Updates

February 27, 2004: Courtney appeared this morning on the Today Show with Bela Karolyi and Katie Heenan! She and Katie talked about how excited they are for the Olympics and also did beam routines.

Courtney will be competing beam and bars this afternoon at the Podium Meet in Madison Sqaure Garden! The meet starts at around 4PM and you can actually watch it LIVE on USAG for $10. For more information, go to usa-gymnastics.org!

February 19, 2004: Major updates have been made to the photo gallery, including new photos from 2002 American Cup, 2002 Nationals, 2003 American Cup, and 2004 Parkette Invite!

Courtney will also be competing at the American Classic in Ontario, California. The meet will be held March 4-6th and more information can be found on Charter Oak's website!

February 7, 2004: A new Yahoo! group has been added with videos from the Parkette Invitational!

February 1, 2004: Unfortunately we had to move a lot of our videos, including those from 2002 American Cup, 2002 Worlds, 2003 American Cup, and 2003 Nationals. All you have to do is join a Yahoo group to download the videos. Details can be found on the videos page!

January 31, 2004: Courtney competed in her first meet since Worlds this weekend at the Parkette Invitational! She placed first on bars (9.850) and 4th on beam (9.400) with nearly the same routines she did before her injury. Congratulations on a great meet Courtney! The photo to the left is copyright Jessica Leigh.

January 4, 2004: An article appeared in the Baltimore Sun about Courtney's recovery and goals for 2004 titled 'Not feeling torn up by injury.' A video of Courtney's routines from team prelims at Worlds has been added.

New photos from 2000 Nationals, 2003 American Cup, and Miscellaneous are also up!

November 9, 2003: Courtney has written a new column about her current health and what she's been doing in the gym!

There are also new photos from the 2001 US Classic, 2002 American Cup, and 2003 Worlds.

September 13, 2003: New photos from Worlds have been added.

Courtney has been going into the gym and working on flexibility and conditioning. She's also enjoying her junior year of high school and taking driver's ed classes! International Gymnast did an interview with Courtney recently about her injury, you can read it here.

August 18, 2003: Courtney began her first full World Championships on vault, hitting her Podkopayeva for a 9.300! On bars she competed last, nailing her routine and sticking the dismount for a 9.625. At this point, with only China, Romania, Australia, and Ukraine left to go of the top teams, Courtney is leading bars - even ahead of Svetlana Khorkina!! On beam she went with a safer routine, competing a double tuck instead of her double arabian dismount (which was co-named after her, along with Carly Patterson, and given a Super E rating), scoring a 9.287. At this point she's in 5th in beam qualifications!

Unfortunately she sat down her whip 1/2 to double front on floor and went out of bounds on her double arabian for an 8.462. Her combined total was 36.624, the 6th highest so far... but unfortunately a new FIG rule allows only two gymnasts per country to compete in finals and Courtney's teammates Chellsie Memmel and Carly Patterson finished higher than her. Courtney was less than two tenths from qualifying.

However USA is second behind Romania (by less than 4 tenths) with China, Australia, and Ukraine to compete. They will compete on Wednesday night in team finals. GO USA! We'll also keep you updated on whether or not Courtney qualifies to beam finals. More photos have been added from Worlds too!

Quotes:
"[This year] is a lot different, last year it was a different country and it was only four of us. This time we have like a whole huge team experience with each other and just like have a huge crowd to feed off of. It's great!" - Listen to Courtney; Listen to the crowd after her bar routine

The US women compete tomorrow at 9pm PST. The top 8 gymnasts on each event qualify to event finals (2 per country), the top 24 athletes qualify to all-around finals (2 per country), and the top 8 teams qualify to team finals. The top 12 teams qualify full squads to the Olympics. The US men also compete tomorrow morning. GO USA!

August 15, 2003: Worlds officially get underway tonight at 7PM, PST, with the Opening Ceremonies. Yesterday was Podium Training (Inside Gymnastics has more photos up) and although Courtney was dealing with the flu a few days ago, she managed to do well regardless. Unfortunately teammate Ashley Postell has it now and she has been replaced by Chellsie Memmel in a decision today by the USA staff.

Both International Gymnast and Inside Gymnastics magazines will have quick hits for any competition featuring the US athletes. They also have reports from Podium Training.

USAG has announced the TJ Maxx Tour of Champions and Courtney is pictured in the ad - you can order your tickets now!

June 23, 2003: Courtney is now the U.S. National Champion!!  

