Courtney Lynn McCool-Griffeth (born April 1, 1988) is an American former

artistic gymnast Artistic gymnastics is a discipline of gymnastics in which athletes perform short routines on different apparatuses. The sport is governed by the Fédération Internationale de Gymnastique (FIG), which designs the Code of Points and regulates ...

who competed in the

2004 Summer Olympics The 2004 Summer Olympics ( el, Θερινοί Ολυμπιακοί Αγώνες 2004, ), officially the Games of the XXVIII Olympiad ( el, Αγώνες της 28ης Ολυμπιάδας, ) and also known as Athens 2004 ( el, Αθήνα 2004), ...

. She was coached by Al and Armine Fong of Great American Gymnastic Express. From 2007–2010, McCool competed for the

University of Georgia , mottoeng = "To teach, to serve, and to inquire into the nature of things.""To serve" was later added to the motto without changing the seal; the Latin motto directly translates as "To teach and to inquire into the nature of things." , establ ...

. In that time, the team won three NCAA national titles. She is currently an assistant coach and choreographer for the

LSU Tigers The LSU Tigers and Lady Tigers are the athletic teams representing Louisiana State University (LSU), a state university located in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. LSU competes in Division I of the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) as a ...

team.

Elite gymnastics career

McCool was the runner-up in the junior division of the 2003

National Championships A national championship(s) is the top achievement for any sport or contest within a league of a particular nation or nation state. The title is usually awarded by contests, ranking systems, stature, ability, etc. This determines the best team, indi ...

and won a silver medal on

vault Vault may refer to: * Jumping, the act of propelling oneself upwards Architecture * Vault (architecture), an arched form above an enclosed space * Bank vault, a reinforced room or compartment where valuables are stored * Burial vault (enclosure ...

at the 2003 Pan American Games. The following year, her first as a senior international elite, she was the runner-up at the

American Cup The American Cup (also known as the American Football Association Cup and the American Federation Cup) was the first major U.S. soccer competition open to teams beyond a single league. It was first held in 1885. In the 1910s, it gradually dec ...

and the all-around champion at the Olympic Test Event in

Athens Athens ( ; el, Αθήνα, Athína ; grc, Ἀθῆναι, Athênai (pl.) ) is both the capital and largest city of Greece. With a population close to four million, it is also the seventh largest city in the European Union. Athens dominates ...

. She was the only gymnast at the Test Event to qualify for all four event finals, and she won a silver medal on vault and bronze on the

uneven bars The uneven bars or asymmetric bars is an artistic gymnastics apparatus. It is made of a steel frame. The bars are made of fiberglass with wood coating, or less commonly wood. The English abbreviation for the event in gymnastics scoring is UB or ...

. She then placed fourth in the all-around at the National Championships and second at the Olympic Trials, earning a spot on the Olympic team. At the Olympics, McCool competed all four events in the qualification round, but faltered on beam and floor and was excluded from the team finals lineup. The United States team won the silver medal behind

Romania Romania ( ; ro, România ) is a country located at the crossroads of Central Europe, Central, Eastern Europe, Eastern, and Southeast Europe, Southeastern Europe. It borders Bulgaria to the south, Ukraine to the north, Hungary to the west, S ...

. After the Olympics, McCool joined the T.J. Maxx Tour of Olympic Champions, a nationwide gymnastics exhibition tour. However, after finding out that the tour would not be stopping in her hometown, Kansas City, she joined the Rock 'N Roll Gymnastics Challenge, a rival tour, for its Kansas City show. T.J. Maxx officials said they had not given McCool permission to do so, and dropped her from the rest of the tour. Late in 2004, it emerged that McCool had been suffering from Kienbock's disease, a wrist condition that required surgery and prevented her from performing in further post-Olympic exhibitions.

