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Tumbling around
Posted: Thursday June 08, 2000 01:01 PM
Less than 100 days until the Opening Ceremonies, so keep those questions coming in. First of all, I'd like to say as a long-time gymnastics fan I really miss your work as a reporter for International Gymnast magazine! Who your picks are to qualify for the team final in both men's and women's artistic gymnastics in Sydney.? Do you see anyone being a surprise?
Wow, you have a long memory. With a nod to IG supereditor and illustrator Dwight Normile, here goes: The Chinese men have been snakebitten in Olympic team competitions -- remember 1984 in Los Angeles, where they drew the low-scoring morning session and settled for team silver after outscoring the U.S. in the optional final? -- but this could be their chance to turn that around. The Chinese drew the evening session for the qualification round in Sydney. Russia, Belarus and Ukraine would be the obvious competition, but if you want a surprise, beware the rapid rise of the Romanian men. Perhaps they're tired of being upstaged by their female teammates all these years. Three different Romanians won three different apparatuses at the European Championships in Bremen, Germany, last month: Marian Dragulescu on floor, Marius Urzica on pommel horse and Ioan Suciu on vault. One wonders if Romanian-turned-German Marius Toba would even make his old team. The U.S. should battle Japan, Korea and perhaps Spain for the sixth spot. Teams in the unlucky first subdivision include Belarus and Spain. Russia, Ukraine, Japan and the U.S. are in the second group. Romania and China get the benefit of final-group scoring. The Russian women look awfully strong, especially coming off a powerful showing at the European Championships in May. Svetlana Khorkina and Yelena Zamalodchikova went 1-2 in the European all-around final, though many feel Yelena Prudunova, who didn't compete in the all-around, is the team's greatest natural talent. The Russian women will be prohibitive favorites in Sydney. Romania and Ukraine, in some order, should be the other two teams on the medal stand. Keep in mind that Romania fell to third at the Europeans without world all-around champ Maria Olaru. The U.S. team, a disappointing sixth at Worlds last year, upped its chances by beating China and Australia at the recent Pacific Alliance meet, but without a meltdown by one of the big three, the team could hit just about everything in Sydney and still fall short of a medal. Australia, the U.S. and China drew the first of four subdivisions in Sydney. Ukraine, Russia and Romania drew the third. Spain drew the last, which could bump it into the final six ahead of a team from the first group. How do you see the women's gymnastic events shaping up? Who do you think is the team to beat? I tend to believe that Romania will finally win its long-sought-after gold in a non-boycott Olympics. I think Russia and China could give Romania a run for its money, though. Also, who do you think are the all-around contenders? And do you think any Americans have a shot at winning a medal?
Please see my answer above for comments on the women's team competition. As for U.S. prospects, you have to like the steadiness of any Bela Karolyi- coached team, even if others compete with more flair. His emphasis on repetition has the gymnasts so whupped, a major competition with one full routine on each apparatus per day is almost a day off. They won the Pacific Alliance meet because they didn't have to count many low scores from big misses. If Vanessa Atler's ankle and Kristin Maloney's shoulder hold up, then count on those two and Elise Ray to be three of the team's all-arounders. But then who? Going back to the pre-specialist era of the '80s, the U.S. team could have used a superior tumbler such as Joyce Wilborn to give it some big scores on vault and floor. But there doesn't seem to be anyone who fits that description. Would the team use Shannon Miller just for beam? Amy Chow just for bars? Do either of the Cincinnati gymnasts, Morgan White or Alyssa Beckerman, have a place on the team? Jennie Thompson? Dominique Moceanu? Karolyi's decisions -- and they will be his decisions regardless of what happens at nationals and the trials -- will be crucial to the team's standing. But that first subdivision is a killer. The team is balanced, but unspectacular. It is entirely possible that it could perform much better at the Olympics than it did at Worlds and still come home without a team or individual medal. I think the U.S. team's best medal hopes rest with Atler on vault, if her ankle is fully recovered from surgery. Is it possible for an athlete like Canadian Donovan Bailey to perform well in Sydney after dropping so far since Atlanta? I would also like your analysis concerning the great French athlete Marie José Pérec's chances of a comeback in Sydney. Will she run in the 200 meters or the 400 meters?
