UGA gymnast named top female athlete

Sports

UGA gymnast named top female athlete

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

Georgia gymnast Courtney Kupets has won the 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. "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.

The award recognizes 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.

At the 2004 Olympics (above), 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.

Kupets, whose junior season was ended by a torn Achilles tendon, returned as a senior this year to lead the Gym Dogs to a fifth consecutive NCAA team championship. She won four NCAA individual championships this year, giving her an all-time high of nine for her career.

Putting the magnitude of the award in perspective, Kupets, shown in 2004, was to be featured on the marquee at Times Square Monday afternoon.

Georgia Gym Dog Courtney Kupets is hugged by her father Mark Kupets following her floor routine on senior night, the last home meet of the year in Athens on March 14, 2009.

Previous winners form a who's who of women's sports, including track-and-field's Jackie Joyner-Kersee (1985), softball's Lisa Fernandez (1993), soccer's Mia Hamm (1994) and basketball's Candace Parker (2008). Fernandez presents the award to Kupets Monday.

Kupets said she was humbled to receive the award out of all the women athletes competing in various sports at NCAA schools. "That's a lot of girls, a lot of hard work and a lot of sacrifices by each and every one," she said. Courtney performed with her sister Ashley (left) in 2005.

A National Honor Society member, she has a 3.8 grade point average.

UGA Gym Dog and Olympic medalist Courtney Kupets (left) and teammate and fellow Olympian Courtney McCool in 2006.

Kupets 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.

"I felt like her mom, a proud mom," Yoculan said by phone later of Kupets (above). "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."

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Georgia gymnast Courtney Kupets has won the 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. "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.

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