Tumbler in place

Memmel gets in Games after painful twists

BEIJING - As soon as she sensed the pain in her right ankle last weekend, Chellsie Memmel felt a twinge of dread. Not now, she thought. Not here. Am I going to miss the Olympics again?

"That is a scary thought," said Memmel, who watched the last Games from the stands after breaking a foot at the wrong time. "The first thing you think is, how bad is it? Can I go on? And can I do my best for the team?"

The injury was bad enough that the former world all-around champion can only go on one event - the uneven bars - when the favored Americans line up this afternoon for the qualifying round at the National Indoor Stadium. But not so bad that Memmel has to be a spectator again. "It was bars or go home," she said. "And bars is better than nothing."

At least Memmel gets in the game this time, which she didn't in Athens after missing both the US Championships and the Olympic trials. Untimely injuries have been the story of her life. Two years ago, after coming in as defending champion, Memmel tore up her right shoulder during the World Championships in Denmark and missed the better part of two years.

This time, after surgery and a lengthy rehab, Memmel worked herself back up to third on the team behind world titlist Shawn Johnson and Nastia Liukin, only to have the ankle trip her up.

"I really do have the injuries at the worst times, but it's part of the sport and things happen," shrugged the 20-year-old Memmel, who lives in Liberace's hometown of West Allis, Wis., a Milwaukee suburb. "You're going to go through ups and downs, especially this sport."

The Hamm family is Exhibit A. Paul, who won the all-around gold in 2004, had returned to the top of his game this year after a lengthy sabbatical. Then he broke a bone in his right hand at the May national championships and skipped the trials, was put on the team in training camp, then withdrew just before the team left the States after his left shoulder acted up.

Morgan tore a pectoral muscle last October, missed five months, made the team at the trials, survived a doping inquiry after using an anti-inflammatory drug without requesting a medical waiver, then pulled out of the Games last week after an ankle betrayed him. So alternates Raj Bhavsar and Alexander Artemev stepped in, did the job in yesterday's qualifying and will go for a team medal on Tuesday.

If you stay in gymnastics long enough, two things are all but guaranteed. You will get hurt and miss a big meet. And someone else will get hurt and you will step in. That's how Memmel first appeared on the global stage in 2003 as a 15-year-old super-sub when the Americans lost half of their team on the eve of the World Championships in Anaheim.

She was in the Dominican Republic for the Pan American Games when the callup came to replace injured Samantha Sheehan as an alternate. Then Ashley Postell got the stomach flu and Memmel ended up competing on all four events as the Yanks won their first gold medal and she also shared the bars title with teammate Hollie Vise.

She was looking good for Olympus the following year until she busted her left foot in April, wasn't able to make it back in time, went to Greece as an alternate and saw her would-have-been teammates collect silver medals.

"There were three of us there," Memmel said. "We lived in an apartment and went to the training center but it was hard being there, not being able to compete and just watching. It wasn't meant to be that year for me."

The next year, though, was magic. Memmel went to Melbourne for the 2005 World Championships and became the first American to win the all-around title since Shannon Miller in 1994, slipping past Liukin by a thousandth of a point and also winning silvers on bars and balance beam. She never got to defend in 2006, wrecking her shoulder during the team competition and requiring surgery.

"It was a really long, hard road back," Memmel said. "It was my most devastating injury because I'd never completely lost everything. I lost all range of motion and had to get it all back. It was amazing the first time I could lift my arm above my head again. For a gymnast, that's insane. It's pathetic, I thought that first day. I'm a gymnast and I'm excited about lifting my arm."

Had she competed in Athens, Memmel might have called it a career and gone to college, but there was unfinished business.

"Always in the back of my mind was the Olympics," she said. "Because if I didn't have that goal, I probably wouldn't have kept going."

Memmel's re-entry, plotted with father/coach Andrew, was deliberately prudent.

"We were on our own pace," she said, "and they [USA Gymnastics coaches] were getting impatient with us."

But when she turned up at the national championships at BU in June, Memmel was ready to rock.

"I'm still here," she declared. "It's not like I've totally gone away. You just haven't seen me in a while."

Two solid nights in a row convinced her that she was back in business.

"After the second day, I said, 'OK, I did this twice,' " Memmel said. "I know I can do this now." When she did it again in the June trials in Philadelphia, she all but locked up a spot on the team, then confirmed it at the July boot camp in Houston.

Memmel figured to be one of the team's stalwarts here until she was a bit off on a tumbling pass on the floor and sprained the ankle.

"Right after I hurt it, I iced it and did everything to try to calm it down," she said.

While it seemed doubtful that Memmel could run full-tilt across a floor or down a vaulting runway or do a tightrope act on beam, bars still seemed doable, as long as her ankle could handle the shock of the dismount.

"They asked me if I was able to put out my best performance," she said, "and I said yes."

So the coaches put Memmel in the lineup as a one-trick pony.

"I would love to be doing all-around for the team, but that didn't happen," she said. "This is the card that I was dealt and this is what I have to play."

The jackpot still is substantial, though. If the Americans win a medal - and they're favored for gold - Memmel will get one. And if she's in the top eight on bars after qualifying, she'll get to go for gold in the apparatus final.

Four years ago, Memmel never got to put the leotard on. The way she sees it, even one routine is an upgrade.

"I'm happy I'm here and I'm happy I'm still able to compete and contribute to the team," she said. "I still can call myself an Olympian, and that's really cool."