By Scott Bregman
Action photo by John Cheng
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Anna Li ended her collegiate gymnastics career the way that all college athletes dream of - winning, and winning big. Ending on the floor exercise for UCLA, the lone Bruin senior led her team to the 2010 NCAA title in Gainesville, Fla. It was the crowning achievement in a year where Li, the daughter of two 1984 Chinese Olympians, used back-to-back perfect 10s to win the Pac-10 conference title and regional title on the uneven bars.

But Li wanted more.

Prior to her days in Los Angeles, Li trained with her coaches and parents Jiani Wu and Yuejiu Li in suburban Chicago, as an elite gymnast. She competed in the Visa Championships in 2004 and 2005 with limited success - recording her highest finish on the balance beam, ninth place, at the 2005 Visa Championships in Indianapolis.

"After college, I took a few months off and thought I was done with gymnastics," Li said. "But I realized that I still loved the sport a lot and that I hadn't fulfilled all my goals in elite before UCLA."

So, Li set to work. First in Los Angeles, training at All Olympia Gymnastics Center while she finished her undergraduate degree and then later back home in Naperville, Ill., at her parent's gym, Legacy Elite Gymnastics.

Honing her skills, Li developed a routine on the uneven bars, Team USA's weakest event, with a potential 6.7 difficulty score - the highest degree of difficulty by an American by several tenths of a point.

The fruits of her labor were realized first in early July at the U.S. Olympic Training Center at the Karolyi Ranch in Huntsville, Texas. That's when Li won the uneven bars title and finished third on balance beam at the American Classic, qualifying her to her third Visa Championships.

Then, last month Li performed well on her premiere event, placing third on the bars at the Visa Championships in Saint Paul, Minn. Her performance impressed National Team Coordinator Martha Karolyi enough to earn a spot to the selection camps where the World Championships teams would be decided. On Sept. 21, she was named to her first World Championships team.

"Second time in my life that I've shed tears of joy," Li posted to her Twitter account, following her selection to the team. "Thanks so much to everyone who has always supported me. I can't believe I'm going to Worlds!"

Though Li has never competed in an international competition, Karolyi believes that her years of collegiate experience - and a schedule that had Li competing almost every weekend from January to the middle of April - gives her a competitive edge.

"My junior year, I could only help on one event - bars - so I also have that experience," Li said, alluding to her likely role in Tokyo as an event specialist.

"I wanted to leave the sport with no regrets," Li added later about her decision to return to elite gymnastics.

And, it seems like she won't have to.