September 11, 2000 | Volume 93, Issue 10

The Games will be a five-ring circus on-line, which is where fans must go if they want to keep up with the action as it happens

From moves, masks and gis to East Timorese, things never before seen at the Games will be on view in Sydney

Czech Tomás Dvorák says he has scant talent—so how did he become the decathlon king?

Two sports and 15 events will make their debuts in Sydney, adding fresh bounce to the Games

No Huard FeelingsDolphins linebacker Derrick Rodgers beaches Seahawks quarterback Brock Huard during Miami's 23-0 win.

<b>Cameras may focus on the Homebush Bay venues, but the real glory of Sydney is its harbor, and the best way to see it is from—no joke, mate—an ice-cream boat. Ready? Good on ya!</b>

China has three towering NBA prospects in its frontcourt—and 100 more 7-footers in reserve, if you believe the rumors

For eight luminous athletes, the Sydney Games will be a chance to gild their careers with their first Olympic titles

Teen phenom Cheryl Haworth could lift her sport to prominence, if an art career doesn't draw her away

Swedish diva Therese Alshammar has it all: speed, strength, beauty, attitude—and a tattoo she'll let you see (plus one she won't)

Who will take home gold, silver and bronze in each of the Games' 300 events? And who will be worth watching, win or lose?

Led by veteran stars such as first baseman Orestes Kindelán (left). Cuba has never lost an Olympic baseball game, amassing an 18-0 record and outscoring opponents 213-75 en route to two gold...

Australians love to tag one another with endearing, fantastic-sounding nicknames. They call their country Oz. They call their women's basketball team the Opals. They call the rarest of those Opals...

If featherweight world champion Richardo Juarez (right) and his teammates live up to their potential, the U.S. could have one of its best boxing teams ever. It will be hard-pressed, however, to...

Dmitri Sautin of Russia admits that he isn't the world's most graceful diver. To the contrary, he insists, his dives are filled with technical flaws; he's a creaky old man who can't point his toes...

Like Marion Jones, who's trying to become the first female track and field athlete to win five events, these Olympians could make history in Sydney:

Svetlana Khorkina of Russia doesn't fit the image of a world-class female gymnast. At 5' 5" she's practically a skyscraper. At 21 she's just about ready for Geritol. Her topless layout in the...

It takes a lot to throw Jimmy Pedro. He was II the first time he got tossed in a judo competition, on his way to a crushing defeat. "I'd never lost a match since my first one, when I was six," he...

Missy Ryan turned in the race of her life one morning at the Atlanta Olympics. She and Karen Kraft placed second in pairs rowing, missing a gold medal by .39 of a second. The race to save a life...

There's something about Josh Lakatos and fast circles: He drives on them, hangs out in them and shoots at them. Lakatos, 27, earned a silver medal at the Atlanta Games in trapshooting, a...

Some of the world's best athletes won't be in Australia. Injuries shelved NBA stars Tim Duncan and Grant Hill, and most top pro baseball and soccer players will be absent. Here are 10 others who...

Don't let her Mona Lisa smile, sugary voice or tender age fool you. Megan Quann, 16, is a world-class trash talker. Minutes after winning the 100-meter breaststroke at last month's U.S. trials in...

Richard Williams, the paterfamilias of tennis's sister act, rarely permitted daughters Venus and Serena (right) to watch television while they were growing up. He made an exception for the 1992...

Every four years the "youth of the world" gather for the Summer Olympics—so what is the American track and field team doing in Sydney? Led by gray hairs such as hammer thrower Lance Deal, 39, and...

AUGUST 6, 1984

She looks like the nerdy waif who sat next to you in seventh grade, a tiny person with stringy blond hair and small, wonkish eyeglasses. In reality, 5'2½", 93-pound Romanian Gabriela Szabo is a...

It was a strange but perfect match: Bulgaria had a surfeit of world-class weightlifters but little money to help them train. Oil-rich Qatar had lots of money but few talented lifters. So, in one...

When Terry Brands retired from wrestling in September 1999, he felt he was bringing a merciful end to a career that had been in a tail-spin since the 1996 U.S. Olympic trials. There Brands, the...

Ozspeak

Tiger Woods did something notable, and you didn't put him on the cover! Thank God.—PHIL WILKE, Lawrence, Kans.

Letters to SPORTS ILLUSTRATED should include the name, address and home telephone number of the writer. They may be mailed to The Editor, Sports Illustrated, 135 West 50th Street, New York, N.Y....

It's high time we stop the shabby treatment of big-time athletes and show a little respect

Highlights

What if you took the most harrowing experience of your life and from it created a game show? (Someone has, you say: Blind Date.) "When I was 18, I faced an academic inquisition," says British...

It may have reached No. 1, but we can't yell it proud about Bring It On

Let's get physical! Aussie sweetheart Olivia Newton-John, now about to celebrate her 33rd class reunion at Rydell High, is the headline act for the opening ceremonies of the XXVII Summer Olympics...

The NCAA suspends 26 Badgers

Florida State, Oct. 1999Receivers Peter Warrick and Laveranues Coles suspended after a store sells them $400 worth of clothing for $21.

