The 2003 American Cup, held March 1st in Fairfax, Virginia, most certainly was true to its title this year, as four of the seven women who completed the meet did so in the United States uniform. The lack of national diversity, however, was compensated for by a tremendous effort by the American contingent, and a few highlights of an international flavor, as well.

The meet began on vault, and first up was American Annia Hatch, recently released by the Cuban federation to compete for her adopted country. Though early in the lineup, her booming Yurchenko double full (complete stretched position to the floor, incredible distance) remained the highlight of the rotation through the following eight performances. Her lofty 9.675 to start the competition indicated, however predictably, that the spectators would be treated to a rather noticeable inflation of scores as the meet went on. Beth Tweddle, a gymnast of ever-increasing gymnastic repute, completed a clean, and new-for-her Podkopayeva for a 9.375, and next-up Heather Purnell of Canada landed her Yurchenko 1 1/2 without a major error. Both Floarea Leonida, the current European Junior All-Around silver medalist, and world vaulting champion Elena Zamolodchikova lacked a bit of amplitude on their attempts (handspring layout-then-piked-then-tucked front 1/2 and Yurchenko double full, respectively). The latter was a bit of a surprise, considering her current status as the best vaulter on earth, but it looked from her practice sessions previous to the meet that she was not at her physical peak here in Fairfax. Carly Patterson continued the Americans' success on this apparatus, landing a Yurchenko double full of her own with no error on the landing. The vault was excellent, but she didn't quite get the explosion off the horse that Hatch did; the 9.60 score that flashed reflected this slight difference. Courtney Kupets landed a slightly simple piked Omelianchik vault well for a 9.25, setting up world vault finalist Ashley Postell for a good score. Competing Kupets' vault in the layout position and with a half twist, she took one step on the landing and received a very nice 9.537.

On to the uneven bars, Purnell got things started with a slightly messy set (giant full, Gienger; cast-full to shootover handstand; full-twisting double back dismount). Leonida's routine featured similarly sloppy execution on her transitions but she caught a nice Tkatchev in her opening combination. Elena Zamolodchikova began her routine with a wicked Gurova mount from inside the bars, right into a toe shoot. Sure, she cheated the first skill, but it was eye-catching nonetheless. Unfortunately, the rest of the routine was visibly labored and she appeared to give up on her full-twisting double back dismount, opening out of her tuck too early, letting her knees buckle on the landing, and the momentum she still carried from the somersault flung her backwards onto the mat. Not exactly pretty. Carly Patterson performed next and somewhat elevated the mood of the spectators, who were probably still agape at the painful-looking conclusion of Zamo's routine (and, ultimately, her showing at the competition). She navigated smoothly and calmly through every intricate pirouette and release combination (toe-on full to stalder shoot; stalder full, giant 1 1/2, giant full, Tkatchev, Pak salto… phew) and stuck her dismount for a personal best 9.70! However, the steadiness of that performance was overshadowed by the daring of world champion Kupets', whose grips released and regrasped the bar no less than six times throughout the exercise. She began the routine with a flawless Maloney to shootover handstand, immediate toe shoot, and followed that up with a hop full to Tkatchev which was so well-flighted I was afraid she would hit herself on the rafters. Fortunately, she didn't, and went on to stick her full-in dismount for a 9.787. Ashley Postell and Annia Hatch went through their routines successfully, if slightly cautiously; Postell left out a stalder full on the low bar and stumbled on the dismount (9.162), while Hatch improvised after a planned free hip handstand blind change didn't make it past vertical, and instead of a jaeger salto, she skipped to a later portion of the routine and swung into a shootover (9.337). The next and final performance on the uneven bars had to have left the audience wondering why the generosity of scoring seemed not to apply to every competitor. Tweddle swung a fabulous 10.0 start value set (giant full to Gienger; giant 1 1/2 to L-grip, Bi pirouette, healy; Khorkina) with a nailed full-out dismount that scored a respectable, but somewhat unfulfilling 9.575. Patterson's 9.7 was from a start value one tenth lower.

