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Top Performers
1. Alexei Nemov, gymnastics, Russia
2. Leontien Zijlaard-Van Moorsel, cycling, the Netherlands
3. Ian Thorpe, swimming, Australia
4. Marion Jones, track & field, U.S.
5. Inge de Bruijn, swimming, the Netherlands
OTHER UPS AND DOWNS
• Peter King on the NFL
• Phil Taylor on the NBA
• Tom Verducci on Baseball
• Michael Farber on the NHL
• Ivan Maisel on College Football
• Seth Davis on College Basketball
• Alan Shipnuck on Golf
• Jon Wertheim on Tennis
• Grant Wahl on Soccer
• Richard Hoffer on Boxing
• Tim Layden on Track & Field
• Brian Cazeneuve on Olympic Sports
• Kelli Anderson on Women's Sports
• Mark Bechtel on Motor Sports
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NOMINEE |
THE SKINNY |
| Overrated |
The Dream Team |
Give some airtime to the men and women who dedicated their lives to getting to the Olympics rather than to those who half-heartedly took part in the Games after Shaquille O'Neal, Kobe Bryant, Tim Duncan and Grant Hill declined the invitation. |
| Underrated |
The war on drugs |
The lack of world records on the track and the dozens of last-minute pullouts suggest that the testers may finally be pulling in front of the cheaters. |
| Annoying |
The U.S. men's 4x100-meter relay team |
Wouldn't it have been nice if they'd flexed their brain muscles for the cameras, too. |
| Breakthrough |
U.S. diver Laura Wilkinson and U.S. wrestler Rulon Gardner |
Wilkinson wore a kayaker's boot to protect her broken foot from the metal steps and unforgiving concrete of the platform in Sydney. Still, she stunned the Chinese to win gold. Gardner snapped Alexander Karelin's 13-year run of international invincibility to win the heavyweight freestyle crown. |
| Uplifting |
U.S. miler Marla Runyan and U.S. rower Missy Schwen |
By making the women's 1,500-meter final, Runyan, a legally blind miler who used to compete as a Paralympian, proved that able spirits can overcome disabled bodies. Having donated a kidney to save her brother's life four weeks after winning a silver medal in '96, Schwen came back to win bronze in the women's coxless pairs in Sydney. |
| MVP |
Cathy Freeman |
Could anyone have handled the burden of being the host nation's gold-medal favorite and a 27-year-old cultural heroine as gracefully and successfully as Freeman? |
| Storyline to follow in 2001 |
Will Athens keep the Games? |
Don't expect the IOC to wait until 2004 to pull the plug if the Greek capital -- and birthplace of the Olympics -- appears ill-prepared to host the Games. We may be saying G'Day again to Sydney. Honorable mention: Will the IOC pick front-runner Beijing to host the 2008 Games at its July session in Moscow? And who among Jacques Rogge, Dick Pound and others will become the IOC's new president? |
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