ANAHEIM, Calif. -- National champion Courtney Kupets became the third American woman to be scratched from the World Gymnastics Championships when she tore her left Achilles tendon during practice on Tuesday.

Kupets joins reigning world beam champion Ashley Postell (stomach flu) and vault specialist Annia Hatch (knee) on the sidelines for the second biggest gymnastics meet in the world, behind the Olympics. All three gymnasts have been scratched in the span of four days.

"Plan E," USA Gymnastics president Bob Colarossi said when asked what the Americans will do for the team finals Wednesday. "It's getting kind of redundant."

Colarossi said Kupets "tweaked" the tendon on the floor exercise during preliminaries Sunday. She was taken to the hospital Monday for an MRI and doctors found no damage, so the team decided to allow her to resume training.

"We did exactly what we should do," Colarossi said.

He said recovery time is estimated at seven months. The Athens Olympics are next August.

Kupets, who was injured while working on the floor exercise during a practice that was closed to the public, would have been a major presence in the American lineup during team finals. She was also supposed to compete for a medal on bars this weekend. Her spot in that competition will go to American Hollie Vise.

"Courtney is obviously distraught by this injury," national team coordinator Martha Karolyi said. "She was a major contributor to the success of our team. We are sad that she will not be able to compete ..."

The Americans, gold medal contenders coming into Anaheim, were scrambling late Tuesday simply to fashion a lineup. The only alternates they brought to California, Chellsie Memmel and Terin Humphrey, have already been moved up to the active roster. Postell was feeling better, but cannot be reinserted on the roster.

In finals, teams place three gymnasts in each event and all three scores count, (in prelims, it's five gymnasts and the top four scores count). It's good for the Americans that depth doesn't count as much as execution. Still, replacing the national champion, and one of the most versatile gymnasts on the squad, won't be easy.

Kupets is the reigning world champion on uneven bars and was the only American scheduled to compete in all four events in finals. Memmel will take her place on vault, Carly Patterson on uneven bars, Vise on beam and Humphrey on floor.

A strong vaulter, Kupets' loss, combined with Hatch's, turns that already weak event into a major problem for the United States.

Now, Karolyi must hope for some surprising and special performances from the rest of the girls. Memmel, the 10th-place finisher at nationals in June, held up her end in preliminaries Saturday night, hitting all four routines. She was the only American to do so.

Tasha Schwikert, a 2000 Olympian, and Patterson are the other veterans, but they struggled in prelims.

"There was a distraction there," Karolyi said after the meet, acknowledging the effect the injuries had on the team.

Colarossi said the team was "obviously upset" when Kupets went down.

"They're friends and you hate to see that happen to a friend," he said. "But they're ready. They're just focused on going out and getting ready for the competition."