She started the competition off on Thursday night with a solid beam routine (stuck back handspring-layout-layout, front tuck-back tuck, switch leap-gainer layout, tour jete 1/2, one step on double back), scoring a 9.600 and earning the bronze. Because Courtney hyper extended her knee in training a few weeks ago, she decided not to do her double arabian dismount here. On floor she hit her tumbling passes (whip 1/2-double front, arabian double front, triple twist, double pike) but wasn't quite as strong in her dance combinations for a 9.350 and another bronze. She put her hand down on her new Podkopayeva vault (roundoff 1/2 on-front pike 1/2 off) for an 8.775 but rebounded on bars with a 9.500 and shared the silver with Hollie Vise. Her total of 37.225 put her 4th behind Annia Hatch (37.475), Ashley Postell (37.375), and Hollie Vise (37.275).

On Saturday night the gymnasts were not given a one-touch warmup on any of the events but Courtney performed even better than on Thursday night. She started the night on floor and hit everything except for stepping out of bounds on her double arabian; she scored a 9.400, the 4th highest score on the event. She went with her easier vault, the Omelianchik (roundoff 1/2 on-front pike off), taking a step for a 9.175. The reigning World Champion hit her bar routine, nailing her dismount for another 9.500, the 3rd highest score there. Going into the final rotation, Courtney was in second place and needed at least a 9.425 to beat Hollie Vise. She hit everything and received her highest score of the meet, 9.625, to take her first National All-Around Title. She made her fourth National Team (top 18) along with teammate Corey Hartung (18th) and is also now automatically qualified to the 2003 World Championships team. Courtney was also named the Athlete of the Year and her coach Kelli Hill was named Coach of the Year. Congratulations Courtney! 

Final Results:
1. Courtney Kupets (Hills) - 74.950
2. Hollie Vise (WOGA) - 74.725
2. Tasha Schwikert (GymCats) - 74.725
4. Ashley Postell (Capital) - 74.300
5. Annia Hatch (Starz) - 74.025
6. Terin Humphrey (GAGE) - 73.775

Articles:
AP - Kupets Wins U.S. Gymnastics Title
Milwaukee Sentinel - Balance of Power

Photos have been added and videos will be up soon (NBC showed all 8 of Courtney's events).

May 31, 2003: Last night Courtney easily won the U.S. Classic with a total of 38.050. She also tied for first on floor with Tia Orlando with her usual routine (whip 1/2 to double front, double arabian, triple twist, double pike) and a score of 9.525. She tied for fourth on bars with a 9.500, tied for third on vault with a 9.325 by doing her new vault (roundoff 1/2 on, front pike 1/2 off; called a Podkopayeva). She also won beam with a 9.650 and performed her new double arabian dismount!

Along with Courtney, almost all of her teammates qualified to Nationals: Jennifer Iovino (jr.), Corey Hartung, and Chari Knight-Hunter! Go Hills!

Inside Gymnastics: Kupets Wins Classic
International Gymnast: Kupets Claims Classic Title

March 21, 2003: Courtney is now in California and has been looking great in training for the Pacific Challenge! Good luck to Courtney and the rest of the United States team!

Unfortunately due to the fighting in Iraq, Courtney and the rest of the US team will not be competing in Greece next weekend. We wish all those fighting a safe return.

Lastly, new AIM and Message Board icons are up!

March 1, 2003: Courtney had one of the best meets of her elite career today at the Visa American Cup! She started on vault, landing a great Omelianchik (roundoff 1/2 on, front pike off) vault for a 9.250. She defended her World title on bars by placing 1st here with a 9.787! She placed third on beam with a 9.550 after a hit routine that included a back handspring-layout-layout, tour jete 1/2, front aerial, front tuck-back tuck, switch leap-gainer layout-1 armed back handspring, and two back handspring to a double tuck.

She finished the meet on floor, placing 2nd with a 9.612 after hitting all her very difficult passes: whip 1/2 to double front, arabian double front, triple twist, and double pike. Overall she placed 2nd behind teammate Carly Patterson with a combined total of 38.199. After the meet she spoke to Inside Gymnastics Magazine and said, "I think I did a great job. I wanted to come here and make my four events, and that's what I did." Congratulations on a great meet Courtney!

Photo © Associated Press. Videos of Courtney's performances have also been added!

1. Svetlana Khorkina (RUS) - 9.762 2. Courtney Kupets (USA) - 9.550 3. Ludmila Ezhova (RUS) - 9.512 4. Oana Petrovschi (ROM) - 9.487 5. Beth Tweddle (GBR) - 9.387 6. Irina Yarodskaya (UKR) - 9.337 7. Laura van Leeuwen (NED) - 9.312 8. Tatiana Zharganova (BLR) - 9.062 ---------- 9. Jana Kmorskova (CZE) - 9.050 10. Zhang Nan (CHN) - 9.025 11. Monica Bergamelli (ITA) - 8.787 12. Amelie Plante (CAN) - 8.687 13. Renata Kiss (HUN) - 8.587 14. Carolina Molinari (BRA) - 8.525 15. Verona van de Leur (NED) - 8.375 16. Stefany Zaroug (ISR) - 8.187