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SYDNEY, Australia (AP) -- A slide off the balance beam, a step or two off the mat and the members of the U.S. women's gymnastics team knew one thing for sure. They're not in Atlanta anymore. This is Australia -- the natives call it Oz -- a land half a world away from home and even farther from the gold-medal success the Americans enjoyed on their own turf in 1996. The U.S. performances in the preliminary round of the Olympics on Sunday were far from awful. Both national champion Elise Ray and two-time Olympian Amy Chow had a handful of nice moments. But Chow and Ray got little help from their teammates and left the SuperDome in trouble. As a team, it wasn't championship stuff. National coordinator Bela Karolyi sensed it, sitting placidly in the stands, knowing it would take more than one of his patented bear hugs to set things right. Then again, maybe a little motivation would have helped.
"Overall, we had a lot of mistakes," Karolyi said. "It's not a real surprise. It's things we've seen before in practice and in training. There were some strong efforts. We just have to sit down and think about what it's going to take to get better." The United States took the floor in the morning, then waited an agonizing six hours before learning their spot was secure among the top six, and in the team finals. The world powerhouses, Russia and Romania, competed together in the afternoon and showed everyone else what medal-winning gymnastics was about. Led by current European champion Svetlana Khorkina's grace and flair, Russia took the lead. Romania was next, followed by China and Ukraine. Spain finished fifth after a solid night session and the United States was in sixth, avoiding by less than 0.4 points the ultimate humiliation of missing the finals. When finals begin Tuesday, the scores will be wiped clean and the U.S. women will have a chance for a new start, something they could desperately use after Sunday. "The girls have worked out so well, they've warmed up well," coach Kelli Hill said. "I don't have anything to blame it on. I have no idea what happened. We're going to figure it out and make sure it doesn't happen again." Considering their struggles since Atlanta, the U.S. women figured they'd be going for the bronze this year. After their first day's performance, that probably would be considered a victory. "The bronze is still wide open," Karolyi said, confirming that third place is America's goal. Opening on the beam, traditionally its worst event, the team stood in the corner with that deer-in-the-headlights look, watching teammate Tasha Schwikert fidget nervously on the mat for about 5 minutes, awaiting her cue from the judges. The 15-year-old, last-minute replacement for injured Morgan White scored a 9.237 and waited for the leaders to take over. They never did. Dominique Dawes, in her third Olympics, fell off the beam. Later on the floor, Ray and Kristen Maloney each took huge steps off the mat, costing them precious tenths of points in a competition where nothing can be spared. Ray left the floor holding her left shoulder, but she continued. "She said it didn't hurt after floor and she vaulted and did bars beautifully," Hill said. At the vault, it was Maloney's turn to get hurt. She landed on her knees on her first jump, then walked back down the runway crying and biting her lip. She stuck her second vault, a la Kerri Strug in 1996, although the stakes weren't quite as high. "It hurt pretty bad," Maloney said. "I was scared because I wasn't sure how it was going to feel to run down and vault again. I just told myself I could do it and to relax." Meanwhile, the home fans, who spurred America to victory in Atlanta, were cheering wildly for the Australians this time, even though their gymnasts could barely clear the vault on the first rotation. Aussie Allana Slater's hands slipped as she pushed off the vault. She just made it over, then used her hands to keep from falling forward and landing on her head. Brooke Walker followed with a pair of jumps in which she brushed her head on the backside of the vault. She actually stuck her landing after the first vault and got a rousing ovation. "It was fantastic. We could feel it all the way," Slater said. "It's an amazing feeling to have the whole crowd behind you." It turned out to be the crowd's only chance to see its home team. Spain's rise pushed the Aussies into seventh and back to the drawing board. It means, at the very least, the United States won't face the same fate it did at last year's world championships, when it finished behind the unproven Australians. It was that humbling week in China that brought Karolyi out of retirement to turn this team around. The project has had its ups and downs. Last week's departure of White and her coach, Mary Lee Tracy, combined with an ankle injury to Jamie Dantzscher, didn't make things any easier. Dantzscher competed on the vault and floor and said the ankle was feeling fine. Her scores -- a 9.325 on vault and 8.987 on floor -- may have said otherwise. Karolyi said lineup changes would occur. "But we have to think about them," he said. "I don't want to get into anybody's head right now." He didn't spare feelings, however, when he singled out Chow as a surprising disappointment for a quick hiccup on her uneven bars routine that earned a 9.4 and dampened the Americans' strongest event. "I was sitting here thinking, there's no explanation for that," he said. "It's the last thing I expected today - besides all the other things." Khorkina was the best gymnast through three sessions, amassing 39.005 points and establishing herself as a prime contender for the all-around gold. Romania's Andreea Raducan was second. The top American's were Ray and Chow, who finished in 13th and
14th place.
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