The United States women were beaten out for a gold medal in the team competition by the
While Chellsie Memmel and her teammates didn't get the gold, Memmel may have established herself as the toughest gymnast in the competition.
Why? She was competing with a broken ankle.
Memmel said after the U.S. women won the silver medal in team gymnastics Wednesday that she'd been competing with a broken bone in her right ankle. The 2005 world gymnastics champion hurt the ankle during training Aug. 4, but competed on uneven bars in both the preliminaries and the team finals.And you thought hockey players were tough!
"I have mixed emotions," she said. "I would have loved to compete on four events, but the silver medal for my team is great."
If you look at the above photo, you can see the heavy tape on her right ankle. Now, I'm not an expert on gymnastics, but it seems that uneven bars would be about the only event she could safely compete in. The feet and legs aren't relied upon as heavily, and she's probably okay if she can handle her dismount.
Memmel certainly held up her end of the bargain, performing well on the uneven bars in the team final Wednesday morning (Tuesday night U.S. time).
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
8-13-2008 @ 5:47PM
Cathy in Texas said...
I know things did not go as well as they could have for our team, but they are amazing women who have worked so hard and are so talented. We are all very proud of you and know many things went wrong from the beginning, but you stuck it out and tried hard and thats all you could do. Silver is not what you wanted I know but silver is great !!!!
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8-13-2008 @ 8:52PM
DRE said...
Perfomances from these ladies made me (even more) proud to be an American. You ladies did great and you should hold your heads high! You're still the most talented and most beautiful and the best part is... you're all legal!!! Congrats team USA!
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8-13-2008 @ 6:45PM
Jimmy said...
Are you serious? Girls? Stop the bias and hate towards the Chinese Gymnastic Team. Its not even confirmed that the Chinese Team is underage but the whole world is taking it like it is. WHAT DO I SEE, THE USA IS A BUNCH OF WHINING LOSERS. GET OVER IT, USA LOST, CHINA WON.
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8-13-2008 @ 9:53PM
R. Leutzin said...
I am still trying to find the difference between Barry Bonds "sculpting his body" to hit more home runs and Olympic level Gymnasts "sculpting their bodies" to be able to perform the movements required to be world class. In one case, chemicals are taken to obtain momentary strength. In the other case chemicals are taken to retard growth.
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8-14-2008 @ 1:34AM
George B Vieto said...
Would the first jouranalist at ESPN kiss Chellsie Memmel's ring just like you kissed Tiger Woods ring when he played a golf touranment with a foot injury. I am not holding my breath since Tiger won the golf touranment and the USA women gymnast got a silver medal. You go Chellsie a true Olympian with courage.
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