Roundup : U.S. Flyweight Averts Soviet Sweep

A victory by American flyweight Albert Johnson Saturday prevented a Soviet sweep of the boxing competition in the Goodwill Games at Moscow.

Johnson, 20, from St. Louis, wore down his his Soviet opponent, Rinvidas Bilius, for a 3-2 decision.

The U.S. amateur champion waved a miniature American flag as he collected his medal--an act of bravado that met with a chorus of jeers from the Soviet crowd.

The Soviets, with 20 of the 24 fighters in the finals, won 11 golds and 9 silvers.

The U.S. team, severely weakened when the Defense Department banned nine top-rate boxers--all military personnel--from taking part, had just two other finalists.

The crowd, subdued during the eight all-Soviet finals, came to life in the three bouts against the Americans.

In the lightweight division, American Romallis Ellis was no match for Orzubek Nazarov, who scored a 4-1 victory--with Ellis getting the nod only from the American judge.

U.S. middleweight Parker White of Richmond, Calif., seemingly had Ruslan Tamarov on the ropes in the first two rounds, but the Soviet national champion stormed back in the final round to earn a split decision.

The Soviets collected 26 gold medals during the day and ran their totals to 105 golds and 222 medals overall.

Johnson’s victory, along with four golds in yachting, gave the United States 40 golds and 131 medals overall.

The 17-day competition ends today with competition in rowing, judo and weightlifting, with a total of 16 gold medals at stake.

Meanwhile, the Soviet women’s gymnastics team, led by Yelena Shushunova, completed a sweep of the golds, finishing 1-2 in each of the four individual apparatus events, after winning the team and all-around titles earlier.

Shushunova won three gold medals and a silver in the individual apparatus, giving her a total of six medals in the games--the most by any competitor. She had four golds and two silvers.

Joyce Wilborn of Passaic, N.J., third in the vault, was the only American--man or woman--to win a medal in gymnastics.

In weightlifting, Soviet Yuri Zakharevich swept the golds in the snatch, the clean-and-jerk and the overall in the 110-kilogram class.

In yachting, the Soviets took five gold medals to four for the U.S. and one apiece for Canada and Poland.

The American golds in yachting were won by Mark Reynolds of San Diego in the Star class; Morgan Reeser of Miami in the men’s 470 class; John Kostecki of Point Richmond, Calif., who tied with the Soviet’s Georgy Sharduko in the Soling class, and Kathy Steele of Annapolis, Md., who tied with Poland’s Joanna Buzinska in women’s sailboarding.