Bhardwaj, Hatch Are on Team

Annia Hatch briefly quit gymnastics seven years ago and injured her knee badly enough last August to fear retirement would be forced upon her this time, but the Cuban native wouldn’t relinquish her Olympic dream.

Mohini Bhardwaj partied hearty at UCLA and vanished from the elite scene only to return this year with heightened resolve and dynamic skills.

Hatch, 26, and Bhardwaj, 25, were nominated to the U.S. women’s gymnastics team Sunday for the Athens Games, surprises in an announcement that prompted tears of joy from the chosen and sobs from those who wobbled during the last two competitions at the U.S. women’s training center in New Waverly, Texas.

As expected, Courtney Kupets of Gaithersburg, Md., and Courtney McCool of Lee’s Summit, Mo., who finished 1-2 at the Olympic trials last month in Anaheim, were named to the squad, as was Carly Patterson of Allen, Texas, the all-around silver medalist at the 2003 world championships. Terin Humphrey of Blue Spring, Mo., a consistent all-around gymnast who was seventh at the trials and excelled at floor exercise at the selection camp, also won a spot.

Designated as alternates during a nationally televised announcement on NBC were Allyse Ishino of Santa Ana, 2000 Olympian Tasha Schwikert, who plans to compete at UCLA this fall, and Chellsie Memmel, a double world gold medalist in 2003 who was hobbled by a broken foot she suffered in April. Hollie Vise, who tied Memmel on the uneven bars at the 2003 world competition, was hampered by a sore back and was left out.

Kupets’ personal coach, Kelli Hill, was appointed the Olympic coach, reprising her Sydney role. Patterson’s coach, Evgeny Marchenko, was named the assistant. The team will reconvene in Texas on July 28 and leave for Athens on Aug. 4.

Bhardwaj and Hatch are considered vault specialists, but Hatch performed well on the balance beam and Bhardwaj won praise for her uneven bar routines at the camp. Bhardwaj, who trains at All Olympians Gym in Los Angeles, was delighted when both were selected and described herself as “a little bit on cloud nine.

“I don’t really believe I made the team. I might believe it tomorrow,” said Bhardwaj, whose expenses were underwritten by a $20,000 gift from actress and fellow vegetarian Pamela Anderson.

“We’ve been training for an Olympic Games almost 12 years now and to finally make it is just an amazing accomplishment.”

Hatch, who became a U.S. citizen in 2001, has in her repertoire several difficult vaults. That will make her a key figure in the team finals, in which each team can enter three competitors on each apparatus and all three scores will count. She tore the anterior cruciate ligament in her left knee before last year’s world championships but regained peak form in time to become the top vaulter at the trials.

Hatch, who lives in West Haven, Conn., with her husband and coach Alan, will be the oldest U.S. Olympic gymnast since Doris Fuchs Brause competed at 32 in the 1964 Games.

“I feel great not because I made it, but because I made it for USA,” said Hatch, who won a bronze medal on vault at the 1996 world championships but missed the Olympics because Cuban officials didn’t file the necessary papers. “I cannot explain how I feel at this moment.”

Martha Karolyi, coordinator of the national team, praised Bhardwaj’s work ethic and Hatch’s determination. Karolyi, former U.S. coach Roe Kreutzer and athlete representative Larissa Fontaine were on the selection committee.

“I think a lot of people may have been surprised,” Karolyi said, “but they have proven their consistency and can help the team in areas we felt we needed to match up better with the countries we compete against.... We have every event covered with at least three [gymnasts] who can score 9.5 or better.”

Karolyi said Patterson, 16, was the strongest athlete in camp, rebounding from two falls from the beam at the Olympic trials.

“I was still nervous and was thinking anything could happen,” Patterson said. “You still have to prove yourself.”

Just as the women will have to prove themselves in Athens against the Romanians, who were second at the 2003 world championships, the highly skilled Chinese and the perennially powerful Russians.

“I think we were very strong in Anaheim and I’m sure they’re coming back and getting stronger,” Patterson said. “We’re going to be just as hard to beat.”

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U.S. Gym Team

2004 U.S. women’s Olympic gymnastics team:

*--* Name Age From Courtney Kupets 17 Gaithersburg, Md. Courtney McCool 16 Lee’s Summit, Mo. Carly Patterson 16 Allen, Texas Mohini Bhardwaj 25 Los Angeles Annia Hatch 26 West Haven, Conn. Terin Humphrey 17 Blue Spring, Mo. ALTERNATES Allyse Ishino 16 Santa Ana Chellsie Memmel 16 West Allis, Wis. Tasha Schwikert 19 Las Vegas

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