It's too early to tell if Bailey can return to the form he showed in Atlanta. Coming back from his ruptured Achilles' of a few years ago, he recently suffered a separated shoulder after driving his Mercedes into a telephone pole. He opened the season with a pretty good showing, a wind-aided 10.03 in Martinique in April. He followed that with a close second (10.24 to 10.27) to Scotsman Ian Mackie on Sunday in Bedford, England. Watch for Bailey to run another 100 in Belfast on June 28. He has also alienated a lot of people involved with Canadian athletics by showing an indifferent commitment to the sport in his country. Last summer, Bailey was paid big bucks to promote and compete in Winnipeg at the Pan-Am Games, an event that didn't have a large budget. But Bailey ran only in the relay there. Since he spends a lot of his time outside Canada, he was unavailable to promote the event as organizers had liked. The ill will soured Bailey on the sport and many Canadian fans on Bailey. Perec has not announced which event(s) she will try to compete in this summer. She recently split with HSInternational and John Smith, the coach who guided her to victory at the Atlanta Olympics. After suffering through two injury-plagued years, Perec is now training with Wolfgang Maier, the husband and ex-coach of Marita Koch, whose 400-meter world record still stands. Koch set the mark of 47.60 15 years ago in, coincidentally, the Australian capital of Canberra. Perec's Atlanta time of 48.25 is No. 3 on the alltime list. Maier liked to train Koch at longer distances to build her stamina over the final hundred meters. It will be interesting to see what a coach who believed in quick turnover of arms and legs will do with Perec's long-legged stride. What is your opinion on the use of the Fastskin suits now that so many records are being broken? Susie O'Neill was not wearing a Fastskin suit at the Australian trials and Ian Thorpe was wearing an adidas suit made of normal swimwear material. As of yet, no one has broken a world record in a Fastskin (and you know how many have fallen recently). Is it time to think that these athletes are just world-class swimmers and not "suit-enhanced"?
Remember, a lot of the controversy about the suits is sponsor-driven. It is a great plug for Speedo if people are constantly debating whether the company has built a better mousetrap or, in this case, a more hydrodynamic wetsuit. The Fastskin suit is modeled after sharkskin to help reduce water drag. Speedo unveiled it officially at the World Short Course Championships and FINA, the sport's international governing body, sought to ban it because of a rule that prevents a device that "aids a swimmer's speed, endurance or buoyancy." The Court of Arbitration for Sport in Lausanne, Switzerland, ruled on May 2 that the suits could be used, and the eventual compromise at the Australian trials last month was that the suits would be permitted if Speedo offered them to every competitor, including those who are sponsored by other manufacturers. Even with the compromise, the Canadian federation banned the use of the suit at its trials last month, when many swimmers were trying to break time standards in order to guarantee two spots in each race. adidas actually launched a full-body suit made of a teflon-like material last year, saying it benefits swimmers by compressing their muscles as they move through the water, thereby stalling the buildup of lactic acid. Nike is supposed to come out with one soon. As for who does and who doesn't, Inge de Bruijn is using the Fastskin suit and smashing records to smithereens. U.S. coaching veteran Richard Quick of Stanford says he believes the suit has helped her. As you mentioned, Thorpe swam in the adidas bodysuit to break world marks at 200 and 400 meters. O'Neill used a conventional Speedo suit from 1996 to break Mary T. Meagher's 19-year-old 200 butterfly mark. The benefits may be as much psychological as anything, but as long as swimmers and coaches believe that it helps, you'll see a lot more athletes wearing it. Sports Illustrated writer-reporter Brian Cazeneuve is the magazine's resident Olympics guru. He'll answer your questions on the first Wednesday of each month leading into Sydney. Click here to send him a question.
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