Balance Beam

SYDNEY, Australia - Elise Ray never imagined the Olympics would be like this, the stuff of struggles endured instead of dreams achieved, of feeling a pop in her shoulder on a first routine and making one last tiny misstep on the balance beam. No one could have predicted that the 18-year-old from Columbia would storm down a runway at breakneck speed and fly over a vault that was set 2 inches too low and fail to land on her two feet. And few could have foreseen the turmoil that engulfed her team, with officials squabbling and the U.S. team failing to gain an Olympic gymnastics medal for the first time since 1972.

BEIJING - Shawn Johnson had dark circles under her brown eyes and a headache, but when she jumped on the balance beam last night, she switched on her smile and defiantly pounded out a gold-medal routine. It wasn't the gold Johnson wanted. She had come here as the favorite to win the all-around title, had hoped to lead the U.S. team to a gold medal, had hoped to defend her world championship in the floor exercise and add to that a balance-beam gold medal. But through a succession of silvers - team, all-around, floor - Johnson, 16, of West Des Moines, Iowa, stuck out her chin, wiped away tears and insisted that silver was just as nice as gold.

SYDNEY, Australia - With a slight bobble and a twisting dismount, gymnast Elise Ray of Columbia completed her Summer Olympics today. Ray, who attended Wilde Lake High, scored 9.387 during the balance beam finals. She finished eighth, shut out of the medals. For Ray, the Olympics were taxing yet rewarding. In her opening floor routine of the Games, Ray felt a pop in her left shoulder, but gamely continued, explaining, "It's no big deal." She soldiered on during the team final, performing solidly and helping the United States finish fourth, ever so close to the bronze.

One-by-one, Dominique Dawes straightened the young gymnasts as they struck a pose on the balance beam. "Stomach in. Hips are squared. The body is lean and tight," she told 9-year-old Christina Riggins, who was striking a graceful pose on the balance beam with her arms outstretched and forming a V. Christina quickly adjusted her position, her face tensed with concentration. Once the girls struck their positions on the 4-inch wide beam, Dawes pushed them. Christina teetered for a moment, then slipped off the beam.

BEIJING - Shawn Johnson had dark circles under her brown eyes and a headache, but when she jumped on the balance beam last night, she switched on her smile and defiantly pounded out a gold-medal routine. It wasn't the gold Johnson wanted. She had come here as the favorite to win the all-around title, had hoped to lead the U.S. team to a gold medal, had hoped to defend her world championship in the floor exercise and add to that a balance-beam gold medal. But through a succession of silvers - team, all-around, floor - Johnson, 16, of West Des Moines, Iowa, stuck out her chin, wiped away tears and insisted that silver was just as nice as gold.

NASHVILLE, Tenn. - Courtney Kupets may have torn her Achilles' tendon last summer, but she didn't show weakness in her heel or anywhere else last night at the U.S. Gymnastics Championships. The reigning all-around national champion from Gaithersburg led all 32 competitors, completing her four routines with a total score of 38.225, and winning the balance beam. "I was confident," Kupets said, beaming. "Right now, winning nationals isn't as important as doing all my routines cleanly ... but who wouldn't want it?"

Ever since she was a little girl, Erin Nett has been as comfortable flipping through the air as she is walking on the ground.Life as a competitive gymnast kept her in the air five days a week for most of the past 13 years. When a broken foot ended her gymnastics career last winter, Nett turned her attention to new heights.Now, the Bel Air High senior is soaring again -- as a pole vaulter."I love the feeling. I can't even explain it," said Nett, 17. "I'm used to flipping around from gymnastics, and this is so much higher.

Uplifting: U.S. gymnast Elise Ray (above on balance beam) perseveres after falling on a vault set at the wrong height. [Page 1e] Track: American Marion Jones begins her Drive for Five golds, winning a preliminary heat in the 100-meter dash. [Page 1e]

ATHENS -- U.S. women's gymnasts marched into yesterday's team qualification with an unwanted teammate: jitters. Rookie nerves nagged all but one of the gymnasts and caused the youngest member to lose her composure. At the end of the day, however, the little setbacks remained little, as the U.S. squad finished second behind Romania and became one of eight teams to move on to tomorrow's final. Only Carly Patterson seemed inoculated against the jitters, finishing first in the individual rankings and qualifying for the individual all-around final and the apparatus finals in balance beam.

GymnasticsSeven-year-old Angela D'Apice and 10-year-old April Marinelli won the Level 5 Maryland State uneven bar title in their age groups at the Maryland State Gymnastic Championships.D'Apice and Marinelli, who compete for the Harford Gymnastics Training Center, outscored all other competitors with a 9.45 score.Harford Gymnastics, which qualified 20 gymnasts, finished sixth overall in the team competition.In the 7-8 age group, Kristen Speargas was Harford Gymnastics' leading all-around scorer with a 35.0 to take sixth place.

