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Yahoo! Greg
Boeck USA TODAY, February 28, 2003.
FAIRFAX, Va. -- At 24, Cuban-born Annia Hatch should be over the hill in
women's gymnastics. Instead, she's under the gun as the senior member -- by
eight years -- of a young and upcoming U.S. team that will compete Saturday in
the Visa American Cup.
It's the first stop on the road to the 2003 world championships in Anaheim,
Calif., and 2004 Olympics in Athens, Greece.
Hatch, a seven-time national champion in Cuba who won the country's first
world championship medal (bronze in the vault) in 1996, makes her U.S. debut in
international competition in the event that matches four U.S. gymnasts against
four international stars for the all-around title.
She was named to the team Tuesday as a replacement for two-time national
champion and defending American Cup champ Tasha Schwikert, who is recovering
from ankle surgery. She is expected to be ready for the U.S. championships in
June and the worlds in August.
U.S. team coordinator Marta Karolyi didn't hesitate naming Hatch to the
team, which includes teammates who were in the first grade or kindergarten when
Hatch competed in her first worlds in 1993. ''She is in excellent physical
condition,'' Karolyi says.
Hatch retired at 18, her Olympic dream unfulfilled because Cuba failed to
send in the necessary paperwork in time for the 1996 Atlanta Games. That same
year she married her American husband, Alan. She moved to Connecticut in 1997,
returned to the gym in 2001 and became a U.S. citizen in December that year.
Hatch returned to competition last year as a member of the U.S. team,
winning the vault in the American Classic, the all-around in the U.S. Classic
and the bronze in the vault at the nationals. She has revived her Olympic dream,
targeting Athens.
''I feel really proud,'' she says. ''I'm working harder, and I'm excited to
compete for the United States.''
She joins 2002 world championship gold medalists Ashley Postell and
Courtney Kupets, both 16, and 15-year-old reigning U.S. junior national
all-around gold medalist Carly Patterson on the U.S. team. Postell
(Mitchellville, Md.) and Kupets (McLean, Va.), major surprises in their first
world championships in November, are competing in their backyards.
''You feel pressure but no added pressure because of family,'' Kupets says.
''It will actually be an advantage for us.''
Says Postell, ''You can feed off the crowd.''
Nadia Comaneci (news - web sites), Mary Lou Retton and Shannon Miller, among
others, have used the American Cup as a springboard to Olympic success. ''This
is one of the most important competitions for us,'' Karolyi says. ''It defines
the readiness of our athletes.''
The favorite is Russian double Olympic gold medalist Elena Zamolodchikova,
who also won gold on the vault in the 2002 worlds. | 
