Albuquerque Journal from Albuquerque, New Mexico • Page 13

SPORTS Albuquerque Journal Sportsline 821-1800 Tuesday, July 21, 1992 Page 1, Section Embattled IOC President Fights Back GKR Not Laughing Galles Angry About 'Financial Ruin' Story His speech touched on many subjects, though it lacked a central theme and offered no new proposals. In the past, Samaranch usea his opening speeches to denounce the use of illegal narcotics by athletes to enhance their performances, urge changes in Eastern Europe and float the possibility of splitting Olympics between This time, his most topical comment was about the war that is devastating Sarajevo. "We are particularly distressed by the suffering of the people," he said. Sarajevo is the capital of Bosnia-Herzegovina, the former Yugoslav republic which has been under siege by Serb irregulars who oppose its "The Lords of the Rings," recently published in Europe. The IOC has filed libel proceedings against the book.

The book accuses Samaranch, a Spaniard, of being a loyal "fascist" under Gen. Francisco Franco and of running the IOC like a dictator. It describes the Olympic movement as consumed by money, greed and drugs. Samaranch has suggested the authors were manipulated by people who want to oust him as IOC president. Others have alleged that IOC members are open to bribes from cities bidding to host the Olympics.

"I can assure you," Samaranch said, "that our tree has very solid roots. Not only will it withstand these winds, but it will continue to grow." modernistic concert hall decorated with stained glass windows, mosaics and sculptures. "In recent times the Olympic movement has been on the receiving end of many criticisms and attacks," he said, speaking in French. "We do not accept and we shall always defend ourselves against the envy and hypocrisy which prompt some people to try to destroy what they themselves were unable to His remarks came at the end of his speech. The passage was not included in an advance copy provided to journalists, though it was part of the official text distributed at the ceremony.

Samaranch seemed to be referring to the two British authors of a book called By Stephen Wilson THE ASSOCIATED PRESS BARCELONA, Spain IOC President Juan Antonio' Samaranch on Monday defended the Olympic movement and himself against what he called the "envy and hypocrisy" of its angriest critics. Samaranch used the opening ceremony of the International Olympic Committee's 99th session to respond to recent verbal attacks on high Olympic officials. He also expressed regret over the bloodshed in Sarajevo, site of the 1984 Winter Games, and said sports should be kept free of politics. Samaranch addressed IOC members at the Palau de la Musica Catalana, a By Dennis Latta JOURNAL STAFF WRITER Galles-Kraco Racing has been almost a silent partner in IndyCar Racing for a decade. Make that a very successful but silent partner.

Even though GKR has won at Long Beach and the Indianapolis 500 this year and can brag about being one of the top four teams in IndyCar Racing, it still suffers from lack of respect. Right now, Galles-Kraco is the victim of rumors that the whole team is facing severe financial problems and on the verge of collapse. Rick Galles, the managing partner of GKR, is very upset with what he's hearing. Last week, a story by Robin Miller, Garrett Has Discus Future, Hoops Dream By Rick Wright ir i nmmmt wi ASSISTANT SPORTS EDITOR SOMETIMES SHE DREAMS Meet Carla Garrett, one of the world's strongest womei. A New Mexico native and graduate of Santa Fe High School, Garrett can lift almost 300 pounds overhead.

She can throw a discus almost 200 feet. For the former accomplishment, Garrett was awarded NEW MEXICO: I The State of the Games three silver medals at the 1991 International Weightlif-ting Federation world championships. For the lat-ter, she was awarded a berth on the 1992 United the associate sports Rick Gales editor of the Indianapolis Star, said Galles-Kraco Racing would fold after next week's Marlboro 500 at Michigan International Raceway. When the GKR crew members arrived in Toronto last week, they were greeted by rumors that paychecks were three weeks late and the team was out of money. "I have no idea of where these stories started," said Galles.

"Miller never tried to contact me to ask me the truth. It was a very damaging article. I had people from all of the country calling me about that." Miller could not be reached for comment Monday. Galles found it almost humorous that people thought the team was in a financial bind just two months after winning the Indy 500. "When you win Indy, you get paid well.

We are having one of the best years we've ever had. "We have a five-year plan for racing," Galles continued. "We have a commitment from our sponsors and we have a commitment to them. We couldn't quit if we wanted to, and we have no interest in quitting. We have no problems and we have no plans to get out of racing." Two things might have caused the unfounded rumors.

