Tuesday, February 10, 2009

College Gymnast of the Moment-Courtney Kupets




This is the first entry is a long-delayed series on NCAA college gymnasts. On our sister blog Politics, Culture and Other Wastes of Time, we will have a profile of North Carolina State gymnast Ashley Shepard.

We start with Courtney Kupets, a highly accomplished gymnast who boasts her own Wikipedia page.

Born on July 27, 1986, Kupets was an Olympic gymnast before coming to the University of Georgia. Ironically, she competed in Athens, Greece (UGA is of course in Athens, Ga.) where she won an individual bronze medal on uneven bars in addition to the silver she won in team competition.

Kupets also won an all-around national championship (before coming to Georgia) in 2003 and she was co-champ with Olympic teammate Carly Patterson in 2004.

This year in a meet against the University of Alabama, Kupets scored two perfect tens, which is remarkable given that she missed much of last year due to an Achilles tendon injury.

I had a chance to see Kupets, who also won the NCAA all-around title in 2007, in Raleigh earlier this year. She was indeed very impressive.

The Gym Dawgs are going for their fifth consecutive national championship last year.

Their long-time coach Suzzane Yoculan will be retiring after the end of the season.

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