The Los Angeles Times from Los Angeles, California • Page 19

LOS ANGELES TIMES A THURSDAY. SEPTEMBER 21, 2000 B3 YDNEY SUMMER OLYMPIC GAMES 2000 AH-Around, Nemov Is Simply the Best Gymnastics: Russian elegantly captures the gold in men's final after it barely eluded him in '96 Games. By DIANE PUCIN TIMES STAFF WRITER SYDNEY, Australia This is Olympic gymnastics competition at its best: the men's all-around final. It is a six-ring circus, men swinging, somersaulting, leaping, falling on the unforgiving floor and the devilish parallel bars; on the swinging, swaying rings where their veins nearly burst from their arms because so much strength is demanded; on the immov of a presence you need to walk out on the floor." Nemov has the presence. There is not a wasted motion.

Nemov does the hardest tricks. On the high bar Nemov lets go four times. Four times the crowd gasped. Hamm had the luck good or bad, it was hard to tell of following right behind Nemov on five of the apparatus. Hamm said it was a joy to watch the champion.

"He's so good," the high school senior said. "He's got great form. What the judges love about him is how elegant he is. He's not as powerful as some guys, but he has that grace. He is very classy." Nemov had only one mistake, a botched landing on his vault, but by the last rotation, Yang would have needed a 9.63 on the horse to tie Nemov.

The highest score of the night had been Nemov's 9.775. Even Yang knew he wouldn't win. Wilson's last event was also the horse, and he needed a 9.863 to tie Beresh for a bronze medal. "That wasn't happening," Wilson said. "I've never gotten a 9.8 on horse in my life." On his handspring double front he scored a 9.80, the highest score of the night.

But he struggled on his high bar routine, for a 9.525. After that score, his fourth, Wilson dropped from third to seventh and couldn't move up much more. After Wilson had performed not much better than average during the team competition, where the U.S. failed to medal in the all-around. In Atlanta Nemov had won silver and also won the crowd.

He earned the nickname "Sexy Alexei" for the way he would wink at a woman in the stands or wiggle to finish a routine. In his biography Nemov says his hobbies are "Cars, girls, going to the disco, and girls." But now Nemov is a married man, a father and a gold medalist. "Nemov has the best feel for the aesthetics of the sport," said 1984 silver medalist Peter Vidmar, who is the last U.S. man to medal in the all-around. "He understands you don't just do a skill, you make it look gorgeous." Taking the silver medal was 20-year-old Yang Wei of the gold-medal China team.

Bronze went to 22-year-old Oleksandr Beresh of Ukraine. Five-time national champion Blaine Wilson of Columbus, Ohio, who had finished fourth at last year's worlds, only a thousandth of a point from third, was sixth and 17-year-old Paul Hamm of Waukesha, ended up 14th with a bullet. Hamm, whose twin, Morgan, will compete in the floor exercise event final, fell off his first apparatus, the high bar, then moved from 34th to 14th by the end of the night. "Give Paul Hamm a couple of years," Wilson, 26, said, "and he'll beat Nemov. Paul's got the style to beat the Russian.

It was fun to watch the kid tonight. He was excited. "Shoot, my first Olympics I didn't know what to do. But Paul has the kind after bold predictions of something better, Wilson had refused to join his teammates in media interviews. Wilson said he left the SuperDome in silence because he had nothing to say or to answer for.

"When I walked onto the floor, I've done more for U.S. gymnastics than any other gymnast out there," Wilson said. He added that Nemov was nothing special and that "anyone can do what he does." And just so everyone knew what a good sport Wilson was, he gestured toward the platform while Nemov, Yang and Beresh were receiving their medals. "Those medals," Wilson said, "don't make anyone more of a man. All it gets you is more money, and money doesn't buy happiness.

I'm happy enough already." This did not sound like a happy man. Wilson does have one more chance to win an Olympic medal. He competes Monday in the vault final. From the way Nemov jumped up and pumped his fist after Yang finished, from the way Nemov hugged his coach in a corner of the arena, from the way he seemed to brush away a tear and from the way he struck a bodybuilder's pose for the world's cameramen, it was clear how much the medal meant. Nemov hasn't seen his son yet.