First, driver Al Unser Jr. is flirting with a ride on the world-wide Formula Once circuit and he has been a big part of the success enjoyed by Galles-Kraco. Second, the Galmer, a car designed for Galles-Kraco, has not been as good as hoped for. While it can run with the best on the road courses, street courses and big ovals, it is slow on small ovals, such as Milwaukee and New Loudon, N.H. "Al and I have talked about Formula One.

We have no agreement and nothing is settled," Galles said. Unser was in England two weeks ago to meet with officials from the Benetton Racing, which currently has Michael Schumacher and Martin Brundle as its drivers. Schumacher currently is third in the point standings with Brundle sixth. Bennetton is second in the team standings. The Galmer is a joint venture between Galles and engineer Alan Mertens.

Unser put one on the pole in the first race of the year in Australia. Sullivan won the third race at Long Beach and Unser won at Indy. Robby Rahal leads the PPGIndyCar points standings with 134. Michael Andretti moved into second place Sunday with 100 points by winning at Toronto. Little Al is third with 91.

Sullivan is in fifth place with 71. "Everyone is chasing Bobby and Michael. But there are a lot of points (seven races) left. The race at Michigan is 500 miles. If one drops out, we're all back in the chase," Galles said.

JIM THOMPSON JOURNAL career. Those who remember her basketball career at Santa Fe High wouldn't bet against her. Olympic discus thrower Carla Garrett is a former high school sprinter with hopes for a professional basketball States summer Olympic team. "TWo weeks before the Olympic. Trials," Garrett says, "I remember saying that all I really wanted was to walk into the (Olympic) stadium at the Opening Ceremonies.

I can't believe it's actually going to happen." That's one lifelong dream realized. But Garrett has another, even more persistent dream. Carla, you see, would rather be like Mike. Or, given her Barkleyesque4imen-sions, like Sir Charles. Basketball? At 5-foot-9 and 260 pSunds? Yes, basketball her first athletic love.

"To be honest, I always thought I was better at basketball than track and field," she says. That's saying a mouthful, considering her track-and-field history. Garrett comes honestly by her athletic talent. Her father is Carl Garrett, former New Mexico Highlands University football star who later was rookie of the year in the National Football League with the New England Patriots. But Carla got little else from her father, who quickly disappeared from her life.

She was reared by her mother, Susan Rutherford of Santa Fe, who is her daughter's biggest fan. Rutherford has traveled all over the United States with Garrett and will be in Barcelona to see Carla compete in the Olympics. Garrett graduated from Santa Fe High in 1984, leaving state records (which still stand) in both the shot put and discus. Recruited by schools all over the coun- nique." Her interest in competitive weightlif-ting has diminished as well. "For one thing, women's weightlifting isn't an Olympic sport," she says.

"Plus they're having some drug scandals that I don't want to be involved in." It's no wonder, then, that Garrett's thoughts return to a running, jumping, athletic sport in which her limits haven't been tested. Inside this giant of a woman is a fluid, creative athlete out on the break, ready to launch a 3-pointer. Back at Santa Fe High, Garrett was an all-around athlete of Bo Jackson proportions an all-state soccer goalkeeper in the fall, a state champion shot putter-discus thrower in the spring. Most amazingly, perhaps, she also ran the 100 meters and the sprint relays. But she lived for the winter.

Garrett was, in effect, the entire SFHS girls basketball team. Her senior year, MORE: See GARRETT on PAGE C4 try, she chose the University of Arizona because of Meg Ritchie, who still is Garrett's personal coach. "Meg," Garrett says, "looks at you and sees a person, not just an athlete." At of Garrett won NCAA discus and shot put titles in 1989. A member of the U.S. World Championships team in 1991, she made the '92 Olympic team with a personal-best effort on her final throw vaulting her from sixth place to second at the Olympic Trials in New Orleans.

Not bad, you say? Nonot at all. Yet, Garrett obviously feels the competitive limitations imposed by the weight events. She long ago gave up the shot put because she found it boring. The discus, having taken her this far, may take her no farther. She will do well, she admits, to make the top 12 at Barcelona.

