FORT WORTH, Texas — Cheers of “C’mon Mom!” and “Go Mama!” aren’t normally heard at the U.S. gymnastics championships.
That they are this week is just another indication of the extraordinariness of what Chellsie Memmel is doing.
Three weeks shy of her 33rd birthday and with her two children in the crowd, the 2005 world champion is competing at nationals for the first time in 10 years. More than holding her own, too. Memmel tied for fifth on vault on Friday night – with a vault she hadn’t done since 2006, no less – and had the sixth-highest score on balance beam.