The Russians were already at a training camp in Adelaide when his wife gave birth. "I wanted to do my best for Russia," said Nemov, who had finished 0.049 points be- able horse and the sturdy vault and most especially on the scary high bar. Six events, 36 men and yet it was impossible hot to keep watching one. On every apparatus the eye was drawn to Alexei Nemov to the way his legs never parted and how his toes were always pointed, to how his arms were always straight when others were crooked, to the way his landings sounded, the soft, solid single thud that wasn't followed by a hop. Nemov, a 24-year-old from Russia who became a first-time father on Sept.

2, won his first Olympic gold medal Wednesday WALLY SKALIJ Los Angeles Times U.S. high school senior Paul Hamm showed promise by moving from 34th to 14th by the end of the competition. hind China's Li Xiaoshuang in Atlanta, "and for my family and for my loved one." Now Nemov has a sparkling new gift for little Alexei. It's gold. U.S.

Stuffs Croatia In Another Upset Women's volleyball: The team is a mix of world-class veterans and kids. Not Exactly 'Dream Tearri 1 II i By ROBYN NORWOOD TIMES STAFF WRITER SYDNEY, Australia Hello, America. Are you listening yet? Teresa Edwards keeps saying the world is catching up. Now we've seen it, after an 88-77 victory over Russia on Wednesday that was the closest Vi'' 7 4 game the U.b. women basketball team has played in the last two The short-handed Russians led by eight points in the first half and by three at halftime despite using only By BILL PLASCHKE TIMES STAFF WRITER SYDNEY, Australia What are the odds that a group of vastly different female volleyball players all but two of whom have never been to an Olympics-would get thrown together just in time to win three consecutive Olympic matches? About the same odds as one of them, more than two years ago, naming her new dog "Sydney." Meet the You've-Got-To-Be-Dreaming Team, the U.S.

women's volleyballers who pulled their second major upset Wednesday by sweeping Croatia, 25-19, 25-18, 25-16. The one with the dog is captain Allison Weston, who was so fo "A ur jt -rw. 1 cused on this moment that she pinned her hopes on her Russian shepherd in February 1998. "It reminded me of WALLY SKALLILos Angeles Times Yolanda Griffith battles for the ball against Russia's Elena Pchikova, left, and Evguenia Nikonova. what I had to do," she nine players.

No team ever led the U.S. at halftime in Atlanta in 1996. "You believe me yet?" said Edwards, a five-time Olympian who has three gold medals and a bronze. "I think that's the way it is. "I've watched the game grow.

These girls got game in these other countries. They have skills, and they're watching us and picking things up. It's something to be admired and respected, and hopefully it elevates us to another level. "But it's there. It's real." The Russians, then the Unified Team, were the last team to beat the U.S.

in the Olympics, in the 1992 semifinals when the Americans came home from Barcelona with a bronze. At the 1998 world championships, the Russians led by nine at halftime of the title game before the U.S. won. In these Olympics, Russia, Australia and even South Korea are viable threats to give the U.S. a game, though the Americans remain the favorite.

Already, two of their three games have been closer than any game they played at Atlanta. This team has more talent but less chemistry than the 1996 team that spent a full year touring together, compiling a 60-0 record on its way to the gold. "People just want to say the Americans are going to win it," said 36. "It's not that way. We're going to have to earn this thing, and when we do win it, you better tell us we earned it." The Russians kept the U.S.

on the ropes Wednesday in their preliminary-round game at the Dome, the third for both teams. The U.S. took the lead for good, 52-50, on Nikki McCray's three-point basket three minutes into the second half, and Ruthie Bolton-Holifield made two key three-pointers off the bench to help open a 10-point lead. But the Russians hung tough they trailed by five with about eight minutes left even though they were missing two key players because of injuries as well as the country's top player, Elena Baranova, who isn't with the team after sitting out the WNBA season because of knee surgery. "Remember, I told you.

They're strong-hearted," Edwards said. "It's going to be a 40-minute game. The Russians are no joke. I know them." The Russians are most upset at being without point guard Irina Soumnikova, 35, whose Olympic career is over after she was struck in the face by a Cuban player's elbow in Russia's opening game, requiring plastic surgery on her face and breaking her right wrist in the fall. Russian Coach Evgeny Gomelsky continued to say he is "indignant" over the elbow by Cuba's Maria Leon, who claimed it was an accident.

