Olympics
This year's female gymnasts may be the best in U.S. history

By Cathy Harasta
Dallas Morning News

SUE OGROCKI / AP American Carly Patterson took second at the 2003 world championships, finishing behind Russian Svetlana Khorkina. She was a member of last August's world-championship team.

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The U.S. women rarely, if ever, have been as powerful as the team that will try to win the team gold medal in Athens.

Ranging in age from 16 to 26, the team returns two members from the squad that won the world championships last August in Anaheim, Calif.

Carly Patterson and Terin Humphrey are the only holdovers from the five-woman squad that competed after losing key members to injury and illness just before and early in the world championships.

Depth should help this team amass the scores needed to compete with the Romanians, who are eager to defend their Olympic team title.

Patterson and Courtney McCool are best equipped to make the all-around final. Both are calm by nature, physically strong and still improving. But never count out Courtney Kupets, the 2002 uneven bars world champion.

Keep an eye on these five gymnasts Svetlana Khorkina: The Russian star, 25, will want to make the most of her farewell Olympics. She's the reigning world all-around champion and an uneven bars whiz. At a time when she might be slipping, she'll call on her experience. Carly Patterson: The U.S. floor exercise champion could win the all-around and more. She'd love a rematch of the 2003 world all-around final with Svetlana Khorkina, in which Patterson finished second. Alina Kozich: The Ukrainian had some problems on the balance beam at the European championships but won the all-around. She has gained confidence since the world championships last year. Daiane dos Santos: The world floor exercise champion from Brazil is one of just a few athletes from her nation favored to win a gold medal. The 21-year-old has an electrifying leap-twist-flip series named for her. Catalina Ponor: The Romanian won the balance beam and the floor exercise at the 2004 European championships after claiming silver in both at worlds last year.

Rounding out the team are Mohini Bhardwaj, whom actress Pamela Anderson has supported and will no doubt be in full view rooting for her in Athens, and Annia Hatch. Neither tried to make the 2000 Olympic team.

Bhardwaj, then coming off a collegiate season for UCLA, had not given the Olympics serious consideration. Hatch, born and raised in Cuba, retired after the 1996 Games when Cuba declined to send athletes to Atlanta.

Hatch moved to the United States in 1997 and became a U.S. citizen in December 2001, about the same time she ended her retirement. Bhardwaj's return began more than a year ago in Los Angeles, buoyed by Anderson's financial backing. Both gymnasts are in their 20s, considered old for a sport dominated by teens.

But not too old.

Both were named to the Athens squad after a competition at USA Gymnastics' women's training center in New Waverly, Texas. Hatch, 26, and Bhardwaj, 25, are about 10 years older than some of their teammates.

"To finally make it, it's an amazing accomplishment," Bhardwaj said.

Patterson, 16, the 2003 world all-around silver medalist, and Humphrey, 17, also were picked for the Olympic squad by a selection committee headed by national team coordinator Marta Karolyi.

Kupets, 17, and McCool, 16 — the two Courtneys — earned automatic nominations to the Olympic team last month by finishing first and second, respectively, at the gymnastics trials in Anaheim.

	Courtney McCool

"Being an older athlete ... competing in the Olympic Games, we're going to have to keep everybody else grounded," Bhardwaj said. "We're going to have to make sure everyone's mind is in the right place."

It is an interesting mix with the potential to win a fistful of medals. But Romania won't make it easy. There are five nations to watch: the United States, the reigning world champion; Romania, defending Olympic champion; Russia, a traditional powerhouse; China, technically sound medal threat; and Australia, the world championship bronze-medal team on the rise.

The Chicago Tribune contributed to this article.

Copyright © 2004 The Seattle Times Company

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