Gymnast calls it a career

As she stood at the end of the runway, preparing for the final power tumbling pass of her illustrious career as a member of the U.S. national team, Leanne Seitzinger quietly rehearsed the choreography in her mind.

There was a lot to remember and the Novaks' Gymnastics Center prodigy wanted to get every sequence exactly right -- not just for herself, but also for her teammates.

The Americans were in fourth place at the World Championships in St. Petersburg, Russia, and they needed a big score from their top-ranked tumbler in order to earn a spot on the award's podium.

All Seitzinger had to do was stick a routine that she'd assembled that morning to compensate for a cramp in her Achilles tendon.

"There was a lot of drama," she said. "I actually had to change my [tumbling] pass completely.

"After I cramped up, I was so sore that I had to rearrange stuff. That's hard on your brain. I did the new pass for the first time that morning."

And that was only after the U.S. trainer and medical staff cleared her to participate in a simulated competition to determine which three tumblers would compete in the finals.

"I had an IV of fluid so I wouldn't cramp up again," she said.

Even with a sore Achilles and a revamped routine, Seitzinger showed why she has been one of the sport's premier athletes since she made her senior elite debut at the U.S. National Championships as a 16-year-old in 2002.

Her score of 30.9 helped catapult the Americans (94.0) into second place -- sixth-tenths of a point ahead of Canada, which claimed the bronze medal with a score of 93.4.

Russia won the gold with a score of 100.9.

"This time I felt like I really earned the medal," said Seitzinger, who had the second-highest score among U.S. team members behind 18-year-old Kaitlin Tortorich, of Haymarket, who has positioned herself to become the next American star.

"It feels really good to win the silver," Tortorich said. "We had some problems in prelims, but we all went out and just focused and everybody hit. To be able to represent the USA like that and win another world medal was a big honor."

Seitzinger, who announced in September that she would retire from international competition following the World Championships, has been part of two medal-winning squads. She also won gold in Quebec City in 2007, but is now ready to pursue a new challenge following nine seasons as a member of Team USA.

"I haven't officially sent a letter saying I'm not doing it anymore, but I probably won't ever do that," said Seitzinger, who has enrolled at George Mason University and is preparing to try out for the co-ed cheerleading team.

"I'll always be tumbling, I just won't be competing," she said. "It's a little weird, but I guess I can start looking forward to training and learning how to do stunts. Now I have to rely on somebody else throwing me in the air. I've always had to rely on throwing myself in the air."

For the first time in nearly a decade, Seitzinger isn't training for an international event, but she's rarely had a day off since returning from Russia.

Last month, she accompanied Novaks' Level 7 gymnast Elena Martinez to the U.S. Gymnastics TOPs team camp at Karolyi's Ranch in Houston and she is preparing a course load for her junior year -- the next step in her pursuit of a master's degree in special education.

"Right now I'd be training for the Pan American Championships, but this will give me a chance to do different stuff," Seitzinger said. "I'd like to take a vacation. That would be nice. I haven't had one since I was 14. My competitions are in the summer time and there's no such thing as a week off. Since I was 14, I've always been preparing for a big competition.

"I don't think it's really set in that I don't have that anymore," she said. "I just got the schedule for next year and I was like, 'Oh, look, Pan Ams are in Florida.' It hasn't hit me that I'm not going to that."

2009 WORLD POWER TUMBLING CHAMPIONSHIPS

Gold medal: Russia 100.9

Silver medal: United States 94.0

Bronze medal: Canada 93.4

U.S. individual scores: Kaitlin Tortorich, Haymarket (32.9); Leanne Seitzinger, Stafford (30.9); Susannah Johnson, Roanoke (30.8); Amy McDonald, McKinney, TX (did not compete in finals).