GAITHERSBURG -- The lip-biting started yesterday even before Olympic gymnast Courtney Kupets completed her slide to ninth place in the women's all-around competition. Over the past year, the elite teenage gymnasts she trains with here at Hill's Gymnastics have watched her nail vaults and floor routines with power and grace. But Kupets' early scores from Athens yesterday -- particularly the 8.975 on the balance beam -- rained a quiet disappointment over the leotard-clad girls tumbling and leaping across the cavernous gymnasium.

ATHENS - The team built for gold came up short a few parts last night. Instead of being atop the podium, U.S. women's gymnasts stood one step down, the medals around their necks silver. Romania, which won the team gold in 2000 and was runner-up to the Americans in the 2003 world championships, proved to be the superior performer. "They were the better team tonight," said U.S. coach Kelli Hill. "We opened the door a little bit, and they walked in." After the disappointing 2000 Summer Games, when the women finished fourth, the president of USA Gymnastics, Bob Colorossi, said the Athens squad would be built to win the team gold.

ATHENS -- U.S. women's gymnasts marched into yesterday's team qualification with an unwanted teammate: jitters. Rookie nerves nagged all but one of the gymnasts and caused the youngest member to lose her composure. At the end of the day, however, the little setbacks remained little, as the U.S. squad finished second behind Romania and became one of eight teams to move on to tomorrow's final. Only Carly Patterson seemed inoculated against the jitters, finishing first in the individual rankings and qualifying for the individual all-around final and the apparatus finals in balance beam.

To understand what makes Courtney Kupets the best women's gymnast in the country, you have to stop the action. Look at photos of her on the uneven bars, the vault, even the 4-inch-wide balance beam. Upside down, right side up, somehow the two-time U.S. champion keeps her body as taut as an archer's bowstring. "She's the best. So strong, so straight. Others are very good, but she's picture perfect - literally. Everything is a straight line," says Paul Ziert, the publisher of International Gymnast magazine and former coach of two-time Olympic gold medalist Bart Conner.

ANAHEIM, Calif. - It wasn't medical science alone that allowed Courtney Kupets to regain her world-class gymnastic skills less than 10 months after she ruptured her left Achilles' tendon. Surgical skill was part of it, certainly. But her remarkable recovery was also due in equal parts to hope, perseverance and a determination to remember why she pursued this often painful sport and endured tough months of rehabilitation. "You just go out there and have fun," the 17-year-old from Gaithersburg said.

NASHVILLE, Tenn. - Even if Courtney Kupets had finished second last night at the U.S. Gymnastics Championships, it would have been a storybook comeback to a year filled with injury and rehabilitation. Instead, with a gutsy final routine, the 17-year-old from Gaithersburg won her second consecutive national title, tying Carly Patterson of Texas with a two-day total of 76.450 points. "What a wonderful way to win this, to tie with somebody who's your friend," said Kupets, unaware of the score she needed when she swung onto the uneven bars.

Oakland Mills gymnastics coach Bonnie Taylor hopes her team never experiences another bizarre afternoon like yesterday.The fact that the Scorpions are expected to challenge for a county title this season but lost to four-time defending county champion Atholton by a substantial 128.1-113.5 margin didn't upset Taylor too much.After all, it was just the season's first meet. The way her team lost was disconcerting, however. It just wasn't her team's day.One of visiting Oakland Mills' top three gymnasts, April Page, sprained her ankle during warm-ups and couldn't compete.

Junior Devin McCalla won the all-around title for the second year in a row, leading George Washington to its second straight championship at the 16th annual Towson University Invitational before 1,199 yesterday at Towson Center. The No. 25 Colonials set a meet record with a 195.175 team score to edge No. 32 Towson for the championship. The Tigers, who have won 14 of the previous 16 Towson Invitationals, had a 194.125 team score. James Madison was third (190.675). McCalla won the all-around with a 39.35 score, edging two Tigers.

NASHVILLE, Tenn. - Courtney Kupets may have torn her Achilles' tendon last summer, but she didn't show weakness in her heel or anywhere else last night at the U.S. Gymnastics Championships. The reigning all-around national champion from Gaithersburg led all 32 competitors, completing her four routines with a total score of 38.225, and winning the balance beam. "I was confident," Kupets said, beaming. "Right now, winning nationals isn't as important as doing all my routines cleanly ... but who wouldn't want it?"

MILWAUKEE - Courtney Kupets knew a slip on the balance beam might end her chances of winning the national all-around title. The 16-year-old gymnast from Gaithersburg never flinched, scoring a 9.650 on her final event to claim her first gold medal in a tense battle with two-time defending champion Tasha Schwikert and 15-year-old phenom Hollie Vise last night at the U.S. Gymnastics Championships. Schwikert and Vise tied for second place, joining Kupets as the first three members of the U.S. team that will compete in the World Championships later this summer in Anaheim, Calif.