It has been a long road back for Memmel

BOSTON -- After Chellsie Memmel did a watered-down vault with only one twist as her first event, then took an arena-rattling face plant on a fall during her uneven bars warmup, it seemed as if her Olympic plans had been drawn on a fairy tale map full of wishes instead of reality.

Yet no more than an hour later, Memmel, from West Allis, Wis., was sitting straight-backed and smiling after she finished third to Olympic team gimmes Shawn Johnson and Nastia Liukin after the first of two days of competition at the Visa Championships, the U.S. women’s national competition, which resumes today.

Defending world champion Johnson, defending uneven bars champion and world balance beam champion Liukin along with vault and floor expert Alicia Sacramone can count on being selected to the final six-member U.S. Olympic team when it is named next month at the Texas ranch of team coordinator Martha Karolyi.

Before then, the other team hopefuls must prove their physical health, their ability to construct routines that score well and most importantly show the mental fortitude to hit bobble-free landings in front of cheering crowds.

Besides these two days of the national championships, the women will do two nights of routines at the Olympic trials June 19-22 in Philadelphia and countless private competitions at the ranch in front of Karolyi and the rest of the U.S. selection committee.

Since missing the 2004 silver-medal team after being hampered by a foot injury, Memmel has been at the top of the standings and then forgotten altogether.

She put together a stunning two-day performance of powerful routines to win the world all-around championship at Melbourne, Australia, in 2005, but then tore her rotator cuff during the 2006 World Championships.

Her battle to recover hasn’t been easy.

At last year’s national championships, Memmel did one event, floor exercise, and hoped Karolyi would put her on the world team based on a solid body of work that also included being part of the 2003 U.S. world championship gold medal team from Anaheim.

Sentiment and past performances never cloud Karolyi’s judgment, though, and Memmel was left home.

Her coach and father, Andy, said the rejection was a shock and a bit disappointing, but Memmel said it was the right move.

“I wasn’t ready and in my heart I knew that,” Memmel said. “It wouldn’t have been good for me or for the team.”

When Karolyi gave Memmel only lukewarm praise during a media event at the ranch in April, wondering if Memmel had the physical capability to do world-class routines, Memmel was stoic.

“I knew what was happening in practice every day,” Memmel said. “It’s just a matter of time.”

Her body almost let her down Thursday night. She had a sore right quadriceps muscle and Andy said they considered withdrawing. Instead, he said, “The powers that be [Karolyi] suggested we do an easier vault. But they wanted to see Chellsie compete.” While Memmel landed the vault that contained only one twist, the score was 13.9, which put it in a tie for 18th.

Her dramatic drop off the uneven bars in that warmup could have demoralized Memmel’s uneven confidence. But Andy took Memmel’s shoulders, stared into her eyes and laughed. “I said, ‘You were due for a fall anyway. You got it out of the way.’ ”

When she did her routine for real, Memmel’s hand work was quick as a magician’s, her release moves were bold and her score of 16.000 was second only to Liukin’s world best of 17.050. Memmel also was second to Liukin with a strong beam score of 16.050 and even though her fatigued quad caused some of her floor exercise tumbling passes to be low flying, her final standing of third place made Memmel quietly defiant.

“Do I have more to prove than others? Yeah,” she said. “I’ve just been out of sight. Being a world champion three years ago means nothing. That’s not in the memory banks.”

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diane.pucin@latimes.com

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THE FACTS

What: USA Visa National women’s gymnastics

championships.

TV: Today, 1 p.m. PDT, Ch. 4.