updated 8:13 p.m. ET Aug. 22, 2004

ATHENS, Greece - The United States upped its women's gymnastics medal haul to five Sunday night, and they might not be finished yet.

Courtney Kupets, all-around champ Carly Patterson and Mohini Bhardwaj are in one event final each Monday night, meaning the U.S. could finish with eight medals.

“I think it was a pretty awesome finish,” U.S. women’s coach Kelli Hill said. “We like seeing three girls compete today and three girls walk away with hardware.”

Terin Humphrey won silver on the uneven bars, finishing behind France’s Emilie Lepennec. Kupets won the bronze. Annia Hatch’s silver came on the vault, where she was runner-up to Romania’s Monica Rosu. Anna Pavlova of Russia was third.

Fellow Russian Svetlana Khorkina didn't stick around, however. The Russian diva’s Olympic career ended with a thud, when she fell off the uneven bars, and she quickly stalked out of the arena. Khorkina didn’t even stick around to watch the final bars performance, leaving before Humphrey went.

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The Americans, of course, are basking in the glory of all those medals.

They left Sydney red-faced four years ago, failing to win a single medal for the first time since 1972. They promised things would be different in the future, and they were right.

The U.S. women joined the men by winning a silver medal, which could have been gold if not for some sloppy mistakes.

Patterson became the first woman since Mary Lou Retton in 1984 to win gymnastics’ biggest prize.

“That makes us just so excited to start raking them in,” Kupets said. “Hopefully, we’ll keep that going.”

Hatch started the heavy-metal fest. She took a hop to the right on the landing of her first vault, and the error was reflected in her score of 9.4. Her husband and coach, Alan, told her not to worry about it, that she would do better on the second vault.

She did. She cartwheeled onto the takeoff board, did a handspring onto the vault and then quickly popped off. She added two somersaults, soaring so high she could have thrown in another twist. There was a slight hop on her landing, but Hatch was already beaming when she saluted the judges.

Her score of 9.481 put her second to Rosu, but Hatch was elated nonetheless.

“It just feels like a story,” said the 26-year-old Cuban native, who ended a five-year retirement and came back from a severe knee injury last summer. “I feel special. I feel like a star.”

Kupets almost had a silver, too, but teammate Humphrey bumped her down a step on the medals podium with a final routine on uneven bars.

Humphrey sailed from bar to bar with such ease she appeared weightless. She was so ramrod straight on a pirouetting handstand on the top bar it seemed as if an invisible wire was pulling her taut.

Her dismount, two laid-out somersaults, was perfect, and she slammed into the mat with such force it could be heard all over the arena. Humphrey knew her score was going to be just as solid, throwing her head back with a wide grin.

“It doesn’t really matter because Terin’s my teammate,” Kupets said. “It’s just awesome. I couldn’t ask for anything more.”

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