UGA gymnast wins athlete of year award

She has won countless awards, including Olympic medals and NCAA championships. But Courtney Kupets said Monday’s honor topped them all.

The Georgia gymnast won the prestigious Honda-Broderick Cup as the nation’s Collegiate Woman Athlete of the Year — the first UGA athlete to receive the award in its 33-year history.

AP

Courtney Kupets holds the trophy she received for winning the nation’s Collegiate Woman Athlete of the Year award.

• Photos: Kupets receives award, at competitions

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“This one to me is like the culmination of my entire career as a gymnast,” Kupets said by phone after the award was presented at Columbia University in New York. “It’s been hard and it’s been long, but the journey along the way has been incredible. And to cap it off with something as massive as this award is just the biggest honor I could ever receive.”

Previous winners include such women’s sports luminaries as track-and-field’s Jackie Joyner-Kersee (1985), softball’s Lisa Fernandez (1993), soccer’s Mia Hamm (1994) and basketball’s Candace Parker (2008).

Putting the magnitude of the award in perspective, Kupets was featured on the marquee at Times Square on Monday afternoon.

The award considers not just athletic achievement but also academic success and community involvement. Georgia athletics director Damon Evans and retiring gymnastics coach Suzanne Yoculan were in New York to see Kupets honored.

“I felt like her mom, a proud mom,” Yoculan said. “I was just beaming with pride to see her stand up there and accept the award and speak so eloquently and with so much humility.”

Kupets, whose junior season was ended by a torn Achilles tendon, returned as a senior to lead the Gym Dogs to a fifth consecutive NCAA team championship. She also won four NCAA individual championships this year (all-around, bars, beam and floor), giving her a record nine for her career.

She has a 3.8 grade-point average, majoring in housing/property management. She plans to complete her undergraduate degree, then attend grad school “and find out my future.”

At the 2004 Olympics, Kupets was on the U.S. team that won a silver medal in the all-around competition. She also won an individual bronze medal on bars.

She was chosen for the Honda-Broderick award in a vote by almost 1,000 NCAA schools and the board of directors of the Collegiate Women Sports Awards program. She became just second gymnast to win the award, following Utah’s Missy Marlowe (1992).

Kupets said she was humbled to be chosen from all the athletes competing in various NCAA women’s sports.

“That’s a lot of girls, a lot of hard work and a lot of sacrifices by each and every one,” she said. “I was [thinking], ‘Really, you want me to receive this award?’ “