U.S. women's artistic gymnastics coaching revolution: 'Let's go - girl power!'
The squad comes to the Pan American Games with an all-female delegation for the first time in decades
Artistic Gymnastics
The U.S. women’s artistic gymnastics team is showcasing female empowerment well beyond its dazzling dominance on the field of play that led the squad to a sixth-straight Pan American Games gold medal Sunday (22 October 2023).
As Team USA lines up in Santiago, they do so with an all female delegation – something so rare it hasn’t happened at an Olympic or Pan American Games since at least the 1984 Olympic Games in Los Angeles.
“When we saw who was travelling, we were pretty excited,” said 1996 French Olympian Cecile Landi, who is serving as the squad’s head coach. “We were like, ‘All right, let’s go – girl power!”
It’s a major shift for the Americans that have seen male coaches from Bela Karolyi in the early 80s and 90s, to Liang Chow, Andy Memmel and Laurent Landi in more recent years, lead the squad or guide individual members of it.
“I think it's a pretty cool thing to be a part of,” said Chellsie Memmel, a 2008 Olympic silver medallist and current U.S. women’s high performance technical lead. “I think it says a lot about our sport and where we're going. Obviously, there's a lot of great male coaches, but it feels really special to have a whole delegation of women.”
In addition to Landi, who coaches Jordan Chiles, Tiana Sumanasekera and Zoe Miller, and Memmel, who helps oversee the U.S. program, personal coaches Kelli Hill (coach of Kayla DiCello), Haiou Sun (Kaliya Lincoln) and Marnie Futch (Katelyn Jong) round out the delegation.
The change in direction comes as USA Gymnastics has undergone massive cultural changes in the wake of hundreds of abuse allegations since the 2016 Olympic Games in Rio.
“The culture is just changing. Everything is changing, honestly,” said Chiles, a Tokyo 2020 Olympic silver medallist. “I really enjoy that and it's pretty cool just to be able to be a part of that, as well.”
Breaking down stereotypes
Landi said she and fellow coaches in Santiago have shown that women can do it all, without a doubt.
“They don’t believe we can do everything, you know, boards, bar set up, and stuff like this,” she said. “We need a male [they say], but we did it today. We’re able to tighten the bars, loosen the bars, change the boards as fast as we could. We’re good.”
“When do you ever see Cecile on bars? That's my thing, if you have the capability to be able to stand there for your athlete and do the things that you can do,” said Chiles. “I think that's an amazing thing.”
For Memmel, who was coached primarily by her father, Andy, and Jim Chudy, throughout her career, the Pan Ams delegation is making a clear statement.
“It shows that women are very capable at coaching through all the levels,” she said. “All of these women have coached from the ground up, so I think it does show that they’re capable of producing amazing athletes.”
Sacrifices required
That doesn’t mean it’s easy.
Landi told Olympics.com in January about the difficulty she’s faced as a high-performance coach in the United States, detailing her return to work just three or four days after giving birth to her daughter.
It wasn’t because she did not have maternity leave, but because of her sense of obligation.
“When you have 35 kids [that you coach], I don’t know who will come and coach my 35 kids if I’m not around,” she said, later adding, “I think mentally we can handle a lot more than some of the guys around.”
Likewise, Memmel has two young children of her own and is often on the road away from them for weeks a time.
“I’m not going to say it’s easy. It’s really hard for me to leave my family and that was my biggest quest mark of taking a position like this,” admitted Memmel, who joined the U.S. national staff in 2022. “I’m lucky that we have our iPhones and can FaceTime… but I would be lying if I say I don’t cry at least a few times every trip because I miss them, or I’m missing some event or something that they’re doing.
“Do I like my job and am happy where I’m at, happy that I’m hoping I can, you know, make some improvements and help these ladies and support them and their gymnastics and life after gymnastics? Yeah, I hope I can do that,” concluded Memmel.
The next generation
Both Landi and Memmel hope to serve as role models for young women who dream of one day being in their shoes.
“Just look at this delegation, this is a huge point saying that you can do this, you can put in the work – and, of course, it’s going to take work – but it’s possible,” said Memmel.
Landi offered words of encouragement of her own.
“Keep believing in yourself, don’t take no for an answer,” she said. “Trust the process.”