Tasha gets backup role

Monday, July 19, 2004 | 9:18 a.m.

It has been said that in football, a backup quarterback is just one play away from stepping into the limelight.

In gymnastics, where injuries are almost as prevalent, all it takes is one routine resulting in a sprained ankle or twisted knee to vault an alternate into prime time.

That's the path Las Vegas teenager Tasha Schwikert took to international prominence at the Sydney Olympics four years ago.

Courtney Kupets

Courtney McCool

Carly Patterson

Terin Humphrey

Mohini Bhardwaj

Annia Hatch

Unfortunately, after being named one of three alternates to the six-member USA women's team that was announced Sunday at the conclusion of Olympic selection camp, it's the same route she'll have to take in Greece next month if she is to conclude her career as one of America's premier elite gymnasts with a flourish.

Schwikert learned on national TV that she did not perform quite well enough at the surburban Houston ranch of Bela and U.S. national team coordinator Martha Karolyi to join Courtney Kupets, Courtney McCool and Carly Patterson, who were virtually locked into the Olympic team going into the weeklong camp.

The additional three spots went to Terin Humphrey and veterans Mohini Bhardwaj and Annia Hatch, both once-retired specialists in the vault.

If Schwikert, 19, was disappointed in not making the team, she handled the news with the grace of one of her floor exercises.

"Just fine," she said via telephone when asked how she was doing following the announcement.

"I did the best I could do. As far as being disappointed, there's nothing on my end. I'm happy and excited to get to go to Greece and train as an alternate."

That's just what she was doing in Sydney four years ago when Morgan White was injured in training, opening a roster spot. That experience on an international stage was Schwikert's springboard to 2001 and '02 U.S. all-around championships.

A series of foot and ankle injuries knocked Schwikert from her perch as America's top all-around gymnast. She is just now regaining the form she showed in leading the United States to its first world championship in 1993.

"I've got to be ready," she said about her role as an alternate. "It's three more weeks out of my life where I have to train hard, but that's not a problem. I've been treated well and it's a chance to get over to Greece. I'm not exactly disappointed or anything like that."

Unlike some of the others who were bypassed and appeared on the verge of tears, Schwikert showed little emotion when her name was called as an alternate, along with those of Chellsie Memmel and Allyse Ishino. She smiled as she hugged each of the Olympic team members.

"We hope we don't have to use replacements," Karolyi said during the announcement. "But we have to have them."

That's because injuries, as noted, are a fairly common experience. For instance, just two days after finishing fourth in the Olympic trials in Anaheim, Calif., Tabitha Yim. a favorite to make the Olympic team, sustained a serious Achilles' injury that knocked her out of selection camp.

Cassie Rice, Schwikert's coach at Henderson Gymcats since the latter was 7, said it was apparent the committee wasn't going to name Schwikert to the tram following the first round of competition on Friday.

"You could tell how the scoring was that they weren't going to put her on the team," said Rice, who added that Schwikert performed her routines better than in Anaheim three weeks ago, where she finished eighth in the Olympic Trials.

"She definitely did better in floor ... and she hit her beam solid both days.

"She had a great set but only got 9.2 and 9.3. I don't know what they (judges) are taking off for. I don't get it."

Neither does Schwikert.

"It sucks," she said with a little laugh. "But what I am going to do?"

Rice said after Humphrey was selected, Karolyi felt she needed a couple of strong vaulters to give the U.S. its best hope for a medal under a new international scoring system that rewards specialization and leaves little room for error. That's what put Bhardwaj and Hatch over the top.

Many observers felt Schwikert and Hollie Vise, who was left off the team altogether, are good enough to medal in the uneven bars.

But the selection committee said all along it would choose the Olympic squad with the team championship in mind.

"The first four they picked were decent enough in bars (Schwikert's specialty) and the other events that they needed a vaulter," Rice said. "They couldn't take Tasha because she wouldn't be as valuable as a vaulter.

"But she did really well, so we're happy. It's hard, because all those girls (alternates) would have made the Olympic team (under the old format)."