Inside Report: OIympics

Lite and Livelier?

A Balanced Approach

By Jack McCallum

For Olympic hopeful Kristin Maloney, 18, gymnastics is just part of a well- rounded life. Al Tielemans

Long, long way from the turmoil of Moceanu Land, the best gymnast in the U.S. trains ever so quietly, avoiding controversy and the prying eyes of the press as if they were dangerous dismounts. For the whole of 18-year-old Kristin Maloney's athletic life, it has been one gymnastics club, one group of coaches, one set of loving parents and one goal: to slip into the 2000 Olympics under everyone's radar screen and win a medal. Although Maloney is the national champion (a title she'll defend in August) and, with Vanessa Atler, the best hope for the U.S. in Sydney, her profile is lower than a dachshund's belly. At Pen Argyl (Pa.) High, where she's a senior, Maloney has dodged every request to rip off a few triple somersaults to enliven timeouts at basketball and football games. "No way I'm doing something like that," she says. Nationally, Dominique Moceanu's soap-opera life dominates this sport's headlines; the few that are left go mostly to Atler, the California gymnast with the ebullient personality. That's fine with Maloney. "I don't need any of that stuff," she says, wriggling through an I'd-clearly-rather-be-someplace-else interview at the Parkettes Gymnasium in Allentown, where she has been a regular since she was seven.

That stuff includes prize money and endorsement deals, which many of the best U.S. gymnasts (Atler and Moceanu, to name two) have been accepting for years. Maloney does not, and that makes her eligible to compete collegiately, which she plans to do at UCLA on a full scholarship that begins after the 2000 Games. Her parents, Richard and Linda, decided a long time ago to forgo the up-front money for the back-end return on education, and the heck with becoming a personality. "Kristin's a blue-collar gymnast," says Jack Carter, a Parkettes coach. "She comes into the gym, gets her work done and doesn't fool around."

Maloney is a powerful tumbler who specializes in floor exercise and the balance beam. "Right now," says Carter, "Kristin is able to jump higher, spin faster and turn over faster than anybody in the world." That bodes well for Sydney, where the U.S. hopes to duplicate the team gold won in 1996. Should Maloney play a starring role, it's possible a Rettonesque personality will emerge—but don't bet on it. And don't even suggest that she might pass up college to start cashing checks. "In college it's all about the team, about doing things together," says Maloney. "It's a whole different mentality from what I'm doing now. It's going to be fun."

Switching Gears

Jones intends to conquer the worlds in four ways this summer.Robert Beck

Expect the following from Marion Jones in 1999: continued dominance of the 100 and 200 meters and the long jump, further flirtation with world records and accrual of greater wealth. One other thing: lots of rest. A year ago Jones won 35 times in 36 outdoor finals, putting her on the starting line an average of once every five days from May through September. This exhausting schedule enabled Jones to pull down No. 1 world rankings in the 100, 200 and long jump and earn $633,333 from the IAAF Grand Prix, which (combined with her endorsement contracts and appearance fees) pushed her income well into seven figures.

That was then. "A year like that, when there's no major championship or Olympic Games, you can just run and run," says Jones's agent, Charles Wells. "This year will be different. It will be different all the way up to Sydney." This year Jones is cutting back to 25 finals while pointing toward the world championships, Aug. 20-29 in Seville, Spain, where she'll attempt to win gold in the 100, 200, long jump and 4x400-meter relay. Her participation in the 4x400, instead of the 4x100, for which she shared a gold medal at the '97 worlds, is part of a larger plan to attempt winning five golds (including both relays) in Sydney in 2000. Never has a track athlete won five golds in a single Olympics.

Jones knows she must take care of her body to have a chance at achieving her goals in Sydney. That's why she's cutting back on her finals this year. Next year, when a full outdoor season precedes an autumn Olympics, she will be even more cautious.

None of this means Jones will be anything less than spectacular when she does compete. She ran eight sub-10.80-second 100s last year at sea level and one 10.65 at altitude, suggesting that the late Florence Griffith Joyner's 10.49 record from 1988 is at last vulnerable. Expect Galina Chistyakova's 11-year-old long jump record of 24' 8 1/4" to fall first, though. Jones jumped 23' 11 3/4" last summer and narrowly fouled on a much longer jump. Her coach, Trevor Graham, says Jones's jumping form has improved dramatically. "She went 22 feet, jumping two feet behind the [takeoff] board, in early April," Graham said. "She's ready." A two-year run at history awaits.

-- Tim Layden

Lite and Livelier?

Women basketball players have a ball to call their own. By the 2002 Winter Olympics, women's ice hockey may have a puck of its own if the International Ice Hockey Federation (IIHF) approves a proposed change in the weight of the standard 6-ounce rubber disk.

A lighter puck, the theory goes, will improve the game by allowing faster shooting, which will increase scoring chances and add excitement. The idea isn't new, but it wasn't until earlier this year that former U.S. national team goalie Kelly Dyer, a member of the IIHF Women's Committee, pushed the notion forward. Working with the American Sports Supply Co. of Canton, Mich., Dyer reduced the weight of a standard puck by an ounce and sent the 5-ounce samples to women's coaches around the country. The results? Let's just say Superball comes to mind. The 5-ouncer moved faster, but it also bounced wildly along the ice and ricocheted erratically off the boards. So now 5.5-ounce pucks are being tested, with initially favorable response. "Because there's no bodychecking in women's hockey, this might be a major addition to the game," says U.S. team coach Ben Smith, who is experimenting with the puck at camps this summer. "The women will be able to move the puck around quicker, and the game will take on more flow and excitement."

An easier-to-shoot puck would help countries with nascent women's programs; for powerhouses like the U.S., Canada and Finland, it could add dimension to an already lively game. By 2002 we may see how much difference half an ounce makes on the international scale.

-- Paula Hunt

 
Inside Olympics archive

Choose an issue Downward Spike, July/August 2000 Double Duty, May/June 2000 Battling Narcolepsy, March/April 2000 Her Biggest Hurdle, Winter 1999-2000 Bare Naked Lady, Fall 1999 A Balanced Approach, Summer 1999

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