"The discus isn't all strength," she says. "If it was, I'd probably be the best in the world. But there's also leverage and quickness and timing and tech NAME: Carla Garrett AGE: 24 HEIGHT: 5-foot-9 WEIGHT: 260 BIRTHPLACE: Albuquerque RESIDENCE: Tucson, Ariz. EVENT: Track Field (discus) CAREER HIGHLIGHTS: All-state in three sports at Santa Fe High School; NCAA shot put and discus titles at the University of Arizona, 1989; national weightlifting champion and world silver medalist; U.S. team member, World Track and Field Championships, 1991.

MEDAL PROSPECTS: Slim. Garrett hopes to break 200 feet in Barcelona. The medal contenders throw as far as 235. "If I make the finals (top 12), I'll be happy," Garrett says. PERSONAL: In 1979, Garrett became the first girl to play in the Santa Fe Little League baseball all-star game.

Men Coaching Girls Must Observe Etiquette, Propriety Guess To End Coaching Career Language, Friendship Restrictions: A Double, But Existing Standard varsity team has a female head coach Sandia's Cathy Lowther. In Albuquerque, Lowther and Albuquerque Academy's Taryn Bachis are the only female girls basketball coaches. "I think what has happened with Charlie Guess is going to frighten men trying to get a girls coaching job," said Roswell volleyball and basketball coach Flo Valdez. ''It's unfortunate. I know there are plenty of male coaches out there, and there just aren't that many women coaches.

But a situation like Charlie's, where, let's face it, nothing was actually proven, has got to make a few of these men coaches think twice about the way they coach and the way they present themselves." Valdez said many of the male coaches in the state are portrayed as aloof and standoffish. "And if you thought they came off like that before, it's going to be even MORE: See GW.S on PAGE C3 By Barbara Chavez JOURNAL STAFF WRITER It's not getting easier for men to coach girls sports. But several male coaches agree that, despite a recent alleged sexual harassment complaint against one Albuquerque Public Schools girls volleyball coach, their jobs aren't getting more difficult, either. West Mesa volleyball coach Charlie Guess resigned last Wednesday after a player accused him of sexual harassment and initiated a two-month investigation by APS. a Guess resigned before APS made a formal decision on the matter.

And with the situation seemingly resolved without answers, is there a new liability for men coaches? "For me and a lot of other coaches, it comes down to professionalism," said Albuquerque High basketball coach Greg Papp. "I'm not saying that what happened at West Mesa was a matter of non-professionalism. I'm just saying that every coach has a different "School is finished and that's as much as we want to say right now," said Hollander. She said she was informed that Guess had resigned while she was out of town. "But that's all I know," she said.

"I've been out, and I do need to talk to him, but that's all we have to say." West Mesa principal Bob Hen-nig said the position will be open and that interviews for the job will begin within four weeks. The high school volleyball season begins in early September, with practice beginning in August. The Mustangs were ranked No. 12 in the nation in a USA Today poll last season. Guess led West Mesa to seven Class AAAA state championships in his 10-year coaching career at the school.

By Barbara Chavez JOURNAL STAFF WRITER West Mesa volleyball coach Charlie Guess officially has closed the book on his high school coaching career. Guess, who said last Thursday he was asked by his attorney not to comment on his future, resigned after a two-month APS investigation into an alleged sexual harassment grievance made by a student and a former player on the volleyball team. "I'm through," said Guess. "I'd rather this whole thing just end because I don't want any more publicity." Guess's lawyer, Nancy Hollander, said she could not comment about anything pertaining to her client's case. letics.

"Just look at the boys state tournament," he said. "Boys coaches can get away with a lot. In their tournament the referees issued three technicals. In the girls tournament, there were 17 technicals. "We can't even look cross-eyed at an official with out getting a T.

There must be some unwritten rule out there about the way girls coaches should act." There is another obvious double-standard, said Papp. i "I would never pat one of my players' bottoms," he said. "But how many times do you see that in the boys' game? A lot." There are more men than women coaching girls sports in the state, especially within APS. In girls basketball, only one APS style. I haven't changed the way I've coached, and I've been at it for 15 years." Papp, who once coached boys baseball at AHS, said there are some differences that must be taken into consideration when coaching girls.

"There's a definite language restriction," said Papp. "It's a double standard, sure. But it's always existed. Men coaching boys teams can get away with using a much stronger language around their players. "I'm not saying I don't use expletives, because it happens.

But it's more calculated. I don't do it in a fit of anger directed at one player, and I almost always try to avoid it in public." Cibola girls basketball coach Doug Dorame said he agrees there Sfe some barriers in women's ath.