics athletes	Shawn Johnson Nastia Liukin Chellsie Memmel Samantha Peszek Alicia Sacramone Bridget Sloan
Rhythmic gymnastics athletes	DNQ
Trampoline athletes	Chris Estrada Erin Blanchard
Coaches	Liang Chow (Head Women's artistic gymnastics coach) Márta Károlyi (Assistant Head Women's artistic gymnastics coach) Valeri Liukin (Women's artistic gymnastics coach) XueYi (Peter) Zhao (Women's artistic gymnastics coach) Mihai Brestyan (Women's artistic gymnastics coach) Marvin Sharp (Women's artistic gymnastics coach) Andy Memmel (Women's artistic gymnastic coach)

Pan American Champions in Artistic Gymnastics – Women's Team Competition
1997:  Brazil 2001:  United States 2005:  United States 2010:  United States 2014:  United States
2005:  United States (USA), Jana Bieger, Bianca Flohr, Chellsie Memmel, Alicia Sacramone