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Interviewed on the Today show by Katie Couric in February.
Named to the honor roll at Rockville's Magruder High School in March.
And the subject of her own Sports Illustrated for Kids sports card this month.
So, what do you do for an encore, Courtney Kupets?
The 17-year-old gymnast grins. "I don't know. It's all pretty cool," she says.
Kupets, the 2003 national all-around champion, has been in intense rehabilitation since tearing her Achilles' tendon last August at the world championships.
Just before Easter, Kupets and other elite gymnasts went to a monthly training program at Bela and Martha Karolyi's ranch outside Houston. Kupets passed her physical ability test and performed half of the routines she'll use at the national championships June 2-5 and the U.S. Olympic trials later that month.
"Courtney's 100 percent," says her coach, Kelli Hill. "If the surgery went well - and it did - we knew she'd be right here. Her physical therapy went really well, and she has worked her tail off."
Kupets most likely will compete on the uneven bars and beam on May 14-16 at the U.S. Classic in Rochester, N.Y. Immediately afterward, she will perform in all four events (adding the floor exercise and vault) at an international invitational at the Karoyli ranch.
"I'm doing all my skills, and now I'm working on putting them all in one routine," says Kupets, the 2002 uneven bars world champion. "I'm getting my confidence back in every skill. When you come back, that takes time."
And time, which once seemed to be working against Kupets after her injury, seems to have cut her a break.
By not suffering any setbacks, Hill says her young charge was able to maintain focus and build confidence.
"As long as it comes together in June," says Hill, smiling. "No problem. No pressure."
Marathon preview
If you're looking for members of the U.S. Olympic squad at tomorrow's 108th running of the Boston Marathon, you'll be disappointed. On the other hand, if it's a look at their Summer Games competition you want, this is the place.
The world's oldest annual marathon has attracted a field of more than 20,000, including an elite class of 29 male and female athletes - none of whom is American.
The U.S. team picked its marathoners at trials in February and March, and those athletes were unwilling to disrupt training or risk injury to compete.
The race will feature 2003 champion Robert Kipkoech Cheruiyot (2 hours, 10 minutes, 11 seconds) and two-time winner Catherine Ndereba, who will be competing in Athens. Both are from Kenya.
Cheruiyot will be challenged by countrymen Benjamin Kosgei Kimutai and Martin Lel, who finished in second and third place last year. Lel is an alternate on the Kenya Olympic squad.
Named to the honor roll at Rockville's Magruder High School in March.
And the subject of her own Sports Illustrated for Kids sports card this month.
So, what do you do for an encore, Courtney Kupets?
The 17-year-old gymnast grins. "I don't know. It's all pretty cool," she says.
Kupets, the 2003 national all-around champion, has been in intense rehabilitation since tearing her Achilles' tendon last August at the world championships.
Just before Easter, Kupets and other elite gymnasts went to a monthly training program at Bela and Martha Karolyi's ranch outside Houston. Kupets passed her physical ability test and performed half of the routines she'll use at the national championships June 2-5 and the U.S. Olympic trials later that month.
"Courtney's 100 percent," says her coach, Kelli Hill. "If the surgery went well - and it did - we knew she'd be right here. Her physical therapy went really well, and she has worked her tail off."
Kupets most likely will compete on the uneven bars and beam on May 14-16 at the U.S. Classic in Rochester, N.Y. Immediately afterward, she will perform in all four events (adding the floor exercise and vault) at an international invitational at the Karoyli ranch.
"I'm doing all my skills, and now I'm working on putting them all in one routine," says Kupets, the 2002 uneven bars world champion. "I'm getting my confidence back in every skill. When you come back, that takes time."
And time, which once seemed to be working against Kupets after her injury, seems to have cut her a break.
By not suffering any setbacks, Hill says her young charge was able to maintain focus and build confidence.
"As long as it comes together in June," says Hill, smiling. "No problem. No pressure."
Marathon preview
If you're looking for members of the U.S. Olympic squad at tomorrow's 108th running of the Boston Marathon, you'll be disappointed. On the other hand, if it's a look at their Summer Games competition you want, this is the place.
The world's oldest annual marathon has attracted a field of more than 20,000, including an elite class of 29 male and female athletes - none of whom is American.
The U.S. team picked its marathoners at trials in February and March, and those athletes were unwilling to disrupt training or risk injury to compete.
The race will feature 2003 champion Robert Kipkoech Cheruiyot (2 hours, 10 minutes, 11 seconds) and two-time winner Catherine Ndereba, who will be competing in Athens. Both are from Kenya.
Cheruiyot will be challenged by countrymen Benjamin Kosgei Kimutai and Martin Lel, who finished in second and third place last year. Lel is an alternate on the Kenya Olympic squad.