NCAA career

McCool earned a full scholarship to the

beginning in the 2006–07 school year. In her freshman season, she helped the team win its third straight national title, scoring an event high of 9.95 on beam at the 2007

NCAA Women's Gymnastics Championships The NCAA women's gymnastics championships are an annual gymnastics competition to determine the best collegiate women's gymnastics team in the country. Unlike most NCAA sports, the women's gymnastics championship is not separated into divisions a ...

Salt Lake City Salt Lake City (often shortened to Salt Lake and abbreviated as SLC) is the Capital (political), capital and List of cities and towns in Utah, most populous city of Utah, United States. It is the county seat, seat of Salt Lake County, Utah, Sal ...

. At the 2008 Championships in

Athens, Georgia Athens, officially Athens–Clarke County, is a consolidated city-county and college town in the U.S. state of Georgia. Athens lies about northeast of downtown Atlanta, and is a satellite city of the capital. The University of Georgia, the sta ...

, McCool won the floor exercise and contributed to Georgia's fourth consecutive title. In 2009, Georgia won a fifth straight title, and McCool was named an All-American on balance beam, where she scored her first 10.0.

Skills

McCool performed the following routines in 2004: Vault (Start Value: 9.7): 1½-twisting

Yurchenko Yurchenko is a Ukrainian patronymic surname that comes from the name Yuriy. It may refer to: * David Yurchenko (born 1986), Russian-Armenian footballer * Denys Yurchenko (born 1978), Ukrainian pole vaulter * Ihor Yurchenko (born 1960), Soviet a ...

Uneven bars (SV: 9.9): Kip, cast handstand (KCH); stalder shoot to high bar; KCH; underswing to blind turn + Khorkina; KCH;

Gienger The Gienger is a gymnastics skill performed on the uneven bars for women and the high bar for men. It is named after German gymnast Eberhard Gienger. The release move looks like a half-turn layout "flyaway" above the bar to catch the same bar. Its ...

; KCH 1/2 + giant 3/2 (Dawes) + Tkatchev; KCH; giant 1/1 + shootover to handstand + underswing shoot to high bar; KCH; giant + giant + double layout dismount. Balance beam (SV: 10.0): Front handspring mount (McCool); front aerial + back handspring stepout + layout stepout + layout stepout; switch leap + Onodi; sheep jump; wolf jump 1/1; switch side leap; full turn with leg above horizontal + Popa; roundoff + triple twist dismount. Floor exercise (SV: 10.0): Popa + tuck jump 2/1; roundoff + back handspring + 2½ twist + front 1/1; double turn with leg above horizontal + wolf jump 1/1; switch ring leap + Gogean; triple full; front double twist + front layout. McCool's balance beam mount, a

front handspring A handspring is an acrobatic move in which a person executes a complete revolution of the body by lunging headfirst from an upright position into an inverted vertical position and then pushing off (i.e., "springing") from the floor with the hands ...

with a two-foot landing, is named after her in the

International Federation of Gymnastics The International Gymnastics Federation (French: Fédération Internationale de Gymnastique, FIG) is the body governing all disciplines of competitive gymnastics. Its headquarters is in Lausanne, Switzerland. It was founded on July 23, 1881, in ...

' Code of Points because she was the first to perform it at the Olympics.

Floor music

2004: "Peter Gunn Theme"

References

External links

* * *
Gym Dogs Win Third Straight NCAA Championship
… article with videos
A Site by Morgan dedicated to Courtney McCool
..great info, photo galleries, videos, animations, and more.
Dragon Gymnastics official website

Courtney McCool videos on Gymnastike.org
{{DEFAULTSORT:McCool, Courtney 1988 births Living people Sportspeople from Kansas City, Missouri American female artistic gymnasts Gymnasts at the 2003 Pan American Games Gymnasts at the 2004 Summer Olympics Georgia Gym Dogs gymnasts Olympic silver medalists for the United States in gymnastics Medalists at the 2004 Summer Olympics Pan American Games gold medalists for the United States Pan American Games medalists in gymnastics U.S. women's national team gymnasts Medalists at the 2003 Pan American Games NCAA gymnasts who have scored a perfect 10