The balance beam saw a continued dominance from the USA team. With the absence of Zamolodchikova from the lineup, the first to perform was instead Carly Patterson. She wobbled a little bit throughout the routine (two-foot layout, switch leap "half"), but her standing arabian, front tuck to sheep jump, and her trademark dismount were masterfully done. Kupets was next to take to the beam, and displayed a great amount of confidence and consistency to score a 9.550 (beautiful flip-flop, layout, layout; front aerial; two back handsprings to a stuck double back dismount). Ashley Postell showed why she became the world champion in November with a buttery-smooth routine, despite a missed connection from her Kochetkova to flip-flop layout. Hatch completed the string of American beam routines, but unfortunately could not continue the success they'd been having with them. In spite of an excellent standing full and switch side half, two falls - one on a piked front mount and the other on a one-arm flip-flop to layout - brought her score down to an 8.55. Tweddle began the international showing on beam with a wobbly piked front mount, and continued to show nerves throughout. She stayed on, however, and showed a nifty piked front somersault to back layout stepout. Purnell was equally inventive with a rarely-seen wolf jump 1 1/2, but her form wasn't great and she had many a large wobble. Leonida finished the beam rotation with a rather unspirited performance, but her tricks were impressive, having no problem controlling a tucked full, a one-armed flip-flop to back pike, and an easily completed triple full dismount.

Courtney Kupets was first to take to the floor, and although with no Tasha Schwikert to win or lose to this year, she hit an even better routine than the one she did a year ago in Orlando. She stuck her whip-half to double front just like she seems to always do, and continued on to a soaring arabian double. She landed a triple full and double pike with no problem, and added in a couple of new dance combinations, too, for a pleasing 9.612. Ashley Postell's routine was next in the lineup, and though the new music and dance may have garnered mixed opinions, the security of her acrobatics (arabian double, 2 1/2 to front layout, front double full, triple full, also a nice triple turn) was hard to debate. Annia Hatch nailed all of her difficult tumbling (double layout, 2 1/2 to tucked front-full, tucked full-in, double pike) with a big smile on her face and did well with her new choreography. Her dance combinations, however, were quite incomplete, and the 9.712 she received was far too high. Tweddle fell on an attempt to complete a daring piked arabian double front as her opening pass. The 1 1/2 through to triple full that followed was well-done and the routine was otherwise a delight. Purnell hit a pretty good routine to cap off her day (solid piked-full in; a little rough on front full, front full combination; nice double pike) for a 9.187, and Leonida's energetic routine in both dance and tumbling (full-in; 2 1/2, punch front layout; nice whip, triple full; double pike) resulted in a 9.45 and a happy ending to her okay day. Patterson was the last to compete, and it was pretty obvious that if she avoided a disaster that she would be the 2003 American Cup champion. She began well enough with a solid 1/2 in, 1/2 out and arabian double front. Her middle pass, which had been giving her problems in the warmup period mid-rotation, was a little scary. Over-cooking the 2 1/2, she got minimal bounce into the front layout that followed and had to bend her knees and land in a deep squat. You have to remember, though, that she's got superhuman composure and she recovered easily from a potential bottoming-out. She nailed her closing double pike and victory was hers!

The American Cup this year left me a few final impressions. Firstly, the United States is on its way to quite a batch of successes over the next few years with flashy but, for the most part, consistent gymnasts like Patterson, Kupets, Hatch and Postell. Their performances here were indeed worthy of big numbers, but maybe not as big as we saw here. Hatch's floor should have probably received a 9.6 start value (incomplete tuck jump double, tour jete full and cat leap double), but the judges instead rewarded her with an actual score .112 higher than that. Patterson was without a doubt deserving of her victory, but I don't think the international community should be too frightened of her 38.662 all-around total. Carly and the rest of the gymnasts present did an excellent job; I really don't think it was necessary for the judges to give her and the rest of the gymnasts the gifts they did.

Photos © Lloyd Smith and Associated Press