Russia also was without forward Ioulia Skopa, who has a sore knee, and chose not to use a third player, 17-year-old Olga Artechina. Connecticut star Svetlana Abrosimova contributed 12 points off the bench, but Anna Arkhipova lit up the U.S. defense, scoring 15 points and making four of four three-pointers. Rematch Awaits U.S. Women's Water Polo Team said.

Little did she know, however, that most of the players on that year's team would be gone by now. In revamping their tired program one bronze in the last three Olympics the U.S. volleyball bosses created an odd mixture of world-class veterans and kids. The results here have been upsets of higher-ranked China and Croatia, and a near-certain spot in the quarterfinals against a beatable opponent such as Korea or Italy. Nobody wants to think beyond that.

Although Wednesday's stunning win will make people wonder. "Just when I think we have played as good as we can play I think, maybe we have not seen our best play yet," said Coach Mick Haley, who will be taking over USC's team after the Olympics. Added veteran Tara Cross-Battle: "The public doesn't expect much from us, we don't have any pressure on us, we're just having fun." It wasn't a real joy for Croatia Wednesday, as it was dominated in every aspect, with the U.S. team connecting on 75 attacks while Croatia managed only 53. And to think, coming into the game, Croatia was also unbeaten here.

"We just got up on the left side of the bed today," said its star and captain, Barbara Jelic. The way the U.S. is playing, their women are soaring out of bed and spiking the pillow shams. While the leaders are former Long Beach State teammates Cross-Battle and Danielle Scott, the hottest player is Stanford sophomore Logan Tom. She lived up to her billing as the future of women's volleyball by leading the U.S.

with 12 attacks. Could it be that these women are playing so well because they have yet to pinch themselves? "Sort of," said Cross-Battle, smiling wide enough to mean, "Exactly." By MIKE KUPPER TIMES ASSISTANT SPORTS EDITOR SYDNEY, Australia The U.S. women's water polo team started with an upset of the Netherlands and now it will get a chance to show that the result really wasn an upset at all. With a workmanlike performance Wednesday night, the Americans handed winless Kazakh pass and that made it easy," she said but not the U.S. team's achievement, which means her Olympic experience can continue for one more game, maybe two.

"I've waited 23 years for this," she said. "I cherish every moment I have here." Asked if playing in the semifinals would heighten the intensity, she said, "It's not going to get any more intense. We've come from Day 1 with intensity. We've reached our first goal advancing beyond the round robin, now we're going to try to reach our second winning a medal." She also had an answer to critics-some of them in the local papers who have recently discovered water polo and labeled it a brutal sport. "It's not brutal," she said.

"It's just a physical game. The pushing and shoving are part of it. We all understand that. When you've seen it awhile, you understand it." "Holland has great offensive weapons," he said. "They've got speed, size and experience.

They're probably the most experienced team here." Most experienced team, maybe. But when it comes to individual experience, nobody else here can touch Maureen O'Toole, a 39-year-old pioneer who came out of retirement specifically to play in the first Olympics allowing women's water polo. Brenda Villa of Commerce was the star of this particular show, scoring four goals, getting an assist and three steals, but it was O'Toole who got things nicely under way. In the starting lineup for the first time here, she scored a power-play goal on a point-blank shot less than a minute into the game, then later blocked a shot, made a steal and contributed to one of Villa's goals with a nice pass in front of the goal. She downplayed the importance of her quick-start goal "Brenda made a great For a team given little chance in this tournament, the Americans have done more than OK, and in their victory over Kazakhstan they seemed to have shored up an area that had been a problem.

In their 7-6 loss to host Australia on Tuesday, the Americans had cashed only three of 10 power-play opportunities. Wednesday night, they were five for seven with the player advantage. And if there were some defensive lapses, there also were some moments of near brilliancespectacular blocks and equally impressive saves. "I'm just glad it's over," Baker said of the preliminary play. "Our first objective was to get to the medal round.

I think it's pretty exciting we got there." Advancing with the U.S. and the Netherlands were Australia and Russia, who will meet in Friday's first semifinal. The winners will play for the gold medal Saturday. stan its fifth defeat, 9-6, rolling out of the round-robin portion of the Olympic tournament and into the semifinals, and a return engagement Friday night with the Dutch. And the Hollanders, it would appear, might be ripe for the taking again.

They lost to Russia, 6-3, only an hour before the U.S. beat the Kazaks at the Ryde Aquatic Center. Not that Coach Guy Baker is counting any unhatched poultry..