Chellsie Memmel is a former elite-level gymnast who was part of the team that won the silver medal at the Beijing Olympics in 2008. She was really, really good — in 2005 she even won the world championships. But she retired from the sport and hasn't performed elite-level gymnastics in about eight years. She got married in August 2013, and these days she's a mom to two children, who were born in 2014 and 2017.
But Chellsie could be eyeing a comeback to the sport that all began when she expressed an interest in trying out some of her old skills. Her dad, who was also her coach, casually commented that the 2021 world championships were for individual events — she wouldn't need to compete in every event if she didn't want to.
Chellsie told USA Today, "I didn't think about it at all. It was just, 'Oh hey, this is fun.'"
But now … all of that may be changing. Chellsie has started a YouTube channel where she shares a series called Chellsie's Adult Gymnastics Journey. Each week, she updates her followers about her progress and what she's trying out.
Historically, women who compete at the elite level as gymnasts are usually pretty young. Many male gymnasts don't begin their Olympic-level careers until they are much older than their female counterparts. This is partly because men's bodies mature at a slower rate than women's, but also because, as John Geddert, the coach of the 2012 women's Olympic team, put it, "Without sounding condescending to young women, this is a little girl's sport. With their body changes and the wear-and-tear everybody goes through, once they become women, it just becomes very, very difficult."
Tabitha Yim, the coach of the gymnastics program at the University of Arizona, agrees. She says, "Typically, the women start a lot earlier than the men. It's just a very demanding sport. And the number of hours you dedicate to it are close to 38-48 hours a week. The men don't end up learning those harder skills until they get to college. And so with their types of events, like rings and a lot of things that require that type of strength, it helps them when they mature and they get stronger."
However, Tabitha also welcomed the new rule imposed by the International Federation of Gymnastics that requires a female gymnast to be at least 16 to compete internationally, up two years from the previous minimum age of 14. "A lot of gymnastics is a mental game and I think you noticed that when [Biles] went on beam. I mean, [she was] in second place and all the pressure was on. You have to be able to handle that type of pressure and really comprehend why you're doing it. I think you have to be an adult and so, I say, young women really thrive in this sport."
Right now, Chellsie seems to be mostly focused on finding out what she still loves about the sport, and what her body is willing to do. She also told USA Today that she was surprised by how easily her skills came back. "I'm going to keep playing and start doing more and see what happens. I've been feeling good and having just a lot of fun."
She said that she was motivated to start her video series just to show that you can keep doing something you love simply for the joy of doing it. "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. If I can inspire — especially 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."
Many women typically retire from elite-level gymnastics in their early to mid-20s. But there have been women before Chellsie who have continued to compete successfully well past that age. In 2018, Oksana Chusovitina made waves when she competed in the world gymnastics championships at the age of 43.
The 2018 event was Oksana's 16th world championship. Oksana began her career by competing for the then-Soviet Union and was part of the Unified Team at her first Olympics in 1992. She now competes professionally for Uzbekistan. She planned to compete in the Tokyo Olympic Games in 2020, but as they have been delayed, it's unclear if she'll continue to press forward to next year.
In March of this year, Chellsie shared a video that really changed how she and her family were approaching the idea of her resuming her training. She shared, "Muscle memory is truly remarkable…..it has been 8 years since doing any form of dismount off the beam and yet the first timer I did felt like no time had passed and my body just took over. I am by NO means committing to training yet, but the seed has been planted. Thanks to you all for continually telling me that I should train and reminding me I now have another year. Now my family is even saying why not train and see what happens…I thought by saying I needed to see how a dismount went it would be a deterrent."
Right now, Chellsie trains for only an hour or two a few times a week, but she says she's thinking about training more. "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. Doing the stuff that I would like to possibly put in a routine, doing that more and seeing how that feels."
And it sounds like her dad is really her biggest cheerleader. "He's just always like, 'Why not?' I think he thinks it would be fun. 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."
No matter what happens, it's also been really fun for Chellsie just to get back out there. "I'm happy I've been able to inspire people to continue doing gymnastics. Or just feel like, 'OK, I don't have to stop, because I love doing it.'"
