You can't stop a mom on a mission. But if you need proof of that fact, just look at Chellsie Memmel. She's a mother of two and former Olympic gymnast who retired from professional gymnastics back in 2012. But she just came out of retirement to compete in two events at the GK US Classic. She may have been out of the game for nine years, but no one would've known. She absolutely crushed both of her routines.
Chellsie scored 11.800 on the beam and 13.750 on the vault, which are both really respectable scores. But what's more impressive is that she was able to have such an incredible comeback in a sport that we just don't think of moms competing in! Perhaps we will have to rethink our biases. Clearly, moms can hang.
Of course, it wasn't without an immense amount of hard work and dedication to prepare to compete after almost a decade away from the sport.
While a lot of people haven't gotten out of their sweatpants since the start of the health crisis, Chellsie got back in her leotard. She used what was happening in the world as an excuse to hit the gym. That wasn't too tough, since her parents own a gymnastics gym in Wisconsin, and her sport was clearly calling to her.
Last year, she talked to Good Morning America about what training once again was like. "I was in the gym more than I ever have been," she said. "And I just started practicing more and being in the gym even more."
Moms know that getting back into shape after having kids isn't always easy. That's especially true when you're trying to get back into really excellent shape in order to compete on a world stage. But Chellsie, who retired after suffering multiple injuries, was ready. She started documenting her training on social media by doing what she called "Chellsie Challenges," which were conditioning workouts. They quickly went viral on social media.
People were clearly really investing in watching this mom pursue her passion. That's likely true for a few reasons. For starters, for so many women, as soon as we become parents, it can be really tough to focus on our own dreams. But secondly, it's just inspiring to watch someone have the drive and the focus to go against the grain completely and do something so unexpected.
We really do think of gymnastics as a young woman's sport. Aly Raisman was the oldest woman on the US team in 2016 at just 22. If Chellsie were to compete with Team USA in Tokyo, she would be one of only a few women over the age of 30 in Olympics gymnastics history.
It seems like Chellsie still has a lot that she wants to accomplish in her sport. But she's also in it purely for the joy of it all. "For me, I just wanted to put that message out to anybody who thought they missed their chance at something or didn't get a chance to try it or wanted to go back to their sport even just for fun," she said Saturday. "No one should be stopping you. Just don't hold yourself back."
And while she's clearly not finished yet, Chellsie is definitely proud of herself for her recent performance. "I'm happy," she said. "I put myself out there and I couldn't have asked for a better day."
We seriously can't wait to continue watching Chellsie compete. Not only is she incredibly talented, she's breaking down barriers for other moms who don't want to retire after having kids. She's showing the world that motherhood doesn't mean that parts of your life that you genuinely love have to die. It's such a powerful message, and no matter what she does next in terms of gymnastics, she's already made a huge impact on women everywhere.
