Courtney Kupets

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Olympic medal record
Women's Artistic Gymnastics
Silver Athens 2004 Team competition
Bronze Athens 2004 Uneven bars

Courtney Anne Kupets (born July 27, 1986 in Bedford, Texas) is an American gymnast. She is best known for her 2003 and 2004 all-around national championships (with Carly Patterson as co-champion in 2004); her membership on the 2002 and 2003 World Artistic Gymnastics Championships and 2004 Olympic teams; and her individual bronze medal on the uneven bars at the 2004 Olympics.

During her elite career, Kupets resided in Gaithersburg, Maryland and trained at Hill's Angels, former gym of Olympians Dominique Dawes and Elise Ray, for 35 hours each week. Both she and her older sister, Ashley Kupets, are gymnasts at the University of Georgia, and her father was a college football player.

While the uneven bars is considered to be Kupets' best apparatus, she excels on the other events as well. During her elite career, her balance beam routine was valued at a 10.0 start value, the same as her bars routine. Her lowest-valued skill was her Podkopayeva vault, which had a 9.7. start value under the 2001-2005 Code of Points. Kupet's floor exercise routine was valued at a 9.9 usually - until 2004, where she had a 9.8 Start Value routine. She also had a reputation as one of the USA's most versatile tumblers, performing, at various points in her career, the double layout, triple twist, double Arabian, double front, double pike and various combination tumbling passes.

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[edit] Early gymnastics history

Kupets began competing in gymnastics in 1989, earned a place on the TOPS developmental team in 1994, and tested elite in 1999. At her first US National Championships, in 1999, she placed eighth in the junior division and became a member of the national team.

In her first year as a senior competitor, 2002, Kupets placed a close second in the American Cup competition, behind Olympian Tasha Schwikert, and placed eighth at Nationals. Nonetheless, her selection to the US team for the 2002 World Artistic Gymnastics Championships in Debrecen, Hungary was seen as a surprise by many. At Worlds, Kupets passed all other competitors, including five-time defending champion Svetlana Khorkina, to win the uneven bars event, making her only the third American woman ever to achieve the feat.

In 2003, Kupets won the US Classic and became the U.S. national champion for the first time. She was named to the US team for the 2003 World Championships in Anaheim, California. At Worlds, Kupets competed well in the team qualifying round, contributing to the USA's high placement and qualifying to the all-around and uneven bars final. However, during a practice session before the team finals, Kupets tore her Achilles' tendon and was forced to withdraw from the event, returning home to Maryland immediately for emergency surgery. The US team went on to win the World Championships; Kupets was still considered a member of the squad and received credit and a medal for her contributions in the preliminaries.

In 2004, Kupets was named the co-national champion with Patterson in Nashville, Tennessee. A few weeks later, Kupets placed highest overall at the U.S. Olympic trials, earning a spot on the Olympic team.

[edit] 2004 Olympic Games

At the Olympics in Athens, Greece, Kupets won a silver medal with her fellow U.S. team members in the team all-around competition. It had originally been decided that she would compete on each of the events aside from vault; however, after a leg injury (later discovered to be a stress fracture in her hip) caused her to be pulled out of beam, her balance beam position was given to teammate Mohini Bhardwaj. In the two events she competed in, Kupets received the team's highest score on uneven bars with a 9.662 out of a 10.0 start value — putting the U.S. team temporarily ahead of eventual winner Romania in the standings — but also received the lowest on floor exercise with a 9.187 out of a 9.9 after faltering on a dance combination that had just recently been added to her routine.

Kupets competed in the individual all-around at the Olympics after placing 4th overall (37.937) in the qualifying round on the first day of competition, when the team qualifications also took place. Even though she was dealing with her injury, Kupets finished 9th overall in the all-around with a score of 37.112, a little over one point behind the winner, Patterson, who scored a 38.387.

Her final score in the all-around was hurt by an unusually low-scoring routine on the balance beam (8.975), as well as a step out of bounds on the floor exercise, where Kupets scored 9.237. As usual, her highest scoring event was the bars, where she received a 9.625; Kupets also scored a 9.275 on the vault (out of a 9.7) after taking a step with her landing. Although she had not been expected to medal after her injury, Kupets said after the event that she was happy she had competed regardless.

Kupets won the bronze medal in the individual uneven bars competition with a score of 9.637, behind Émilie Lepennec of France (9.687) and fellow American gymnast Terin Humphrey (9.662). Kupets also finished 5th in the individual balance beam competition with a score of 9.375 out of a 10.0. She did not qualify to compete in the individual floor exercise and vault competitions.

[edit] Post-Olympics and NCAA career

After returning from Athens, Kupets travelled across the United States with other gymnasts on an exhibition tour sponsored by retailer T.J. Maxx. In 2005 she joined the gymnastics team at the University of Georgia on full athletic scholarship. Kupets had a very successful first season with UGA, contributing to the team's first-place finish at the 2006 NCAA National Championships and winning the all-around, bars and beam titles at the same meet. She has debuted some new skills in NCAA, including a new double layout dismount off of bars. She has also joined the Alpha Omicron Pi sorority. During the 2007 season, she received a 10.00 on the uneven bars while competing against the University of Alabama. It was the first 10.00 on the bars for Georgia since 2002 and the first 10.00 of Kupets' career.

[edit] External links

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