From L-R: Alicia Sacramone, Melanie Sinclair, Chellsie Memmel and Nastia Liukin

Nastia Liukin, the 2003-04 junior national all-around champion, won the all-around at the 2005 U.S. Classic on July 23, becoming the first American to perform a quad twist in the floor exercise during competition. In addition to her back-to-back junior national all-around titles, Liukin was the junior national champion on the uneven bars, balance beam and floor exercise in 2003-04.

Chellsie Memmel won the uneven bars at the 2004 World Cup Final and was an alternate on the 2004 Olympic Team. At the 2003 World Championships, Memmel was the co-champion in the uneven bars and a member of the team that won the gold medal.  Earlier that year, she won the all-around gold medal at the Pan American Games. Memmel has been a member of the national team for six years.
 
Alicia Sacramone has been on the senior national team for two years. She won the gold medal in the vault and floor exercise at the 2005 World Cup in Ghent and won the vault at the 2005 American Cup and 2005 World Cup in Paris.  Sacramone placed third in the all-around at the 2005 U.S. Classic.

NASTIA LIUKIN

Q1: What is something people may not know about you?

NASTIA LIUKIN: I like to act.  I was a part of the “Stick It” gymnastics movie.  Acting is one of my many choices I am considering after gymnastics.

Q2: Gymnastics is sort of a family business for you.  Was there ever any doubt that you would be doing this?

NASTIA LIUKIN: No, not really. Gymnastics does run in the family.  Both my mom and dad were gymnasts, and when I was younger, they both coached at a club in New Orleans.  That is how I started gymnastics.  I was always in the gym with them, and that’s how I really started to like gymnastics. It is something I have really wanted to do since I was young.

Q3: You are coached by your father.  What is that like, and do you think they are tougher or easier on you than the others?

NASTIA LIUKIN: My dad and I work really well together.  In our gym, I have a lot more responsibilities than any of the other gymnastics my dad coaches because I am on the national team. I have to be in shape and in top form at the competitions like everyone excepts me to.  The other kids my dad coaches at the gym aren’t on the national team.  They are a lot younger, so they don’t have as many responsibilities yet, as I do. Sometimes he is a little tougher on me, but it is because I want to be the best that I can be.  He is trying to help me be the best that I can, and I am tougher on myself too.  I think we make a good pair.

Q4: Is the fact that your parents won Olympic and World Championship medals as gymnasts an inspiration to you, and do you feel any pressure to follow in their footsteps?

NASTIA LIUKIN: Yeah, that is definitely an inspiration.  Just to have your parents be such great gymnasts, you really look up to them.  You think that it might actually be possible for you too.  I don’t feel any pressure at all because I do gymnastics all for myself.  I don’t try to set anyone else’s expectations.  I have my own goals, and I try to achieve them.

CHELLSIE MEMMEL

Q1: What is something people may not know about you?

CHELLSIE MEMMEL: Outside of gymnastics, I enjoy all the same things as a normal teenager.  At prom, I took pictures in my prom dress hanging from the uneven bars.

Q2: Your father coaches you.  What is that like, and do you think they are tougher or easier on you than the others?

CHELLSIE MEMMEL: I think it is really great to be coached by my dad.  I think he is pretty much fair between me and the other athletes.  It is completely different.  We separate the gym from home life.  Sometimes it comes up (at the dinner table), but we still try to separate it so gymnastics isn’t all that we talk about.

Q3: You were in the hunt for an Olympic spot last year.  Do you see this post-Olympic year as an opportunity to come out and take over some of those top spots?

CHELLSIE MEMMEL: It was a huge disappointment to get so close to it (2004 Olympic Team) and not make the actual team.  You just go home and decide what you want to do.  Do you want to train again or you could just be done.  I decided to continue training, and there are a lot of huge opportunities out there because a lot of the Olympic Team was doing to the tour or moving onto college.  It was really great to get out to those bigger competitions.

Q4: What are your goals this year heading into an individual World Championship versus a team World Championship?

CHELLSIE MEMMEL: My goal is to do well at nationals and go one and make the world team, hopefully on all-around.  I would really like to try to get an all-around spot.

ALICIA SACRAMONE

Q1: What is something people may not know about you?

ALICIA SACRAMONE: I am very interested in fashion design and that is the career path I want to pursue when I am done with gymnastics.

Q2: You were in the hunt for an Olympic spot last year.  Do you see this post-Olympic year as an opportunity to come out and take over some of those top spots?

CHELLSIE MEMMEL: After the Olympics, there was huge disappointment because that is what we worked so hard for.  This year is filled with opportunities to look for breaks.  I got myself out there, got myself known.  It is hard building yourself back up again, but now we have more experience under our belt and more confidence when we compete.  Overall, I think that is a good thing.

Q3: What are your goals this year heading into an individual World Championship versus a team World Championship?

CHELLSIE MEMMEL: I am looking forward to competing in nationals and trying to do my best.  My overall goal is to make world championships and compete on floor and vault.  I am really excited to start this whole new chapter in my life after what happened last summer and over the year.  It will be good for me overall.

Q4: You have been considered a floor and vault specialist in the past, but you are coming on really strong as an all-around gymnast.  What are your thoughts on moving more towards an all-arounder and the 2008 Olympic Games?

CHELLSIE MEMMEL: I have definitely been working more on beam and bars because you cannot be a two-event gymnast.  You have to be able to do everything.  I have been working really hard, upgrading my bars and making my beam more consistent.  As of 2008, I haven’t really decided what I want to do yet because I am a senior in high school this year and I will be in my second year of college then.  I haven’t closed any doors, and I am keeping all my options open.  2008 is in the back of my mind, and if I keep on this training schedule and the forward progress I have been making, it is definitely an option for me.