I pick up some pretty interesting tidbits when I’m online.
I have mentioned this before: there’s gossip going around saying that Courtney Kupets may (or may not) come back into elite competition. Now I wouldn’t blame her for doing so, in fact I’d love to see her come back (her Olympics could’ve been better; she clearly did not perform at her best in Athens).
There are conflicting reports, as usual: some people say Courtney’s not remotely interested in trying for Beijing, while other people say that she is considering it a possibility.
Those who think it’s a possibility point to her increasing difficulty on floor exercise (and uneven bars?) despite not being in elite competition anymore. Yes, Courtney has always said she “just wants to get to the next level”, but given that she’s already played with the Big Girls… she, like Terin, seemed burned out after the Olympics and needed NCAA to make gymnastics fun again.
Besides, the only thing going for her is her uneven bars and floor exercise…I would say the only high-scoring and reliable bar workers the National team has are Nastia (and Chellsie?), with Alicia and Shawn as the reliable floor workers; we could use some more. But, as people have pointed out before, USA still needs vaulters; as of now we only have Alicia. And if I recall correctly, Courtney isn’t exactly stellar on vault; her vaults are okay but not difficult enough, apparently.
So…as much as I love her and want to see her contend for something better, I really doubt that she’s seriously interested. I suppose she might play with the idea a little, but not take it seriously…even if I think (and I do think) that Beijing seriously needs to see her burn up the venue with the already-mentioned 2006 floor routine. It might even be hotter than Sac’s. Who knows…?
Even so, for those of you who want to compare here we have:
Courtney’s 2007 NCAA bars routine
vs.
Courtney’s 2004 bars routine at Trials (assuming this is the one she used in Athens)
Oh, and here’s her 2007 floor exercise routine (it is different from the one I previously showed). Courtney’s still “flaunting what she’s got”…though not as much as the 2006 one..
As another treat, here’s an uneven bars routine from Courtney’s freshman year at Georgia, plus a nice little fluffy biographical segment in which Courtney just barely admits to some dissatisfaction with the sport after Athens:
Now, I can’t help but think that her double layout dismount is lacking, after seeing Terin’s Olympic routine. She takes three giants (turns) off the high bar, but Terin only takes two giants to her double layout:
(I like these Australian commentators. They give the American girls their due without being stupid about it.)
