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Watch your back American gymnasts put world powers on alert
BOSTON (AP) -- Russia, Romania and China, beware. The American gymnasts who flopped at last fall's world championships are long gone. In their place is a strong, healthy, confident group that's heading to the Sydney Olympics determined to win a medal. Gold, silver or bronze, it doesn't matter. They're intent on bringing home some hardware. "I'm sure they think we're out of the picture," Vanessa Atler said Wednesday on the eve of the Olympic trials. "I'm not sure about gold; it might be very hard to do. But bronze would be good." The Olympic trials begin Thursday at the FleetCenter. Scores from the trials (60 percent) and last month's U.S. Gymnastics Championships (40 percent) will be combined and used to rank the gymnasts, and a committee headed by Bela Karolyi will select the six-person women's team. One woman who won't make the team is Dominique Moceanu, the youngest member of the Magnificent Seven, withdrew Wednesday night because of a bone chip in her right knee. For the men, the top four finishers automatically make the Olympic squad. Two at-large members will be chosen by a committee headed by national coach Peter Kormann. After the Magnificent Seven's magic at the Atlanta Olympics, a bronze medal might sound a little, well, ugly. But consider where the Americans were just nine months ago, and any color would be beautiful. "We have come a long way in this last year," said Shannon Miller, winner of seven Olympic medals in the past eight years. Just three years after the Magnificent Seven won America's first Olympic all-around title, the United States finished dead last in the medals round at the world championships. Even Australia, hardly a gymnastics powerhouse, finished ahead of the United States. The Americans were beaten up physically and worn down mentally, looking for someone -- anyone -- to rescue them. Enter Karolyi. The coach who led Nadia Comaneci, Mary Lou Retton and Kerri Strug to gold ended his latest attempt at retirement and took over as the national team coordinator. He ordered monthly training camps at his ranch for members of the national team. He put them on training regimens to improve their physical conditioning and increase the difficulty of their routines. And in his own, inimitable style, he got the Americans thinking they could do just about anything. Even win a medal. "In 1996, we were not talking about Olympic gold. We haven't been talking about some kind of specific medals," Karolyi said. "We knew they were very, very strong contenders. We all felt it; we'd seen them, and we saw their power. "The same situation is now," he said. "I won't be able to talk about the color of the medal or any kind of particular medal, but I know this powerful team again is an Olympic medal contender." That's not just bluster, either. In April, the Americans went to the Senior Pacific Alliance in New Zealand, a tuneup meet that included Australia and China, the world bronze medalist. Not only did the Americans beat both handily to win the competition, but Elise Ray won the individual all-around title. "There are teams out there that are thinking, 'Well, the Americans are good, but they're not like they used to be,'" Karolyi said. "We've been underestimated drastically by the Chinese, and we beat the hell out of them in April. So I believe they got the message. We've been underestimated even by the Australians. ... We beat the hell out of them. "I believe they got the message that their underestimation was definitely wrong." Now if Karolyi can only figure out who to put on his team. Selection procedures were changed this year to allow him more room to strategize, using "event specialists" to shore up the team's weaknesses. But after last month's national championships, Karolyi wasn't showing his cards. He said everybody looked good in every event. Only after the meet concludes Sunday evening will everyone know what he's really thinking. And the competition between the members of the Mag Seven who returned and the youngsters is turning out to be even fiercer than expected. Though she competed in only one event before withdrawing with a hairline crack in her right leg, Miller showed the form that made her America's most decorated gymnast. Dominique Dawes finished ninth despite training seriously for only two months. And Amy Chow was sixth despite a couple of major mistakes. "They're strengthening our chances to make up probably the most powerful team we've ever had," Karolyi said. "I promise you, you're going to see the most disputed, the most fiery Olympic trials you've ever experienced. "And I have to tell you, it's going to be THE Olympic trial of my life. Because I never had this beautiful chance; I've never had this blessing to see such well-prepared, strong athletes competing for the one which is all of our dream: to see a powerful Olympic team on the floor."
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