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Memmel saves U.S. on average night Posted: Monday August 18, 2003 1:49 AMUpdated: Monday August 18, 2003 2:11 AM ANAHEIM, Calif. (AP) -- Chellsie Memmel wasn't supposed to be here. The Americans are really glad she is. The Wisconsin kid, one of two alternates pressed into duty, lit up the floor Sunday night and gave the U.S. women hope in the World Gymnastics Championships despite losing two of their top athletes to illness and injury. The Americans scored 147.697 points, probably good enough to make the top eight and advance to team finals. They stood in first place, although only two of 10 rotations were complete and most of the top teams -- Russia, China and Romania included -- were scheduled to go Monday. More telling: Memmel was the best of the 29 gymnasts who competed Sunday and almost certainly secured a spot among the top 24 and a place in the all-around finals next week -- not bad for a 15-year-old who finished 10th at nationals two months ago. The Americans certainly needed her. Team coordinator Martha Karolyi brought a gold-medal contender to Anaheim, but was sent into damage-control mode when she had to scratch top vaulter Annia Hatch, who tore up her knee, and world balance beam champion Ashley Postell, who fell ill with the stomach flu. Of the six gymnasts Karolyi put out there, only Memmel made it through the night without any problems. National champion Courtney Kupets slipped up twice on her floor exercise, falling on her behind on her first pass and stepping out of bounds on the second. She scored an 8.462. Tasha Schwikert, the only member of the team with Olympic experience, showed very little of her trademark flash. She fell during her floor exercise and banged her feet against the mat during her bars routine, failing to crack the 9.0 mark on either event. Carly Patterson, who has won every event she's been healthy enough to enter since last summer, probably won't win this one. She had a great beam routine going, but fell on the dismount, scoring an 8.7. The other alternate, Terin Humphrey, competed on two events. Her 9.05 on the floor counted, only because of errors by Kupets and Schwikert. Memmel, meanwhile, was rock steady.Her 10th-place finish at nationals earned her a trip to the Pan-American Games earlier this month. She won the gold medal in the all-around there and it looked like that would be the highlight of her summer. Clearly, however, it helped having been in competition so recently. She went through a crisp bars routine, forming nice lines with her legs and easily gliding between the bars, to score a 9.575. On the balance beam, she performed the ridiculously difficult Arabian -- a full flip and half twist from a standing position -- and landed dead square with both feet on the 4-inch slab of hard plastic. It was the kind of performance Karolyi expected from all her athletes, but got from only one. Despite their overall struggles, the Americans have reason to be optimistic. Scores are wiped out for the team finals -- assuming they make them -- and in that competition, each team puts three gymnasts on each event and all three scores count. In prelims, five athletes go, and four of their scores count. It means there's a bigger bonus for good execution in the finals and a smaller concern for depth. Clearly, the United States can perform better, but the depth issues won't change this week. Hatch is still waiting to determine a date for her surgery. She said it will be at least three months before she returns. But it could take longer, and with the Olympics only a year away, the 25-year-old might be faced with retirement if she doesn't heal quickly. Postell was feeling better Sunday, but can't be inserted into the lineup barring extraordinary circumstances, Karolyi said. It seems unlikely anything extraordinary will happen before Wednesday, when the team finals take place, although with the luck the Americans are having, it's clear there are no guarantees.
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