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When Chellsie Memmel started try-
ing some of her old gymnastics skills,
her father – and former coach – pointed
out that the 2021 world championships
were for individual events. She wouldn’t
need to train in all four events, he said,
picking and choosing the ones she
wanted to do.
At the time, Memmel laughed. She’s
the 2005 world champion and part of
the U.S. team that won the silver medal
at the Beijing Olympics. She is also now
31, with two children, and hasn’t done
elite-level gymnastics in eight years.
“I didn’t think about it at all,” she told
USA TODAY Sports. “It was just, ‘Oh
hey, this is fun.’ ”
Well ...
Memmel is making no promises or
commitments. But her skills have come
back with such ease that she’s curious
to see what more she can do – and
where it could take her.
“I’m going to keep playing and start
doing more and see what happens,” she
said. “I’ve been feeling good and having
just a lot of fun.”
Memmel attempted a comeback be-
fore the London Olympics but wasn’t
granted a petition into the national
championships after falling on balance
beam in a qualifier. Memmel and her fa-
ther, Andy, protested, saying they’d
been led to believe she only needed to
show readiness on one event and would
have competed all four otherwise.
But USA Gymnastics refused to re-
consider, and Memmel retired in No-
vember 2012.
She coaches at the Milwaukee-area
gym owned by her parents and is an in-
ternational-level judge. She and hus-
band Kory have two children, son Dash-
el, 5, and daughter, Audrielle, 2.
In late 2018, Memmel began posting a
weekly “Chellsie Challenge,” condition-
ing exercises that she herself was doing
at the gym to get in better shape. They
were a huge hit, as much for the motiva-
tion they gave people to get moving as
for some of the jaw-dropping things she
tried, like pistol squats on a high bar.
She also began posting videos of her
doing “adult gymnastics.”
“It was just showing you don’t have to
stop doing something you love if you
aren’t going to be super competitive or if
you just want to do it for the pure joy of
doing it. That’s how I started again,”
Memmel said. “If I can inspire – espe-
cially moms. We do tend to compromise
a lot. I know I have been happier, and I
feel like I’m a better mom when I do stuff
for me.”
The physical demands of gymnasticsare relentless. While there are a few out-
liers – Oksana Chusovitina is still com-
peting in her 40s – most elite athletes
are done by their early to mid-20s. So as
Memmel started playing around with
her old skills, she was surprised not only
at how quickly they came back but also
how good her body felt.
She started doing more, and the more
fans saw, the more they wanted. People
began giving her suggestions and urg-
ing her to try skills on the balance beam
that she was doing on the floor.
“With social media, people are seeing
what you’re doing and they’re like, ‘Tryit on the beam! Try it on the beam!’ You
read it enough, it’s like, ‘I guess I might
as well try it,’ ” she said.
By last summer what once was a
family joke had gained legitimacy. What
she was showing on floor and balance
beam would give her a shot at a world
team.
Last Monday, Memmel posted a
video of herself doing her beam dis-
mount for the first time in eight years –
it was onto a mat over a pit, but she
still landed it almost perfectly – and a
message saying, “the seed has been
planted.”
“Maybe start taking it to doing some
of the flips and stuff three days a week
and doing it a little bit more structured,
like with the numbers,” said Memmel,
who said she’s only been doing gymnas-
tics for an hour or two, twice a week.
“Doing the stuff that I would like to pos-
sibly put in a routine, doing that more
and seeing how that feels.”
Though Memmel stressed repeatedly
she’s not making a commitment to any-
thing, she did say it would be fun to have
another skill named after her – which
would require her to do it at a world
championships or the Olympics. She’s
been playing with a piked Arabian – a
backward entry into a half twist that
continues into a somersault in a piked
position – for beam but has done it only
on a floor-level beam so far.
First, though, she needs to see how
her body responds to taking things up a
notch. But she’s game to try, and so is
her dad.
“He’s just always like, ‘Why not?’ I
think he thinks it would be fun,” Chellsie
Memmel said. “The other day after we
were talking about it, he’s like, ‘I think
these would be some good passes for
you to try.’ I was like, ‘Whoa, whoa,
whoa. Let’s back it up there!’ Because I
haven’t really tumbled much.”
Regardless of what happens in the
coming months, Memmel said she’s
been blown away by all of the encour-
agement and support.
“I’m happy I’ve been able to inspire
people to continue doing gymnastics,”
she said. “Or just feel like, ‘OK, I don’t
have to stop, because I love doing it.’ ”
And that is no joke.Memmel likes where having fun leads
Nancy Armour
Columnist
USA TODAY2005 world champion Chellsie Memmel competes on the balance beam during
the 2009 Visa Championships in Dallas. STEW MILNE/USA TODAY SPORTS