You know the Olympic motto: Swifter, Higher, Stronger? Let's go ahead and add Barer to that credo. These days it seems as though any athlete hoping to hoist a medal first has to drop trou. In June...

(Q) They did it for Tiger and Sergio (left) at Bighorn, so why 'hasn't an enterprising country club or muni thrown up some floodlights and instituted night golf?

$20,000Cost of reputedly the most expensive piece of Olympic jewelry ever made, a diamond and platinum pin in the shape of the 2002 Winter Games snowflake logo, sold last week by a Salt Lake...

On Sept. 11, HBO will air One Day in September, the Oscar-winning documentary that recounts the massacre of Israeli athletes at the 1972 Munich Olympics. Former SI Senior Writer Kenny Moore, who...

Swung AwayMonica Seles, during batting practice at Yankee Stadium last Friday. Seles, in New York for the U.S. Open, arrived at the Stadium unannounced and was invited to take some cuts. Despite...

Gary Spitz, 36, a deputy Nassau County (N.Y.) attorney, is working his 21st consecutive U.S. Open as a ball boy:

You'd expect nothing less than weird-ness from a Dennis Rodman party, and those who dropped in on the Worm's Aug. 31 bash to celebrate the launch of his new Web site, RodmanTV.com, at L.A.'s El...

After angry birders complained they'd heard geographically out-of-place species chirping in the background of some golf telecasts, CBS admitted it had played taped bird songs during some...

FRED COUPLESOn his golf game this year: "I'm playing as well as I've ever played, except for the years I played better."

Unusually boisterous crowd support boosted the U.S. to a win over Guatemala

When it comes to the rackets at the U.S. Open, Jay Schweid pulls all the strings

The Head GameBy Roger Kahn/Harcourt, Inc. $25

Hector Camacho Jr. doesn't party as hard as his dad, but he punches harder

Elena Garcia, AUSTINVolleyballElena, a senior outside hitter for Westlake High, was named MVP of the Duncanville Tournament of Champions after amassing 15 kills on 24 swings in a 15-10, 15-12...

Like the revamped, win-at-all-costs Redskins, players and coaches around the NFL were determined to kick off the new season on the right foot

After spending 13 years with a club he didn't want to leave, the fall guy in the Music City Miracle is starting over with the 49ers

At ease with his teammates and running fiercely over foes, a more mature Ricky Williams begins anew in New Orleans

Snubbed by the Buccaneers, 35-year-old Hardy Nickerson is just the fiery veteran to add some bite to the Jaguars' defense

With a split at Fenway, the previously sinking Mariners kept their heads above water in the unfathomable American League

NFL

The Real DealUntested quarterback Daunte Culpepper showed that he's more than big enough for the Vikings starting job with a stirring performance against the Bears

How good a job has Indianapolis president Bill Polian done? The Colts have their cornerstones—quarterback Peyton Manning, wideout Marvin Harrison, running back Edgerrin James, tight end Ken Dilger...

My Two Cents

Ever since 1978, when new rules put wings on the ball and made passing easier, poor old reactionaries such as me have been wringing our hands and longing for the return of old-fashioned values....

New Balls? Puh-leezA racy ad slogan points up an embarrassing truth about the men's game

They were born in the same year (1981) in the same city (Moscow) and have the same traffic-stopping looks of a Bond girl, but that's where the similarities between Anna Kournikova and Elena...

Road WarriorWith five races left in CART's season, journeyman Roberto Moreno is scrambling to win his first title

Jenson Button is clawing his way toward the top in his first F/1 season

12Laps led by 59-year-old Dave Marcis while finishing 23rd in Sunday's Pepsi Southern 500 at Darlington Raceway, the most laps he has led in a Winston Cup race since 1987.

Taking It On the RunLed by DeShaun Foster, UCLA's rushing game knocked No. 3 Alabama for a loop

•Nebraska (1-0) at Notre Dame (1-0)As a reward for his second-half play against Texas A&M—four completions in five attempts, 79 yards, one touchdown, 33 yards rushing and 17 Fighting Irish...

Florida State senior tailback Jeff Chaney could start for just about any school that doesn't have a player the caliber of senior Travis Minor, who led the Seminoles with 856 yards in 1999....

Miami Senior Wideout Santana Moss, who scored on a 75-yard reverse and a 77-yard punt return in a season-opening 61-14 rout of McNeese State last Thursday, is a big reason that Florida State coach...

Pitt wideout La Tef Grim loves writing poems and rewriting record books

Houston's Lone StarEven during the Astros' miss of a season, Jeff Bagwell has been a tremendous hit

Mark Grace, whose contract expires after this season, is chafing at the Cubs' reluctance to sign him to an extension. Chicago is weighing whether Korean prospect Hee Seop Choi, 21, who through...

It's time to dive in Down Under as Sydney gets set to greet 10,000 athletes and answer 10 burning questions

Go for the gold: SI's Brian Cazeneuve tells you what's up Down Under as Sydney readies for the Games. Also, check out our interactive Olympic timeline at cnnsi.com/olympics.