Extended Catholic family cheers Olympic gymnast Courtney Kupets

Published: 2004-08-20

REPUBLIC, Pa. (CNS) -- Courtney Kupets, a member of the 2004 U.S. women's Olympic gymnastics team, has always kept a low profile. Although she is a focused, driven, athletic powerhouse, she is above all a humble 18-year-old member of the Kupets family. The gymnast, a high school senior living in Gaithersburg, Md., was born in Bedford, Texas, and baptized in Holy Rosary Parish in Republic, where several members of her extended family are parishioners. Her father, Mark Kupets, a native of Republic, attended Holy Rosary School and graduated from Brownsville High School in 1974. He met his wife, Patti, at Indiana State University in Terre Haute, Ind. The couple celebrated their 25th wedding anniversary by going to Athens, Greece, with their son, Mark Justin, 21, daughter Ashley, 20, and son Christopher, 16, to cheer Courtney in the Olympic competition from inside Olympic Indoor Hall. On Aug. 17, Courtney helped lead the U.S. women's team to a silver medal in the team final. She and teammate Carly Patterson qualified to compete in the Aug. 19 individual all-around final where Carly won the gold. Courtney, who competed with a strained right hamstring, came in ninth.

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